Shohei Ohtani is... pitching again

# 2 on our JULY NR TOP 10 is: FINDING A WNBA HAPPY PLACE - (John Mac - photo) July NR TOP 10

Chris Paul is an LA Clipper AGAIN!

Trinity Rodman - (Hamilton photo)

Los Angeles Lakers Magic Johnson and Boston Celtics Larry Bird in Game two of the 1985 NBA Finals at Boston Garden Date 30 May 1985 - Steve Lipofsky www.Basketballphoto.com ALL TIME NBA 1st TEAM - BREAKING IT DOWN

SPORTS NOTES EXTRA - SPORTS CHANGE UPS

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

Shohei Ohtani is... pitching again - Chris Paul's return to the LA Clippers is not only about... - Lionel Messi keeps going and going and going - Trinity Rodman ON THE MOVE??? - NBA & WNBA STYLIN IT = ANKLE INJURIES??? - NBA's ALL TIME BEST PLAYERS 1st and 2nd TEAMS

Sunday August 17, 2025

MLB

Shohei Ohtani is slowly gaining momentum in returning to the mound. In his last pitching start against his former team the LA Angels, he went 4.1 innings, his longest in this season of arm recuperation. When Ohtani started his return to the mound he pitched only one inning. As his confidence and arm strength improved, he increased pitching an inning at a time.

This is the first time he has gone this far. He and the Dodgers are doing it right. They are not greedy in trying to get more bang for their bucks having him return to the mound too early. It's obvious that their concern is to be careful and not to jeopardize his health.

Ohtani's KO stat is more impressive having struck out 15 over his last 8 1/3 innings. His pitch count and control is impressive.

Should he pitch enough innings and win a game this season would be a landmark achievement.

The major plus factor is Ohtani is earning his $700 million deal over 10 years by leading the National League with 43 home runs, at the time of this writing. He is tied with the Philadelphia Phillies Kyle Schwarber.

The beauty of this is he isn't greedy. He only takes $2 million a year from his deal with the remainder being deferred.

NBA

Chris Paul's return to the LA Clippers is not only about returning to the team where he had major success for six seasons but also being home with his family that remained in Los Angeles after he was traded away from the Clips to other franchises for eight seasons.

What is astounding is Clippers GM Lawrence Frank made a comment that the Clips were one of the two oldest teams in the league. With their off season with Paul 40, and the acquisitions of center Brook Lopez 37 and guard Bradley Beal 32, it appears that they have clinched being the oldest team in the league title. At this point their roster has nine players 30 or over.

SOCCER

Lionel Messi keeps going and going ad going. At 37 he has 18 goals and 10 assists in 18 appearances for Inter Miami….

Trinity Rodman's contract with the Washington Spirit expires at the end of this season. Rodman says that making a move to Europe is not an if, but… when.

The question is…. Where is Dennis when we need him? Ohhh… he's right here.

STYLIN IT = ANKLE INJURIES

It seems that today's NBA and WNBA players are more concerned with style more than substance. With many NBA players earning $30 to $50 million a season a lot of them spend much of their time having ankle operations and recovering from their injuries. Some miss up to a year in recovery therefore taking $MILLIONS of FREE MONEY in the process.

The problem is many have shoe deals and they wear low cuts during games. Low cut don't protect ankles. Yes players can be taped up but the current ankle injury results defy logic.

One of the greatest basketball coaches of all time John Wooden insisted that his players tie their show properly. In interviewing several former players under Wooden they would chuckle as they all brought up this subject.

Not only was Wooden cautious but Michael Jordan, as I recall, didn't have many ankle injuries. He was also selling his brand Air Jordan shoes. The bottom line is Air Jordan's were and are HIGH TOPS.

NBA GAME CHANGE SUGGESTIONS:

Make a rule where a team can only take 30 three-point shots a game. This will create more strategy. A shot clock can be doubled in two sections where one side is about 3-point shots taken and the other being the 24 second clock.