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The Way I See It
I can imagine how uneasy Benny Agbayani felt when asked about teammates in the shower by shock jock Howard Stern. Agbayani a
modest playerAccording to Saturday's Star-Bulletin story by Ben DiPietro, Agbayani just laughed off Stern's typically low-life question.
Agbayani's an old-fashioned kind of guy with the same kind of old-fashioned modesty that characterizes most island people.
I found that out when I was talking with him in the Mets' locker room at Fenway Park in early July.
After Pedro Martinez and Rich Garces had combined to beat the Mets, 4-3, the New York locker room was jammed with media people and cameras. About 15 feet from Agbayani's dressing area, which was adjacent to the open showers, were three women reporters converging with their male colleagues to interview Mike Piazza.
Women have had access to pro locker rooms for a long time.
But I couldn't help but notice the effort Agbayani put into covering himself up.
Agbayani emerged from the shower with a towel wrapped securely around his waist.
I asked him if the women reporters made him feel uncomfortable. Agbayani, looking embarrassed, quietly admitted they did. Then he pulled on his pants -- under the towel.
If there's one thing good about the Subway Series, it's that the players don't have to deal with energy-sapping, cross-country travel.
We'll see if that translates into better baseball: better hitting, better fielding, better base running.
No Bill Buckner-style miscues.
Leave it to a Massachusetts native to think about Buckner 14 years after the fact.
I finally trashed the starchy, yellowed pennant that was printed prematurely: "Red Sox -- 1986 World Champions."
I bought it when I arrived in Boston a week after the Series. Thought it was a collector's item. Pretty pathetic.
I still haven't thrown away that blasted March 27 Sports Illustrated issue with Martinez profiled on the cover next to the words: "Why The Red Sox Will Win The World Series (Really)."
I see that former Boston Bruin Marty McSorley, who was convicted just a few weeks ago in Vancouver of braining the Canucks' Donald Brashear with his stick, wants back in the National Hockey League.
OK. I guess if Mike Tyson can fight guys as bugsy as him, and have people actually pay to watch, the NHL might as well embrace McSorley.
My sister in Massachusetts weighed in the other day on the McSorley incident.
Marijane is a mother who has refereed a few brawls in her day.
She always reminds me that she doesn't give a hoot about sports. But since she lives within 20 miles of the Bruins' franchise, and she did raise two sons who are over 6 feet, she felt compelled to address this issue.
She said the NHL could have handled McSorley's brutality toward Brashear by simply doing what she did in raising Justin and Patrick.
Here it is, so, pay attention, Gary Bettman: Make McSorley and Brashear suit up again and go back on the ice. Then have Brashear beat on McSorley until the latter understands what it feels like. The next step, she said, is to send both to their rooms "to think about it."
No legal hassle.
I have forwarded her recommendation to the NHL commissioner's office.
Pat Bigold has covered sports for daily newspapers
in Hawaii and Massachusetts since 1978.
