Mid-Afternoon Musings

• Bob Sheppard is retiring as public address announcer for the Giants. Hopefully he'll soon retire from his other job as well. With the Yankees. Bob Sheppard. Retiring. Bob Sheppard.
  

• Rachel Nichols, on last night's Outside the Lines Nightly, reporting on the one-year anniversary of the Malice at the Palace: "While most of the focus of that night has been on the key players involved, they represent only a small proportion of those affected." Proportion? Are usage skills no longer a prerequisite to be an ESPN reporter? I'll give her a pass though; she usally does good work.

• Chris Russo just called Ron Insana "Ron Insania." No big surprise there.

• Donovan McNabb is out with a pulled groin. I can never hear of this kind of injury without thinking of a line from "Spin City" (credit to my buddy Flash for keeping this quote alive): "I pulled my groin. It felt so good I pulled it again."

• Speaking of which, thanks to Mister Irrelevant for reminding everyone that McNabb was destined for this injury by letting himself be on the cover of this year's Madden.

• Scott Boras is asking 7 years/84 million for Johnny Damon. Crazy nutjob, or smart agent trying to make 5 years/50 million seem reasonable?
  

• Red Sarachek passed away on Monday. More on this later.