WOW! ARE TIMES CHANGING, OR WHAT?

Catching up:

SO THE GIANTS hired TONY VITELLO away from 

Tennessee, the University of, and now your Washington 

Nationals will name BLAKE BUTERA, who has no 

major-league managerial experience. Heck, he’s only 33 

years old,

Finally, at last, what took them so long? Teams are wising 

up and not settling for retreads.

Of course, if Vitello, 47, and/or Butera (said to be MLB’s 

youngest skipper in 50 yeras) doesn’t succeed, it will be 

back to the same old, same old. Count on it,

HERE, WE THINK sports are important … but nothing 

like, say Louisiana … where the governor takes the hiring 

and firing of coaches personally.

JEFF LANDRY, who had a role in Sunday’s ouster of 

LSU football’s BRIAN KELLY, made it clear 

Wednesday athletic director SCOTT WOODWARD

 would have nothing to do with coming up with a high-

profile replacement.

“I’d rather have President [DONALD] TRUMP pick 

him,” said Landry, a Republican. “He knows winners.”

In fact, a special committee tied to the school’s board of 

visitors will come up with the new man, with Landry 

having the stamp of approval. Leading contender, as he is 

at such other big-time programs as Florida, Penn State 

and UCLA, is LANE KIFFIN of the University of 

Mississippi.

Why is Landry down on Woodward … who came to 

Baton Rouge from Texas A&M where he gave JIMBO 

FISHER a $77 million buyout? Kelly got a mere $54M 

from Woodward … what Landry called “a pattern” of 

giving away money. You think?

Say adios and good-bye to Scott Woodward, LSU.

JUST WHAT we don’t need … in addition to more 

lawyers … is politicians trying to solve what is ailing 

athletics.

MICHAEL BAUMGARTNER, a Representative from 

Washington, the state of, has introduced a bill aimed at 

limiting what coaches can be paid.

In his “Correcting Opportunity and Accountability in 

Collegiate Hiring” amendment to the Higher Education 

Act of 1965, Baumgartner would ensure annual 

compensation to any athletic department employe “does 

not exceed 10 times the institution’s tuition.” He called it 

“a simple guardrail to bring sanity back to the financial 

management of college sports.”

Don’t hold your breath.

NOW COMES WORD the Senate Committee on 

Commerce, Science and Transportation is demanding 

extensive details of the NBA’s gambling policies and 

recent internal investigations … prompted by the league’s 

recent gambling scandal.

Specifically, they want documentation of every NBA 

investigation of players, coaches, game officials and 

executives since 2020. Also, they are asking why Heat 

guard TERRY ROZIER, among those indicted on 

federal charges, cleared the league’s internal probe before 

the FBI stepped in.

“Sports betting scandals like this one may [sic] lead the

American public to assume that all sports are corrupt,” 

the committee wrote.

They aren’t?

Until next time ...