Knuckleheads of the Week
J.C. France, a grandson of NASCAR founder Bill France, and his half brother, Russell Van Richmond, were arrested on drug charges after street racing in Florida. France was driving a Lamborghini, Van Richmond a Porsche. During a search, police found containers with a "white cakelike substance." Van Richmond took the silver spoon out of his mouth long enough to threaten a cop: "You're done. ... I'm a France, we own this city."
Nice to see the umpires doing their best to keep the Yankees alive. Did you see Joe Mauer’s ground-rule double in the 11th inning of Game 2 of the New York-Minnesota series? The one Blue called foul? Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I’m pretty sure MLB prefers to see the Yanks playing ball in late October.
Judgment day: Bengals rookie Chase Coffman has a better chance of doing 10 good pushups than Cincinnati has of beating Baltimore and starting the season 4-1, or 3-1-1 if you closely watch the video of Shayne Graham’s “winning” field goal against the Browns. The Twins aren’t the only ones who have a beef.
The Bengals have the defense to be a threat, but Carson Palmer won’t be channeling Fran Tarkenton with Ray Lewis lurking. Cincy, with a heavy heart, will play hard for defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, whose wife died last week. But the Ravens will prevail 24-14 because they have the hotter quarterback.
Salary cap: So what kind of Reds team will we see next year? Unless owner Bob Castellini stages the world’s largest bake sale, it’ll look like the September Reds.
Like most small-market teams, the Reds have no margin for error. They need to stay healthy and hope Joey Votto puts up MVP numbers.
Field not level: The Pioneer Football League hopes to land an automatic bid into the NCAA Division I-AA playoffs. This could be a classic case of “be careful what you ask for.” UD has a nice nonscholarship thing going, but do the Flyers realize that they seed this event?
That means a likely pairing for the PFL champion would be a serious football school that makes its 63 scholarships count. You know, like the Northern Iowa team that had Iowa on the ropes.
Roll the dice: Former Bengals running back Dede Dorsey scored two touchdowns for Las Vegas in the United Football League’s first game, which drew a whopping 14,209 fans. There were more people playing Keno on The Strip.
Quick hits: You do not mess with LeBron James. Braylon Edwards got after one of LeBron’s pals and was booted out of Cleveland faster than you can say “dropped pass.” ... I feel bad for Matt Holliday, whose error cost the Cardinals. I would’ve felt worse had that baseball been a few inches lower. Ouch. ... Just watched “The Happening.” It’s on my list of all-time bad movies.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2163 or bkollars@DaytonDailyNews.com.