Free Republic

More out of habit than anything else, we still refer to baseball as the national pastime. In truth, the tag hasn't fit for some time. Football began making inroads as far back as the 1970s, and two decades later, it wasn't much of a contest anymore. If baseball still had the hearts and minds of the American sports fan, then football could lay claim to everything else. By any measure -- TV viewership, merchandise sold, fan surveys -- football rules. The game may not be superior, but it undeniably is more popular. Some of that is baseball's fault; some of...

<p>LIQUID Gold: According to local beer industry sources, the Mets' and Yanks' concessionaires purchase half-kegs in bulk for approximately $29 per half-keg, roughly half the cost charged to bars and restaurants. Each half-keg holds 1,984 ounces, or 124 16-ounce servings. So, if the teams sell 16-ounce servings for about $6.50, which they do, the profit over the initial purchase price of each half-keg begins when the fifth beer is sold and that profit, per half-keg, is nearly $800.</p>

Not every screwball in the Hall of Fame is a baseball. One of them just happens to be its president. That would be Dale Petroskey, and after this latest mess, there's reason to wonder how much longer he will hold on to that exalted position. Petroskey, a former assistant press secretary in the Reagan administration, wrote a letter Monday to actor Tim Robbins informing him the hall was canceling a 15th anniversary celebration of the movie "Bull Durham" scheduled for April 26-27 at Cooperstown. Had Petroskey deep-sixed Robbins for a barely credible throwing motion while portraying fireballing right-hander Nuke LaLoosh...