A — Josh Hamilton. The Texas Rangers’ star outfielder had himself a pretty decent week last week. Including baseball’s 16th ever four-homer game, Hamilton finished a seven-game run where he went 14 for 30 with two doubles, nine home runs and 18 RBI. He goes into Tuesday’s action hitting .400 with 18 home runs and 44 RBI. Wonder if the Reds think they got the better of the deal that saw them get pitcher Edinson Volquez for Hamilton? Hamilton will be a free agent after the year’s up. It will be interesting to see how much he makes since he’s had substance abuse problems, is known to get injured frequently and turns 31 on May 21. Don’t know if he’ll get Pujols money, but Hamilton will be pretty well off no matter what happens.

B — ESPN. The Worldwide leader in sports and entertainment gets a lot of flack from people, including me (please no Chris Berman during the U.S. Open golf, that’s all I ask). But the network has hit a home run with its decision to produce more of the successful “30 for 30″ movies that they started to produce in 2009. They’ve hit way more than they missed with those. Among the crop of new movies is one on slain Simeon basketball star Ben Wilson, who was the top high school player in the nation when he was shot down in 1984. If having to put up with acts like Berman and Erin Andrews is part of our penance for getting “30 for 30″ flicks, so be it.

C — Kevin Na. If the casual golf fan didn’t know who Na was before last week’s Players Championship, they certainly do now. Na grabbed the 54-hole lead, but played at a snail’s pace with his way too frequent waggles over the ball. His slow pace of play ticked off his fellow players and brought out the boo birds at the TPC Sawgrass. I’ve been to probably two dozen PGA Tour events and have never seen anyone heckled. Na brought it upon himself though with his glacial pace of play. Na did finish tied for seventh after faltering on Sunday. That netted him nearly $300,000, so it wasn’t all bad.

D — Tattoo guy. The last time we talked tattoos on the Mid-Week Grades, I gave a guy a “C” who had all 30 of the MLB logos tattooed on him. This time, I have to give a bit of a lesser grade to some guy who has had the time to have both Michael Jordan and Dennis Rodman etched on his back. As you can see from the photos, there looks like there could be room on his left shoulder blade for Scottie Pippen — or maybe he’s a big Toni Kukoc fan. Whatever. I’ll never understand tattoos.

F — Vinny Del Negro. I’ve loathed him since his two-year run as the  Chicago Bulls’ head coach, an era of mediocrity that saw the team go 82-82 in two not-so glorious season. With Chris Paul gifted to him by the NBA — remember the league wouldn’t let the Lakers trade with the Hornets for him — VDN was finally able to coach his way past the first round. And by coach, I mean make sure Paul and Blake Griffin are on the floor as much as possible. After the Clips’ first-round win over Memphis, VDN ripped on the Bulls’ management, saying no one there supported him. He’s lucky that he’s working for an owner as clueless as Donald Sterling or else he’d be stuck coaching biddy basketball somewhere. The Spurs will run over VDN’s crew in the second round.

1. I’m tapping out

I’ve been watching professional wrestling on and off for about 30 years now. It started when I was about 12 or so and watching WWF Superstars on Sunday mornings on USA Network. I’d also watch World Championship Wrestling on TBS on Saturday nights as a youngster. I quit watching in college in the early 1990s and picked it up again around 1997. It looks like I’m going back into a hiatus. The current sports entertainment product being produced by the WWE is getting worse by the week. I’ll still keep it on the DVR and maybe buzz through it when I’m bored, but I’ve got better things to do on Monday night than watch the garbage that makes up Raw these days.

2. Let’s just get to Heat-Thunder already

I know some people out there think the ancient San Antonio Spurs have a chance to come out of the West, but let’s get real. The next few weeks is nothing but fodder until we get the Thunder against the Heat in the NBA Finals. The Heat did suffer a bit of a loss with Chris Bosh going down with an injury, but he can take the next two series off and the Heat will still make the finals. I’m still sold on the fact that the 2012 NBA playoffs will the coronation for LeBron James.

Our Lady of Sorrows has a policy where its teams will not compete in co-ed sports competitions. As a result, the team decided to forfeit the Arizona Charger Athletic Association state championship game than play against Mesa Prep, which has a female second baseman.

Really? What year is it?

I shouldn’t be surprised by anything any more, but this one did surprise me a bit. The only reason the school wouldn’t play was because of the girls’ presence on the other team. That’s pretty sad.

A — Lance Lynn. I wasn’t much for the NBA’s Linsanity, but I’ve been leading the bandwagon for the MLB’s version of Lynnsanity. in his first year as a starter, St. Louis’ Lance Lynn is the first pitcher to get to six wins. He’s made the injury to Chris Carpenter much easier for the team and its fan base to swallow. Not only is Lynn 6-0, but he has one of the best ERA’s in the league, too. Lynn’s 1.41 ERA was second in the bigs going into Tuesday’s play. He’s struck out roughly a batter an inning, too, and teams are hitting just .168 against him.

B — St. Louis Blues. The Blues didn’t win a Stanley Cup — what else is new? — but they had a season better than most everyone anticipated. The team dumped coach Davis Payne 13 games into the season after a 6-7 start. Once Ken Hitchcock, the team took off. It nearly won the Presidents’ Cup and had to settle for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. Getting swept out of the second round by the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings was a suprise, but this team did a lot right. The future’s bright though. A new ownership group is ready to take over and the team has plenty of good, young players to build around. Instead of moaning about what could have been in 2012, Blues fans should be excited for what the future holds.

C — Weather breakins. This is the time of year that weather can be a bit unsettled. Our local TV stations do a great job of keeping its viewers informed of what’s going on. Unfortunately, that means breaking into your favorite show to tell you about the approaching weather, which may or may not affect you. This happened several times on Sunday as viewers had to wait through weather updates during the NASCAR Sprint Cup race and the NBA playoffs. It’s too bad that the local channels couldn’t do their weather updates in a split screen. Half of the screen could be the local weather map with the local audio. On the other half of the screen, you’d have the program that was on without any sound.  Can we make this happen?

D — Cole Hamels. The Phillies starter did what many other pitchers have done on Sunday night and intentionally hit a batter. He wanted to send a message to Nationals rookie Bryce Harper and plunked him in the ribs. No problem. It’s part of the game. You can appreciate Hamels candor for admitting that he meant to plunk Harper, but it was incredibly dumb. The MLB brass gave him a five-game suspension, which will cost him some $400,000 or so in salary. The lesson here is that when you mean to plunk someone, just say the ball got away from you.

F —Guillermo Mota. For the second time in his career, the relief pitcher has been suspended for violating MLB’s drug policy. He’ll sit out 100 games this time after Clenbuterol was found in his system. How did the drug get in his system? According to Mota’s agent, through children’s cough syrup. Really? Mota plans to appeal, but the chances of winning are slim. He’s one more strike away from being the first player to be banned for using drugs. He’s the third player to be suspended twice, a list that includes Manny Ramirez.

1. Bye, bye Bulls

I made a point not to invest a lot into my favorite NBA team, the Chicago Bulls, for the playoffs. I’ve known for a while that this wasn’t going to be the Bulls’ year and have been telling anyone that will listen to me that this is the year that LeBron gets his first ring. The 76ers might not finish off the Bulls’ tonight — the home crowd could make a difference — but this series won’t get back to the United Center again. Without Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah, the Bulls have little chance of winning a series.

2. A new guy to root for?

The last time Bryce Harper made an appearance on DOBservations, I was ripping him for blowing a kiss to a pitcher after hitting a homer in the minors. Now in the big leagues for the Washington Nationals, Harper has made an immediate impact. He got plunked by Cole Hamels on Sunday night, a play that made some news after Hamels admitting to hitting the prodigy. As much of a goof as Harper seemed in the minors, he’s made sure to play it straight in the bigs. Loved watching him hustle on Sunday night. First with a steal of home. Later he took a hit that would have been a routine single and legged out a double. If he keeps playing hard like that, Harper will win a lot of doubters and critics over. I’m a fan.

Maybe it was the fact that my alarm didn’t go off and I automatically woke up at 3:45 a.m. anyway.

Whatever the reason, I was a bit riled up for today’s edition of the award-winning WGEM SportsCenter program on ESPN 1440.

First up, a debate with host Josh Houchins on the Western Big Six’s merger talks with the Mid-State Six. It gets a little heated at the end.

That served as little more than a warm-up act.

After reading Topp’s Tips — the fine blog curated by my co-worker Blake Toppmeyer — and seeing that Quincy High School didn’t even try to reschedule its rained out game with Quincy Notre Dame, I went off for a few minutes.

Finally, we got things back to order and we did our weekly Wednesday staple — the Mid-Week Grades.

What do you think? Am I right? Or should I just lay off the Mountain Dew before the next show?

A — Quincy kids in Champaign. Technically, Quincy Notre Dame’s Jack Cornell isn’t in Champaign any more, but you get the idea. Both Cornell and Quincy High School graduate Luke Guthrie, a senior on the Illini’s golf team, made headlines this weekend. Cornell agreed to a free-agent deal with the Baltimore Ravens after the NFL draft on Saturday night. On Sunday, Guthrie closed out his second straight Big Ten title, leading the Illini to their fourth straight crown. Here’s to hope each makes it big in the pros.

B — Tim Jankovich. You can’t blame him for bolting from a head coaching post at Illinois State to an assistant’s spot at SMU under new coach Larry Brown. Jankovich will go from earning roughly $400,000 at ISU to $700,000 at SMU, making him the highest-paid assistant coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball. He’ll supposedly take over when Brown gets tired of coaching the Mustangs, which will happen sooner rather than later based on Brown’s track record. Jankovich is going from the Missouri Valley to the Big East (yes, SMU is part of the new Big East). Not a bad move at all.

C — Rob Jones. The Saint Mary’s power forward hasn’t played football in five years, but that didn’t stop the Vikings from offering the 6-foot-6, 240-pounder a chance to try out at their minicamp. The Vikings see him as a tight end. Maybe in the mold of a Marcus Pollard, a Bradley product who obviously never played college football, or Tony Gonzalez or Jimmy Graham, two active TEs who hooked on to football after their hoops careers were over. Jones is turning down the NFL to concentrate on pro hoops. Don’t see why Jones doesn’t at least give the NFL a shot. If he stinks, he’s lost a weekend and can go try to hook on playing hoops overseas. After all, he’s not likely to get hurt in a minicamp.

D — Amare Stoudamire. The Knicks center got a little rambunctious after the team’s Game 2 loss to the Miami Heat on Monday night. He decided to put a fist through a pane of glass. Not the smartest idea. Stoudamire is expected to miss some time. He may as well just sit out the rest of the series. The Knicks are no match for the Heat, who should go to Madison Square Garden and close out this series by the weekend with a sweep. Stoudamire’s move was a dumb one. How will the Knicks pick up the pieces after this once-promising season went down the tubes?

F — Marek Olszewski. This one has nothing to do with sports, but everything to do with life. Olszewski used to date a dentist, but broke up with her. When he got a toothache, he went to his dentist — his ex-girlfriend. When she got him into her chair, she snapped. She put him under and yanked out all of his teeth. Olszewski said that his new girlfriend has already left him because of his new toothless appearance. His ex-girlfriend, Anna Mackowiak, is facing a three-year prison stint for her actions. “When I saw him lying there I just thought, ‘What a bastard’ and decided to take all his teeth out.” The lesson here gang: If you breakup with a dentist, don’t go see that dentist when you have a toothache.

UPDATE: Looks like we’ve all been had on this one. MSNBC looked into the story and it didn’t have any teeth. (pun intended)

After the corniest start to a blog post in DOBservations history, here’s what’s on my mind this rainy Tuesday.

1. A schedule fans can live with

Most years I hate the way the NBA constructs its playoff schedule. Take the Bulls-Sixers series. They played Game 1 on Saturday afternoon in Chicago and now have to wait until tonight for Game 2 before playing Game 3 Friday in Philly. Too much down time. Play every other day and maybe put in a travel day between sites. Thanks to the compressed regular season, I’m glad that the extra days off are factored in. As a basketball fan, I want to see good games in the playoffs and I think the extra rest will help with that.

2. What’s up with the Blues?

It’s been interesting to watch all of the Blues fans come out of the woodwork now that the team is winning. I knew a few die-hards, but it seems more and more people are getting behind The Note. Their run might not last long though. The Blues were beat down from the start in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals by the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night, falling being 4-0 after one period. The Blues lost 5-2 and now go to L.A. down 2-0. That’s a pretty big hill to climb, but the series isn’t over. However, the Blues must get a win in Thursday’s Game 3 if they have any hopes of winning the series.

At the end of an inning Texas first baseman Mitch Moreland tossed the ball into the stands and Leonard and Moore picked it up. The ball landed right in front of them. The next seat over was some toddler who started screaming because he didn’t get the ball. Neither Leonard nor Moore realized that the kids was crying and didn’t give him the ball. Of course, the couple got ripped by the Yankees’ announcers and by many who saw the video.

I’m here to back up Leonard and Moore.

Let’s circle back to that infamous Bartman game. I covered that for the Herald-Whig. What a night that was. The next night, I’m typing away after doing some pregame interviews prior to Game 7 of the NLCS between the Cubs and the Marlins at Wrigley. Since I’m not with the Chicago papers, I’m in the auxilary press box, which is actually outside the main press box at the stadium. The accommodations were fine. I sat next to Quad City Times Sports Editor Don Doxie, who I knew from having covered many John Deere Classics.

Early in the game, Derrek Lee, then with the Marlins, came up and hit a foul ball in our direction. I’m oblivious as to what’s happening in front of me until Doxie said heads up. I took my hands off my keyboard and caught the ball on one hop off the rail in front of us. Probably the best play I’ve made on a ball in my life.

I stuff the ball in my pocket and go back to typing. All of the sudden I guy puts his kid in my face and he’s asking for the ball.

“My grandson would love the ball,” the guy said.

I was surprised.

“I’m sorry, I have a 4-year-old at home that would love the ball,” I told him.

I put my head back down and started typing away again. The kid cried but I didn’t care. I had a kid that would enjoy the ball, too. At least that’s what I told myself. Not sure that Derek, my son, ever played with it. I put it with my memorabilia collection. I’m sure it’s in a box somewhere now with leftovers from my round at Augusta National.

Catching it is a good memory for me. That little kid who wanted my baseball doesn’t even remember it. Now about 13 or so, I’m sure all he remembers what he sees from the ticket stub hanging on his wall that he was at the game when the Cubs were close to getting to the World Series.

Every whiny little kid shouldn’t get it’s way just because it wants something. If that kid in Texas wanted the ball so bad, his Dad should have made a better play on it. Don’t demonize someone else because they got something and some little kid didn’t. The Rangers, of course, gave the kid a ball to appease him.

I remember being a 12-year-old and going to a Cubs game. We were down the first-base line and Ron Cey hit a pop foul right to my dad. Of course, he muffed the play and someone else wound up with the ball. Was I ticked? You bet. But no one handed me any baseball to soothe my pain. That’s the way it should have been.

We’ve become a bunch of enablers.

Neither Leonard nor Moore has anything to apologize about.

A — Phil Humber. One game does not a career make, but you have to appreciate where Humber has come from to throw the 21st perfect game in MLB history. A high pick by the Mets – No. 3 overall in 2004 – Humber had Tommy John surgery when he was in the minors. He was shipped to Minnesota as part of the Johan Santana deal. Then no one wanted him. He was a non-roster invitee to Royals spring training in 2010, but bounced between Triple-A Omaha and K.C. for most of the year. Oakland picked him up off waivers in the offseason, but dropped him soon after. That’s when the White Sox stepped in and took him off the scrap heap. You have to like how Humber, 29, has stuck with it.

B — Area softball pitchers. There was the thought that when the National Federation of High Schools moved the pitching rubber back three feet, that the days of the dominant pitcher would be gone and offenses would thrive. Someone forgot to tell the pitchers around here. First, we had Palmyra’s Kindra Henze mowing people down in the fall on the way to a state title. This spring, Quincy Notre Dame’s Aubrey Wilson and Payson Seymour’s Cheyanne Bowman have been baffling opposing hitters. Wilson became QND’s all-time leader in wins over the weekend, while Bowman throws no-hitters with regularity, tossing in a perfect game here and there. And for good measure, here’s a link to a story about a girl from Connecticut who threw a perfect game and struck out all 21 batters in the process.

C — Janoris Jenkins. He’ll be an interesting watch during the NFL Draft. Some have said Jenkins, who started his career at Florida but had to finish at North Alabama, is the most talented corner back in the draft. Jenkins, however, has a few character issues. Seems like he likes to smoke dope and produce children (four with three different women and could have a fifth with a fourth different woman.) How badly will his character issues hurt him in the draft?

D — May just have my D each week for the “Dumb Youth Sports Move of the Week.” This week, we come to you from Pennsylvania where Babe Ruth baseball coach John Zahradnik was charged with reckless endangerment and harassment after he nearly ran over someone in his pickup truck and then pulled a gun during a recent game. Zahradnik was set off by an umpire’s call.

F — Genoa soccer. In case you missed it, I’m watching more international soccer lately. (I won’t watch the retreads in the MLS and I’m sticking to the Barclays Premier League.) On Sunday, Italian team Genoa had its match against Siena stopped by some mega fans who demanded the players give up their jerseys after they first threw fireworks on to the field as the team was losing 4-0. The players eventually kept their jerseys and the fans calmed down. Genoa fired its coach after the match and the officials of the Italian league that they play in said Genoa couldn’t play its final two home matches. Some fans were identified and given five-year bans, but they’re still trying to ID all of the hooligans.