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Item: Marlins trade Reyes, Johnson, Buerhle, Bonifacio, Buck to Toronto

Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria says the trade is not a fire sale.

Many South Florida fans are angry they’ve been lied to.

A couple of things …

Loria was not the owner when the ’97 World Championship team was dismantled. Not exonerating him, just stating fact.

The Marlins-Jays trade ultimately could be a wash or even a Miami positive when it's examined a few years down the road.

But …

Loria and team president David Samson found a group of politicians who agreed to publicly fund a new stadium in Miami.

The Marlins also have benefitted financially from MLB’s revenue sharing.

So, when Loria & Co. threw around money last winter, optimistic Marlins fans believed the small-market mentality was gone for good. Ha.

Skeptics – even those, like me, who hoped things had changed – knew the team’s dysfunctional track record (owner involvement, management obsession with controlling every message) remained prevalent.

The big spending lasted one year. Sure, the season produced an embarrassing last-place finish, but it didn't warrant a 180.

At worst, Loria and Samson are greedy liars. At best, they are arrogant, ignorant and clueless.

Either way, the Marlins fan base has a right to be livid.

Item: Oregon, Kansas State, Notre Dame all undefeated 

Just a few weeks remain in the 2012 season, but as the saying goes, there’s still a lot of football yet to be played.

All three unbeaten teams have at least one game in which it wouldn’t be a total shock they lost.

Notre Dame losing at Southern Cal would be the least-surprising "upset." I think Oregon and Kansas State will sail through to the BCS game.  

I’ve said for years, any major college team that goes unbeaten has a right to claim a share of the national championship. I buy into the notion a team only can beat the opponents on its schedule.

No system is perfect. The BCS game is better than we had previously, and future changes should limit the griping by title also-rans even more.

I also understand that in some years, the national champion isn’t always the best team.

Just like the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, which decides a winner. That’s different than determining the country’s best.

Today's Topic: Notre Dame joins the ACC

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Notre Dame joining the ACC might have been a surprise initially because news hadn’t leaked before the official announcement.

Really, the move was inevitable.

Oh, the Big Ten seemed to be a more logical place for Notre Dame, but it was just a matter of time before the small South Bend school sent its own shockwaves through the reshaped college landscape.

The biggest news is not that ND will be joining the ACC in all sports except football and hockey. The significant part of the deal is this: the Fighting Irish football team will play five ACC teams annually.

Basically, Notre Dame football will remain independent in name and revenue only.

You see, tradition means little in college athletics today. It’s all about self interest, survival and money -- and the three usually are intertwined. Kudos to school president Rev. John Jenkins and athletic director Jack Swarbrick for understanding that.

Notre Dame needed to leave the Big East. The once proud, powerful conference, especially in terms of basketball, is dying; its football league already is on life support.

ND officials needed to find a new home for their non-football sports while looking out for the future of their signature program.

With restructured mega conferences having added complexity to future football scheduling, the Irish needed to avoid slates filled with mid-major and Big East foes.

Even with five ACC games, Irish fans still will see their team play Southern California annually. Michigan, Michigan State, Purdue, Navy and Army likely will remain as regular foes, though probably not every year.

Notre Dame gives the ACC a credible institution, and the league gives the Irish quality competition in all sports.

From a football perspective, the Irish still will recruit nationally while becoming a bigger presence in the South. Oh, and the lucrative NBC TV contract isn't going anywhere soon.

Notre Dame football never has been irrelevant.  Sure, it has been absent from national title contention much of the past 20 years, when many school officials were guilty of death-gripping tradition and the idea the Irish could survive alone.

That’s not the case anymore. Everybody knows that. It’s as easy as A-C-C.

Today's Topics: Ark., UCLA, ND, Modell/Browns, Clemens

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A couple of quick things from College Football Week 1:

Couldn’t help but smile when I saw the score: La.-Monroe 34, Arkansas 31 (OT)

That’s because Razorbacks head coach John L. Smith took over at Arkansas after ditching his alma mater (Weber State) before even coaching a game there.

Smith turned his back on his own to grab a spotlight job in the SEC.

He’s not the only coach who would have done that, but his bolting Weber State left a bad taste in my mouth.

La.-Monroe’s victory served as some mouthwash.

BTW, earlier last week, Smith filed for bankruptcy concerning debts incurred through real estate investments in Kentucky.

Smith last week paid the price for multiple decisions.

Not sure why UCLA football has suffered through such a long period of national irrelevance, but beating Nebraska might be a sign the Bruins are headed in the right direction under Jim Mora.

The team is very young – inexperience that will be costly at times during the season. Saturday’s night victory, however, got people’s attention.

Even people at USC.

Saints suspensions overturned

Funniest thing seen in light of Saints players having there Bounty-gate suspensions overturned by a three-person NFL panel was ESPN’s Mark Schlereth saying the league was a brotherhood and he never knew of a player intentionally trying to hurt another player.

Typing that has me laughing again.

A’s pitcher recovering

Never like to hear that a McCarthy is hurting, and that’s especially true after learning A’s right-hander Brandon McCarthy was hit in the head by a line drive on Wednesday night.

The most important update is that McCarthy appears to be recovering. He’s even Tweeting from the hospital!

How a guy who nearly dies after being hit by a lined baseball can take the mound again is beyond me.

But never underestimate a McCarthy. J

Former Browns owner Modell dies

As an outsider looking in, I thought it was a crime when Art Modell moved his Browns from Cleveland to Baltimore.

OK, he owned the team and felt he got a raw deal from the city officials. But the Browns had a large, loyal following -- the Cleveland fans had a right to be incensed.

At least Modell and the NFL did the right thing by leaving the Browns’ name and history in Cleveland. Thus, we have the Ravens.

Upon learning of Modell’s death last week, some Cleveland fans commented that time and a new Browns franchise helped heal the wounds. Good for them.

Sadly, other Cleveland fans reiterated hatred for Modell, among other things.

Let’s hope the bitter fans have better perspective when something really significant, tragic and/or important happens in their lives.

Irish delay (inevitable?) Kelly Watch

Notre Dame pulled out a last-second victory against Purdue, perhaps aided by a no-call when the play clock appeared to have expired.

The Irish avoided a loss that, fairly or unfairly, would have started the clock on the Brian Kelly Watch.

With a murderous schedule, Notre Dame likely will lose several times in 2012. But beginning 1-1 for a fourth straight year, and following a disappointing home defeat, many Irish fans would have been left feeling dismayed and unhappy quicker than expected.

The enhanced Rocket

Drug-aided or not, Roger Clemens clearly is an enhanced version of other 50 year olds.

Just taking the mound in an independent league and shutting down batters half his age is impressive.

Clemens should pitch as long as he can. It's not like his Hall of Fame status would be affected, since he's not going to Cooperstown for a while, at best.

Today's Topic: ND's Pinkett -- wrong words, shared sentiment

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“Bad citizens.” “Criminals.”

Those were the words that got Allen Pinkett in trouble.

Pinkett, a former Notre Dame running back and the school’s current radio analyst, made news during an interview in which he gave his thoughts on recently suspended Irish football players.

“I've always felt like to have a successful team you've got to have a few bad citizens on the team," Pinkett said on WSCR-AM 670. "That's how Ohio State used to win all the time. They would have two or three guys that were criminals and that just adds to the chemistry of the team.”

The idea that Notre Dame needs to alter its approach to compete annually with the Ohio States, USCs, Alabamas, Floridas, etc. is not new.

Many Fighting Irish fans believe for ND to compete regularly for a national title, it needs to become more liberal in accepting recruits who are struggling students and/or have made past mistakes.

But “bad citizens?” “Criminals?”

There are a lot of Notre Dame fans who root for the team/school because it tries to conduct business adhering to some principles.

If others take that as being arrogant, so be it.

Notre Dame certainly is not perfect. The school and the football program have made mistakes through the years.

And if a young athlete truly wants to attend Notre Dame, even if that player has been a less-than-stellar student or made previous errors in judgment, the school should examine the situation closely.

After all, some people earn second or multiple chances.

But to many Irish fans, Notre Dame has, and should, stand for something more than football. 

After all, there are worse things than not competing for national championships.