His Airness Gets No Respect on This Front

Media critics of Michael Jordan are hard to come by, unless you regularly read Tom Knott of the Washington Times. He writes that Jordan’s best days are behind him, and that a younger, hungrier version of His Airness has arrived on the West Coast:

“Jordan is up to 38 years old, a fossil by basketball standards, and doesn’t he know it. He won’t walk on water this season, or dunk from the foul line, mostly because his legs are not what they once were. Piston forward Corliss Williamson made this point following the opening preseason game.

“He might as well have attacked the pope, however obvious the assessment.”

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More Knott: “It is impolite to note that Kobe Bryant does a better impression of the younger Jordan than the older Jordan. Bryant even has adopted Jordan’s mannerisms. Bryant probably would want Ahmad Rashad to be his lap dog if Rashad weren’t already occupied. All NBA superstars aspire to have the same status-confirming material goods: enough fancy wheels to fill a warehouse, enough jewelry to blind their entourages and one well-trained Rashad.

“Bryant is the present and future, Jordan the past and a fraction of his former self.”

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Trivia Time: When and where was the last daytime World Series game played?

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But did he buy the Golden Boy’s CD? Dean Juipe of the Las Vegas Sun pulls no punches when assessing the interview style of a certain East L.A. boxer:

“Anyone who has ever dealt with Oscar De La Hoya has long since learned that whatever he says requires a grain of salt. It isn’t that he’s a chronic liar, it’s just that the opinions and views he expresses are routinely molded to fit his public posture that particular day.”

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A Diamondback in the rough: Ray Ratto of the San Francisco Chronicle notes that Arizona’s third baseman reinvigorated himself with his World Series Game 2 home run:

“A month ago, Matt Williams couldn’t have been elected mayor of Why Are You Still Here Annoying Us With Your Presence, Ariz....

“But with absentee ballots and late precincts reporting, he is back in [Phoenix’s] very best graces--just in time, as it turns out, to reacquaint himself with the full Yankee Stadium ‘You Suck, Pal’ Experience.”

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Buck the snake charmer: Comedy writer Jerry Perisho on a manager-turned-analyst’s place in baseball lore:

“Much has been made about the fact that Buck Showalter coached the Yankees a year before they went to the World Series, then did the same thing with Arizona. So he’s worked for George Steinbrenner and the Diamondbacks. I’m impressed with his ability to handle snakes.”

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Trivia answer: Oct. 14, 1984, Game 5 between the Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres at Detroit.

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And finally: George Diaz of the Orlando Sentinel writes that Florida is feeling blue after getting blown off as a potential Summer Games site:

“The United States Olympic Committee scratched Tampa/Orlando from its list of worthy Olympic venues for the 2012 Summer Games, much like the girlfriend who dumps us for muscle-bound Lars, blinks her lyin’ eyes and says, ‘Can we still be friends?”’