From the Bleachers

Watching Orioles ‘slugger’ Luke Scott chase down a fly ball in the outfield against the Red Sox earlier this week, with all the grace of a learning disabled elephant with a really bad foot injury, was fun.

Slightly less fun is the general reaction to his comments about President Obama

For those of you who missed it, Scott has aligned himself with those simple folk who don’t think President Obama is, you know, American.

File this under ‘hard to believe it is actually happening’. Where to even start? This will be met with particular incredulity in the United States, where ‘the Feds’ are literally arresting dozens of people involved in the gambling industry. We will get into that another time, but while that’s going on, the English Rugby Football Union (RFU) has actually placed bets on England to reach the late-knockout stages of the forthcoming Rugby World Cup.

They are doing this in order to be able to afford the bonus pay-outs to team and staff that would kick-in if England gets that far (semi final or further). The RFU has reportedly placed £250,000 on ‘their boys’ to do the job.

You read all of the above correctly, a sporting body is placing wagers with bookmakers on the progress of their national team in one of the biggest sporting tournaments in the World.

Last week, Manchester United superstar Wayne Rooney cursed a blue streak at an innocent television camera, instantly launching the cursing careers of millions of children. ‘‘Mum, Dad, **** you!!’’ A couple of nights ago, NBA superstar Kobe Bryant dusted off and used one of the uglier, more ignorant and stupid homophobic slur words available and threw it at an official.

Fascinatingly, in one case, the perpetrator was suspended. In the other, he was fined about a billionth of his weekly salary. NBA head honcho David Stern called the Bryant incident ‘Offensive and inexcusable’ If that’s the case, why

Massive disclaimer. I am no big golf fan. This writer got all riled up when the American crowd disrespected the European players at the Ryder Cup a while back, and also enjoyed Padraig Harrington’s brief flirtation with sporting immortality. However other than that, he can take it or leave it.

However, show me a great sporting event, and other than Nascar, where it appears to me advertisement hoardings parade in a circle around a track, I will watch it. If you are reading this, there's a pretty above decent chance you are like that too. March Madness? Nice. Cheltenham? Fantastic. The MLB playoffs, The Champions League, sign me up. Even the recent Cricket World Cup final was pretty interesting.

In a stunning development Major League Baseball has handed the Texas Rangers the 2011 World Series title, six games into the season. The decision has been greeted with glee by the Rangers. Team president Nolan Ryan, who was quoted as saying ''We only just handed out second place rings for last season last week, so this is just awesome!''

A Texas team official was quoted as saying ''The parade is going to be held some time next week, we actually have a few games this week'' apparently lamenting the fact that MLB has decided to actually play out the rest of the meaningless games until the end of the season.

The overwhelming choice as 'Team of the Universe', as chosen by 97% of online sporting entities, Texas players scoffed at those who pointed out that only 3% of the season has passed to date. 'I don't care what people think'' Josh Hamilton said ''Right now, we’re the best team in the Universe, and that's all that matters. Now it's time to drink some ginger ale and celebrate in a sensible fashion'' the former alcoholic hell-raiser said, as he donned ladies underwear and placed a ball-gag in his mouth.

And here we are again. Another season of Major League Baseball, another mass panic in Red Sox nation. Perhaps the only difference this time around is it’s happening so early. Three games into a billion game season, the Sox ‘faithful’ are exploding en masse like Ridley Scott’s aliens out of people’s chests, shouting, railing and raging to everyone and anyone who will listen. Name one Internet entity and I guarantee you a Red Sox fan is venting on it. Mainstream sporting websites, blogs, Internet forums, Internet flat pack assembly forums, Internet cooking tip sites.

There was a time, believe it or not, where Irish born players were actually a mainstay in the Major Leagues. Granted, that time was almost a hundred years ago, but, there was a time!