Sure the grueling Tour de’France has concluded but how about the Tour de’ Farce around the sports world….here goes with some things that make you wonder…
….at Texas Football, new Head Coach Tom Herman is apparently trying to elevate the competitiveness and change the culture of his team…the Longhorns success meter had dropped the last 2 years under former head coach, Charlie Strong. Herman is a firm…should I say… “strong”… believer in competition…he pits the #1 offense vs #1 defense….the treatment of the “side” that wins is noticeable. You don’t want to be the loser….after morning practices …and the competition… winners in the O vs D game are rewarded with a buffet of appetizing options….an omlet bar, chicken, waffles, giant trey of fruit..they may have it all…the losers ate last and the menu changed…they were handed a spoon to feast on watered down eggs and half-burnt biscuits…now…I’m waiting for some law suit…justifiably …about unequal treatment…of course…if Herman wins…and wins big…..it may happen that a Texas judge may throw the case out for “lack of cause” 
…someone doesn’t understand geography…..in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is Florida State while in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) is South Carolina…their geography knowledge is a farce
…signing Colton Parayko was taking the sound approach…the 5 year deal locks him up during…. What should be … his premier seasons…the Blues come off a draft rated as B+ by the Bleacher Report….so its been a good summer for the Note..not a farce
…btw…according to Bleacher Report ….the NHL draft ratings look like this:
A: Colorado Avalanche, NJ Devils Phil Flyers A-: LA Kings, Carolina Hurricanes
B+: StL Blues, Anaheim Ducks, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadians, Nashville Predators,
NY Islanders, Vancouver Canucks, Vegas Golden Knights, Ottawa Senators
B: Az Coyotes, Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, Toronto Maple Leafs
B-: Calgary Flames, Minn Wild, Tampa Bay Lighting, Winnipeg Jets
C+: Dallas Stars, NY Rangers C: Boston Bruins, Pitt Penguins
C-: Chicago Blackhawks, Columbus Blue Jackets, San Jose Sharks,
D: Washington Capitals, (first pick came in fourth round)
We’ll see in 2-4 years what the grades REALLY ARE 
…if you’ll recall last summer, I proposed a 6-ace rotation…throw your ace every 5th day in a 6 man rotation…give these “needy” starters an extra day or three….the rotation would look like this:
Ace, 2,3,4,5; Ace, 6,2,3,4; Ace,5,6,2,3; Ace 4,5,2,3 etc.. so all starters would get 6 games off except the ace who would throw every 5 games…throw in a day off every so often and the starters should be able to go 7+ innings regularly….look what Wacha did with his extended rest of 11 days…and….with the manner in which our bullpen is closing out games…this should lighten their load and stop having some of the musical chairs out of the bullpen that have become a huge farce…
…while the Cards are running on their treadmill in the standings, across the State, the KC Royals have quietly crawled up to 2nd place just 1.5 games out of 1st place
…the Yankees and CWS trade…the main players in what amounts to yet another White Sox dump…is Yanks acquire Todd Frazier and David Robertson and deal prospects to Chicago….how would you like to be a Sox fan after they’ve dumped Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, and Jose Quintana for….usually… prospects…would you want to go to the ballpark to watch this pitiful last place team… it’s a farce!
…the Dodgers are making a joke of the standings….as of today-Thursday, LA has won 11 straight games, their overall record is 68-31. In their last 30 games, they are 26-4-WOW! Here’s a stat to chew on…, the Dodgers maul the sub .500 teams …they are 44-14..they are making a farce of the race for the best team of the NL…so….with that in mind…the Dodgers are looking to win “it all” this season….don’t be surprised if Justin Verlander finds himself wearing a Dodger uniform sometime in the next 4 weeks…as Detroit has begun its move to “sell” by moving JD Martinez to Arizona…good luck Tiger fans…you may soon need a scorecard to know who’s on the field for Detroit
…..recruiting in St Louis for HS football players has never been at this high level! Some names that you might want to follow– CBC’s WR Kamryn Babb already has a bunch…he has offers from over 30 schools..the list includes Bama, ND, Ohio St, Penn State, UCLA, USC, Oklahoma, Texas, Miami and all but 4 of the SEC programs. Parkway North’s Michael Thompson (6-4, 273) is also very, very high on the national high-level radar (including Bama…aren’t they the standard these days?) Others to keep your eyes and ears open to are: Lutheran North-Ronnie Perkins (6-4, 260)-has an offer from Oregon; Chaminade’s Trevor Trout (6-3, 295) is a high class lineman; Ritenour LB Ayodele Adeoye (6-2, 220) has at least 19 big-time offers in his pocket already. While High Schools games are exciting, this action off the field will also be intriguing to follow in 2017…the brand new early signing date period of 72 hours between Dec 20 and Dec 22 will be offered for the 1st time. I guess, These big-time schools want early Christmas gifts wrapped up and ready to go 
…You can’t fool Fr. Time….all athletes reach the point of diminishing returns due to age…one of the best hitters of the last 15 years, Miguel Cabrera is currently hitting .256. This is a guy who’s lifetime average is .318 (for 15 years). He has 2598 hits…so the golden entry to the HOF…3000 hits… is barely visible these days.
…btw….congratulations to Jim Brockman, an administrator @ CBC, he nailed his 1st hole in ONE last week….a person who lived along the course, saw Jim looking for the ball and signaled to him that he should look into the hole…what a great surprise!! Congrats Jim!
….so we lost the last 2 games to the Mets in “creative” ways….on Wed, with a runner on 1b, the infield was “shifted” around with 2b Wong playing close to 1b & in the short OF…so when the ball was hit to 3B Jeff Gyorko..there was confusion on who would be the pivot man…Gyorko’s throw went into the outfield & NYM grabbed a 5-0 lead in the inning..Cards lost 7-3…the next day in the bottom of the 9th, with the game tied and 2 outs with runners on 1st & 3rd…a sharply hit ground ball down 1B line, Carpenter dives, comes up with ball…but the pitcher, Rosenthal, isn’t covering 1B…NY wins 3-2…. these types of games are really a farce at the MLB level
…the Yankees and CWS trade…the main players in what amounts to yet another White Sox dump…is Yanks acquire Todd Frazier and David Robertson and deal prospects to Chicago….how would you like to be a Sox fan after they’ve dumped Chris Sale, Adam Eaton, and Jose Quintana + now Frazier & Robertson for….usually… prospects…would you want to go to the ballpark to watch this pitiful last place team… it’s a farce..the Sox are becoming the Browns of the early 50’s !
…Michael Wacha hurled a complete game last week (after an 11 day rest)…only 5 major league pitchers have more than 1 complete game this year…Ervin Santana-Minn (4 complete games), Corey Kluber, Marcus Stroman, Ivan Nova & Max Scherzer (2 each)…as recently as 2010, there were 165 complete games in the MLB for the season…what’s happened….the players continue to increase in size and strength but…..are our expectations a farce of expecting pitchers to go 9 or is it the expectations ..and training ….of the manager or pitcher?
…judging from the Cubs series, Rosenthal & Oh have been sent to the Siberia of the Cards bullpen… Manifesto likes playing only the “hot” card…. Like in a casino….unfortunately, he’s getting the same result that most people get in a casino
….Marco Gonzalez for a “prospect”…sounds reasonable to me…he was taking up space in the Cards minor league system…he won 4 games in 2014…hasn’t won any since then in the Majors..has pitched only 6 innings in MLB since 2014…he could never throw the ball by anyone and seemed to struggle “big time” during the 2nd time through the lineup. The Cards obtained Tyler O’Neill…he was the Class AA player of the year last year…this year, 2017, in AAA, it’s rougher….244, 19 HR, 56 rbi in 93 games..looks like Randall Grichuck’s type stats to me 
….a different Tour…the Tour de’France ended yesterday…Chris Froom…the pre-race favorite won his 4th title in this…the most prestigious bike race in the world…he was only the 2nd winner of the Tour not to win any stage of the 3 week race. Now …it’s time for me to end my Tour de’ Farce.