Published: May 15, 2008 05:03 pm         

ALL IN THE GAME: Is it just me or are the times becoming different?

I just have to feel in my heart that Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and so many others like Luis Aparicio and Tony Kubek would love to still be playing baseball just as much as Bart Starr and Jim Taylor would like to be on the gridiron.

The athletes of today just don’t have the zest for the game that the stars of old brought to the field with them each day. Is there a chance that money has anything to do with this scenario? Sure it does and sadly there is no way that we can back up and reallocate the funds so that our heroes in the athletic arena would again have that gleam in their eyes as they strive to achieve greatness.

The talent of today’s superstars is certainly greater than it was back in the good old days but the love of the various games just isn’t the same. I know, what has come and gone has come and gone and all the whining that I can summon up will not change that but I can still dream can’t I? What a great song lyric that would make.

Anyway, what brought this thought on is that I was reading a newspaper today and noticed that two of today’s most talented female athletes are retiring. That would be Justine Henin of tennis fame and Annika Sorenstam from the world of golf. It is outstanding to be able to retire from sports while at the top of your game but ‘retirement’ at the age of 25 or 38 just doesn’t seem right. That certainly says to me that our priorities are in the wrong place when it comes paying according to worth.

Henin said that she had realized her childhood dream. Heck, she’s still a child. I’m a little older than her and I’m still having dreams. I sure hope that I live long enough to see most of them come true. It probably won’t happen though because that lottery is a lot harder to win than I thought it would be. I’ve got to tell you though, most of my dreams don’t center around the greenback. I’m still wanting to catch a Clay County record rainbow trout on a red-worm or maybe a couple of grains of corn. That would be priceless to me.

Is Tiger about through resting up after his surgery? Can he afford to take all this time off? I’m glad that I don’t have to worry about planning what I would do with all that money. What a drag?

It seems that USC needs to hire someone to make sure that their athletes fit in under the salary cap. The Mayo kid in basketball and Reggie Bush in football are probably just the tip of the iceberg. If this much had been dug up on an SEC school the death penalty would have been handed down.

I hated to see Sergio Garcia win the “Players Championship.” Anyone who spits in the cup should be banned from this gentlemanly sport for a year. That behavior in most sports would have resulted in some sort of punishment. He’s Spanish though so we probably wouldn’t have been able to penalize him.

Don’t forget the Stone Memorial High School Black and Gold game tonight at 6 p.m. High school football will be beginning before you know it.

Congratulations Ms. Rhadika Miller on your new position at Gallatin. It is an honor well deserved.

Enjoy each day. Remember when the day is gone, you have one less to pass that smile on down the line.

GO GRADUATING JETS AND PANTHERS!!! GO USA!!!

Jim Butler is a Chronicle contributor, and his column each Friday.