Bugs in the system made '07 memorable
They came off the lake and out of the night. Swarms of flying critters descended with a fury on the Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees like a day of reckoning.
The midges -- or Chironomus plumosus (Linnaeus) for those keeping score at home -- all but exterminated the Yankees' hopes of reaching the World Series.
The bugs feasted on the ample jowls of Yankee reliever Joba Chamberlain as if they had lucked into a seven-course banquet of human flesh. Derek Jeter flailed his arms at shortstop, swatting away at the pests. Catcher Jorge Posada visited the mound with insect repellant. After the playoff game, a 2-1 win in 11 innings by Cleveland, entomologists weighed in with commentary.
Yes, strange things were in the air in 2007, unpredictable gusts and shifting currents blowing across sports.
Maybe this whirlwind by Lake Erie, like some Biblical plague of locusts, was foreshadowed a month earlier in Cincinnati.
Gabe Gross of the Milwaukee Brewers inexplicably broke for third base on a steal. Brewers manager Ned Yost, it turned out, had a mosquito bite and started scratching. Third-base coach Nick Leyva misread the gesticulations for the steal sign.
"I looked up," Yost said, "and saw Gabe coming and thought, 'What the heck is going on.' "
A lot of people wondered that very thing when they heard about Ryan Boatwright. He's a basketball star from Aurora, and Southern California coach Tim Floyd offered him a scholarship. Nothing unusual there. But Boatwright had yet to decide where he's going to high school. He's 14.
"Hmmm," Louisville coach Rick Pitino said. "I'm not good enough to evaluate that far ahead. Someday I might."
Youth -- and we're talking really young -- was also served on the Nebraska-Kearney women's basketball team. Coach Carol Russell was a few minutes late for a game, but please forgive her: She gave birth five hours earlier.
"I usually stand up for the whole game," she said after the 108-75 loss to North Dakota. "But I didn't have the energy."
She was not the only pregnant woman with grit. Colleen Pavelka induced early labor because her husband, a rabid Chicago Bears fan, had tickets to the NFC title game. Dad did his part, though. He was there for delivery in his "Monsters of the Midway" shirt.
Bears fans clearly are a hearty breed. Scott Wiese, an office-supply store worker, made a bar bet in Decatur. If his team lost the Super Bowl, he'd change his name to whoever led Indianapolis to victory. Well, the Colts won and Wiese began legal proceedings to become Peyton Manning. He should be thankful the Bears didn't play the Chargers, and tight end Brandon Manumaleuna was the MVP.
"I represent all Bears fans," he said. "Not that I'm saying they're all idiots like me."
No idiot, Matt White. He's a journeyman pitcher trying to make it in the Dodger organization. A few years ago, he bought 50 acres of land in Massachusetts from his aunt for $50,000. While poking around the property he found stone ledges in the ground. Now he's sitting not on a gold mine but a quarry that could yield more than $2 billion worth of rocks.
"I'm just a small-town guy trying to get to the big leagues," the left-hander said. "It's beyond comprehension."