Quick Hits

• There is a word for those members of the Veterans Committee who did not elect Ron Santo to the Hall of Fame. It may in fact be "jerks". It could be something stronger.
• Who thought it was a good idea to play the ACC championship game in Tampa, right in the middle of SEC country? It makes me sound like a homer, but the geographic center of the conference is in North Carolina. Play the damn game there; ACC football is not such a draw that you're going to get ten zillion fans to travel to a neutral site for what's likely to be a rematch game anyway.
• Greg Maddux was frequently obscene on the mound. He threw at batters, memorably Scott Rolen back before Mr. Rolen became J.D. Drew Jr. to the good people of Philadelphia. He benefitted from a few extra inches off the black because he was Greg Goddamned Maddux, and if he threw it, by God, it was a strike. That being said, he was one of the most remarkable pitchers and characters the game has seen in a while, and I'll miss him. Even if he did spend all those years pitching for the @#$@#ing Braves.
• New Phillies GM Reuben Amaro Jr. is quoted in the latest issue of The Sporting News as saying that he's after athletes who will hopefully turn into baseball players. KHAAAAAAN!
• Listening to sports talk radio hosts deride Wikipedia as a destination for get-a-lifers is possibly the most ironic thing I encountered today.
• Reading statheads deride baseball teams' proprietary and undisclosed statistical measures for fielding because they haven't seen 'em in action, and prefer to trust what their eyes tell them about the existing defensive metrics (as noted in the comments in Will Carroll's Unfiltered piece on defense over at BP) is the height of irony I've seen in a while.
• Congrats to Shysterball on the move over to The Hardball Times. Two great tastes that go great together, though I'm not quite sure which one's the chocolate and which one's the peanut butter.
• So in their last two games, the dead-in-the-water Eagles have thoroughly outplayed the NFC West champ Cardinals and the NFC East (and Herkimer's Weapons Range of East Nyack, NY) champ Giants, sparking talk of a high-flying Eagle revival. Of their three games remaining, two are against division opponents, meaning that if they win out, they climb past the Cowboys in the Wild Card standings. All of which means, of course, that they're going to go lay an egg against Cleveland next time out. Ah, my Eagles. How you toy with your fans' affections.
  
• Bowl season exists largely as a creative exercise in cameramen finding ways to avoid showing empty stands at games in places like Toronto, Shreveport, and Charlotte. There are 34 bowls this year, precisely one of which matters, and with the economy in its current state I'd expect that number to drop precipitously for next year. Which, I suppose, is a good thing; I'm not sure how many mid-December slugfests between 6-6 teams the world really needs.
• The magicJack St. Petersburg Bowl? Seriously?
• The Phillies could do a lot worse than the rumored Jason Donald-Delmon Young trade. If nothing else, it would free up enough cash that they could quit messing around and just resign Jamie Moyer already.
  
• Dream free agent signing? C.C. Sabathia to the Giants, leading up a rotation that goes Sabathia/Lincecum/Cain/Sanchez....and forces Zito to the pen.