According to news sources, Armando Gutierrez and the Bases Loaded Orlando have targeted the Tampa Yankees of the Advanced-A Florida State League to move to Orlando.

He plans on his investment group purchasing the team, and planting them in a baseball stadium located at the Beachline and International Drive, most likely the southeast corner by SeaWorld Aquatica water park.

I see two huge problems.

First, I don’t see the Tampa Yankees selling. Currently they say they are in “very preliminary talks” with Gutierrez, which means, essentially, “Yeah, he called us. So?”

The Yankees are middle-of-the-road in attendance for 2010 in the FSL, with 1,506 per game, making them 5th out of 12. Only three teams–the Charlotte Stone Crabs (Rays), Clearwater Threshers (Phillies) and Daytona Cubs (duh), in descending order–have attendance figures over 2,000 per game.

Plus, they play in George Steinbrenner Field.

Allow me to repeat that: George. Steinbrenner. Field.

He’s not even cold in the ground yet, and they’re talking about vacating his adopted home.

Well, they may not be. Gutierrez seems to think they do.

But if the idea of ceding Orlando to the Evil Empire isn’t unpalatable enough, look where they want to put it: the corner of the Beachline and International Drive.

I’ve looked at the Google Maps. Either it’s going in an armpit of the Orlando Hilton, or between an exit ramp and SeaWorld Aquatica.

To make matters worse, he plans on installing a baseball museum there as well. What are we going to do, have an exhibit on Joe Tinker? Erect a statue of Carlos Peña? In pinstripes?

When I saw that as the location, to me it gave the impression that this is for tourists, not Orlando.

I can’t support it. It needs two things: 1) A different location away from the tourist traps, and 2) a team other than the Tampa Yankees.

I myself think we can support up to Triple-A baseball. Yeah, fat chance of that ever happening. But if we’re going to start with Advanced-A, then at least let’s target one of the four FSL teams that are below 1,000 fans per game. We have Jupiter, Palm Beach, Bradenton and Dunedin, higher-to-lower.

The Dunedin Blue Jays only draw 576 per game. That sounds like a much better plan.

Occasionally I do go off the board, especially for my favorite teams.

Yesterday it came down from the St. Pete Times that Matt Garza had a special gift for his teammates to thank them for their assistance in his no-hitter this past Monday night:

Image from the St. Petersburg Times

Crown Royal made special embroidered bottle bags for his teammates containing bottles of their premium Crown Royal Black whiskey.

Nikco Sports is producing a special commemorative plaque for the no-hitter. The limited edition of 500 will feature two photos: one of Garza, and one of the scoreboard at the end of the game. It will also contain a piece of one of the balls used in the game. The plaque will cost $99, with proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Call 1-800-345-2868 for order details; it is not available on Nikco’s website yet.

Also coming up: the first 10,000 fans into this Monday’s game against the Minnesota Twins (who happen to be the team we acquired Garza from) will get a special two-sided poster. One side with Garza, the other side with a replica of the lineup placard. Other specials to commemorate the Rays’ first ever no-hitter are being planned.

Also as it so happens, Matt Garza is pitching tonight against the New York Yankees. Game time is 7:10pm on Sun Sports, but the game is sold out. If you really want to come out–because not only is Garza pitching again, but Alex Rodriguez is still sitting on 599 home runs–tickets are still available for a premium on Stubhub.

Character actor James Gammon, an Orlando resident best known for his role as manager Lou Brown in the Major League films, passed away today at his home in Costa Mesa, California, aged 70.

Gammon was a respected character actor who will always be remembered as the fiery but light-hearted mentor of the misfit Cleveland Indians in the 1989 film Major League, and its 1994 sequel, Major League II.

Gammon was a graduate of Boone High School, c/o 1959, and got started in television as a cameraman at WDBO channel 6 (now WKMG), before embarking on an acting career. He had since pioneered a reunion group for the TV station.

He suffered an aggressive recurrence of cancer last month.

Today is my 30th birthday.

Some interesting things in sport that happened on July 14:

• In 1969, El Salvador launched bombing raids on Honduras, beginning the Football War. The war was fought over a pair of soccer games for CONCACAF qualification to the 1970 FIFA World Cup, where riots ensued following both matches in their tie as well as a tiebreaker in neutral Mexico City that June. El Salvador won the war militarily, but were sanctioned internationally for the brute force they exerted over Honduras. They ultimately qualified for the World Cup, but failed to score in their group, where they were dominated by the Soviet Union, Mexico and Belgium.
• Being the period of the MLB All-Star Game, several occured on this date. The first was 1953, at Cincinnati’s Crosley Field, when the NL beat the AL, 5-1. Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves was the winning pitcher. (They didn’t name MVPs until 1962.) In 1970, again in Cincinnati but at the brand new Riverfront Stadium, the NL beat the AL, 5-4 in 12 innings. Carl Yastrzemski of the Boston Red Sox–yes, an AL player–was named MVP. This was the infamous game where Pete Rose careened into Ray Fosse at home plate to score the winning run. Examination of replays showed he initially wanted to slide, but stumbled and rammed directly into Fosse, injuring the catcher. Fosse, an up-and-coming star to that point, would never be the same. In 1987, at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium, the NL beat the AL, 2-0 in 13 innings. Tim Raines of the Montreal Expos was MVP. In 1992, at what is now Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, the AL beat the NL, 13-6. Ken Griffey, Jr., of the Seattle Mariners was MVP. Last year’s All-Star Game at Busch Stadium III in St. Louis was also on July 14. The AL beat the NL, 4-3. Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays was MVP.
• This date also sometimes falls in the window for the FIFA World Cup. In 1930, the first tournament, two opening round games were played on July 14 in Uruguay. Romania beat Peru, 3-1, and Yugoslavia beat Brazil, 2-1. Beyond that, the date itself has seen no action. It was a rest day in the final group stage in 1950 (the final was determined by a round robin at the time), and was a rest day between the semifinal and finals in 1994.

Among the sports birthdays are football players Roosevelt Grier and Darelle Revis; baseball players Robin Ventura, Jose Hernandez, Tim Hudson and Bernie Castro; basketball players Erick Dampier and Renaldo Balkman; soccer players Nilmar (Brazil), Billy Celeski (Australia), Adam Johnson (England) and James Vaughan (England); and professional wrestlers Jeff Jarrett and Mark Lamonica (Brother Ray in TNA).

It also would’ve been the birthday of golfer Erica Blasberg, but she died earlier this year. Her death in May was under suspicious circumstances, and is still under investigation at this time.

If I win the lottery, I want to buy a sports team.

Be it the Orlando Titans, the Orlando Predators, an MLS franchise, or if I had the money the Orlando Magic themselves.

And I would invest all my money to make them the greatest team ever.

Just like George Steinbrenner.

In 1973, George Steinbrenner did what every die-hard sports fan wishes they could do. He used the fortune he made in his father’s shipping business and bought his favorite team. That team happened to be the New York Yankees.

Not by himself, initially, but eventually he would own it all.

He got to work on building a team that would live up to the then-20 championships it already owned.

He did it by spending money. He made it cool, and exploited the new concept of free agency to hire the best players and staff money could buy.

Wouldn’t you do the same if you had the money?

37 years and seven World Series Championships later, the New York Yankees are at the top of the sporting universe again.

It certainly wasn’t foolproof. If it were, the Yankees would’ve won closer to 25 titles under George’s ownership. And not everybody liked the changes his way of doing business brought. But if he hadn’t have done it, somebody else would.

Plenty of people hate the Yankees–and, by extension, hated George–because of their success. But no matter how they try to pass it off as something else, you have to be honest. The primary factor is jealousy.

You want your team to have what the Yankees have. You want what George had.

It’s the same reason why many people hate the Red Sox now as well, because they decided to try to beat George at his own game. It’s the same reason many people hate the biggest European soccer franchises.

George made winning at all monetary costs cool. That is his legacy.

Whether you love him or hate him, you can’t say he didn’t make things interesting.

And you can’t say you wouldn’t do the same thing if you had the ability.

This article is also featured on Bleacher Report.

Sorry I’ve been quiet the past week or so. Had some stuff to take care of in the real world.

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The Orlando Predators are currently sitting 5-7 with four games left in the regular season. That includes home games this Friday against Alabama, and on Saturday night, July 24, against Oklahoma City. The game on Friday night will air on NFL Network, and of course tickets are available. Game time is 8pm.

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The Kraze are 4-3-2 right now. Their next game is this Friday at Showalter Field in Winter Park. Game time is 7pm.

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The Florida Tuskers is planning the big kickoff for their Supporters Club. It will happen next Tuesday, July 13, at Ember, a high-end bar and grill in Downtown Orlando at 42 W. Central Blvd. There is parking right next door at 55 W. Central Blvd. (no, that’s not the 55 West… that’s a couple blocks south on Church St.)

Drink specials and complementary appetizers will be provided.

The Tuskers have not been sitting around in terms of personnel decisions. They have signed running back Dominic Rhodes. That name ought to be familiar. It’s the same guy who saved Peyton Manning’s hind quarters by rushing 113 yards with one touchdown in Super Bowl XLI. For his NFL career, he has 7,257 all-purpose yards with 32 TD.

Their provisional roster, which they will take into preseason training camp, was announced last Wednesday.

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The only recent news on the Orlando Titans is that they recently reshuffled their ownership structure. The primary owner, Gary Rosenbach, has sold some of his stake to other ownership partners.

Team president Steve Donner said there is interest in bringing in local partners. I’m certain we’ll get news when that happens.

The team stated there are no major difficulties with our NLL lacrosse team. Although not profitable their first year (what team is?), they did do better this year than during any year in New York City. Their financial goal is to break even during their third season in town.

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As for UCF… I scooped that Jeffrey Jordan would join his brother, Marcus, at UCF for men’s basketball. This was made official last week. He’ll sit out this coming season, and play his senior season, 2011-12.

Women’s basketball announced just today that assistant coach Courtney Locke has been promoted to recruiting coordinator. Locke has been an integral part of head coach Joi Williams-Felton’s staff. She played at Rutgers from 2002-2006.

It should be noted that all five starters in women’s basketball, and 4 of 5 starters in men’s basketball, return next year. So there are high hopes for improvement in 2010-11.

Season tickets for UCF football are on sale now. General season tickets are $190 on the sidelines and $130 in the end zone. Both prices are lower than the first-year prices in 2007 ($210 anywhere). Faculty/staff pricing is $156, and student pricing is $60 with valid UCF ID.

In baseball, Chris Duffy is being named first-team All-American by everybody: ABCA/Rawlings, Baseball America, NCBWA, and Yahoo! Sports, among others. Whether or not he wins the Golden Spikes Award (for which he’s one of 5 finalists) will be announced next Tuesday prior to the MLB All-Star Game.

Owen Dew signed his tender with the Cleveland Indians, and will report to Short-A Mahoning Valley in the New York-Penn League. Shane Brown signed with the Yankees, and will report to Short-A Staten Island in the same league.

Chris Duffy has been assigned to the rookie-level Gulf Coast League by the Phillies, meaning he’s playing in Clearwater. (Interestingly enough, he’s not the only Chris Duffy in the Phillies system.)

UCF left fielder Chris Duffy made it to the list of five finalist for the MLB.com/USA Baseball Golden Spikes Awards.

Vote for Duffy now! Voting closes next Friday, June 18, at 5pm EDT. The winner of the fan vote will count as one vote on the final panel. Let’s show them how much we love our superstar.

Duffy is also one of 25 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Award, an award of the National College Baseball Writers Association. Three finalists will be named next Saturday, June 19.

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Duffy was duly awarded for his work in college by being selected in the 2010 MLB Draft, along with right fielder Shane Brown and starting pitcher Owen Dew.

Dew was chosen with the 5th pick in the 21st round, 630th overall, by the Cleveland Indians.

Brown was chosen with the last pick of the 23rd round, 715th overall, by the New York Yankees.

Duffy was chosen with the 26th pick in the 26th round, 801st overall, by the Philadelphia Phillies.

There’s still 20 more rounds to go. More tomorrow night.

As for our high school students: LHP Justin Nicolino of University High was chosen in the 2nd round (80th overall) by the Toronto Blue Jays.  RHP A.J. Cole of Oviedo High was chosen 116th overall by the Washington Nationals. CF Mason Williams of West Orange High was chosen 145th overall by the Yankees. RF Jose Dore of The First Academy was chosen 244th overall by the San Diego Padres. RF Dustin Geiger of Merritt Island High was chosen 730th overall by the Chicago Cubs. CF Jay Gonzalez of Freedom High was chosen 833rd overall by the Boston Red Sox. RHP Adaric Kelly of Trinity Prep was chosen 846th overall by the Blue Jays.

For other local colleges, RHP Jason Degrom of Stetson University was chosen 272nd overall by the New York Mets. RHP Tim Griffin of Rollins College was chosen 852nd overall by the Seattle Mariners.

From Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University: RHP Jonathan Countis was chosen 572nd overall by the Mets. C Austin Goolsby was chosen 778th overall by the Baltimore Orioles.

UCF baseball LF Chris Duffy was selected as a semifinalist for the MLB.com/USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award.

Duffy, a senior, finished 2010 with a .447 batting average and an insane 1.389 OPS (.539 OBP, .850 SLG), with 21 home runs and 81 RBI. He is now tied for the UCF career record for home runs, with 43.

The most  recent winners of the award are San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum in 2006, Tampa Bay Rays pitcher David Price in 2007, San Francisco Giants catcher (and FSU all-everything) Buster Posey in 2008, and soon-to-be-called-up Washington Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg in 2009.

Voting is going on right now at the Golden Spikes Award website. Voting ends today at 5pm EDT, and finalists will be announced on Tuesday.

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Duffy was also selected, along with RF Shane Brown, as a Louisville Slugger All-American.

Brown, also a senior, finished 2010 with a .428 batting average and 1.233 OPS (.541 OBP, .692 SLG), with 26 doubles. He also finishes his career in the top 10 in home runs, and many other categories.

SS Darnell Sweeney was selected as Conference USA Freshman of the Year for baseball.

Everybody’s seen it by now, how Armando Galarraga got stiffed out of a perfect game by one of the worst calls in MLB history.

We need to make sure this never happens again. By now, even baseball purists are calling for the expansion of instant replay.

That expansion could happen today if Major League Baseball and the World Umpires Association wanted to get it done. We already have the technology in place with replay implemented for “boundary calls” (i.e. whether or not a ball is a home run).

I have come to believe that a model similar to the NFL is doable for MLB. Distribute replay flags to every manager, and give each team two replays per game on non-boundary calls. The following calls would fall into this category:

• Whether a catch for an out is “on the fly” or a “trap”
• Whether a ball put in play is fair or foul
• Who beat who to the bag on force-out plays
• Whether a tag was made in time or not on tag-out plays
• Whether a pitch hit a batter or not

Boundary calls for possible home runs will remain unlimited, and not affect the number of non-boundary replays a team gets.

The following would not qualify for replay, and would not be reviewable:

• Balls and strikes
• Whether or not a fan interfered with a ball in a non-boundary call
• Balks
• Catcher’s interference
• Whether an individual play was a hit or an error

A flag must be thrown before the first pitch of the next plate appearance is made. If a flag is thrown inappropriately, that team will be assessed a ball (if it’s the team on defense) or a strike (if it’s the team up to bat). If it is thrown for balls and strikes, it’s grounds for ejection under the “arguing balls and strikes” rule.

Replays on boundary calls have tended to range three to five minutes normally. An initial time limit of five minutes from the umpires leaving the field can be implemented, and adjusted accordingly as the system is put into practice.

Umpires may feel a bit offended by having to defer more to instant replay at first. NFL referees felt the same way. But I’m sure if any umpire wants instant replay expanded, it’s Jim Joyce. He’s a well-respected game official who has seen two World Series (1999 and 2001), and has been involved in a host of historic moments, including Nolan Ryan’s 5,000th strikeout. And now he’ll be remembered as the umpire who blew “that call.”

Armando Galarraga may not officially have his perfect game. And whether or not he should get it anyway is a discussion for another time. But his moment may, at least, be remembered as the watershed that finally brought a more complete implementation of instant replay to Major League Baseball.

Hopefully, we won’t see history get robbed from us like this anymore.

This article also appeares on Bleacher Report.

Why is UCF so dominant out of conference, yet so weak in-conference? UCF beat Florida Atlantic handily last night, 14-3.

LF Chris Duffy went 2-for-2 with two walks, giving him 222 career hits to crack UCF’s Top 10. 3B Chris Taladay went 4-for-6, SS Darnell Sweeney went 3-for-6, and 1B Jonathan Griffin went 2-for-6 with a home run.

After starting pitcher Alex Besaw gave up two runs in 1 IP, Chase Bradford and Brennan Dobbins each struck out four in 5 and 2 IP respectively.

UCF baseball has the weekend off. Their next game is next Tuesday night, hosting Jacksonville.