Early Week Notes

Some early week notes from the sports world:

-Hall of Fame second baseman Ryne Sandberg has joined the Philadelphia Phillies organization and will manage their Triple-A affiliate team in 2011. We discussed Ryne Sandberg in one of our November 3 blogs, entitled "Adios Ryno," and how he had been passed over in the selection of the new manager of the Chicago Cubs. Now, he will be the head honcho of the Lehigh Valley IronPigs.

Sandberg, a longtime Cubbie, was very disappointed after not being chosen to manage the Cubs in 2011 or manage another MLB team. ""I spent the four years in the minor leagues to manage at the major league level, and that's where my heart is and that's what my next step is. That's where I look next. So I'll take it a step at a time and see if there's another opportunity out there and go from there," he said last month when the Cubs hired Mike Quade.

Hopefully Sandberg will be able to score a Major League job in 2012, if not sooner. Midseason firings at the MLB level are rare, but do happen on occasion. Hard to see him going back to the Cubs though, my guess is his major league job would have to be elsewhere.
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-The struggles for our local Sacramento Kings continue (sadface). After an exciting 3-1 start to this season's campaign, the team has now dropped five straight contests, including four at home. Elias Sports Buearu had an interesting note following Sunday's home loss to the Detroit Pistons;

The Kings' 100-94 defeat to the Pistons was Sacramento's fourth straight home loss. Since the start of the 2006-2007 season, the Kings have had 11 different home losing streaks of at least four games, most in the NBA over that span. In the previous eight seasons (1998-1999 through 2005-2006), Sacramento only lost four straight games at ARCO Arena once, in December 2005.

I miss the days when ARCO was such a tough place to win at! During the Kings "glory years" when I was just becoming a teen, it seemed every home game was practically a guaranteed Kings victory. Looking back at the 2002-2003 season, the Kings were an NBA best 35-6 at home. Unfortunately it is 2010, and those Kings already boast four home losses, and its only mid-November.

At some point soon I'd love to blog about the future of the Kings; whether it truly will be in Sacramento or not, and what it will take to turn around the franchise.
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Blasphemy! I'm all for Deron Williams having a strong week (Jazz were 4-0, he averaged 23 points, 11.8 assists and 4.0 rebounds), but no way was he the Western Conference Player of the Week. No way!!!!! Not when the Minnesota Timberwolves' Kevin Love averages 21.0 points and 20.3 rebounds. Granted the Timberwolves had a 2-2 week (beat Sacramento), Love still wrecked havoc on the boards all week, and for that, I grant him my Western Conference Player of the Week award, with Deron Williams as an honorable mention.