Any visit to Firestone (like this week’s to the Bridgestone Invitational) brings feelings of awe. The course is simply that great, a jewel in the nation’s obsession with hitting a dimpled ball with a metal stick. Firestone is a great, great course. No tricks, no gimmicks, no island green, no ridiculous fairway contortions. Just golf as it was meant to be played – although I wish they had not lengthened 16 and left the monster as it always was. The most entertaining 15 minutes at this tournament came Friday during an interview with Peter Lonard, an Australian who is 100 percent Aussie. Having covered tennis and golf in my pitiful existence, I’ve come to have great respect for Aussies. They are straight-up, down to earth and real. Find me a boring Aussie and I’ll show you a Brit (Hey … it’s a JOKE). At any rate, Lonard offered the following when asked what it meant that Tiger Woods was missing: “To me him not being here is usually on average probably the difference between 39th and 38th. So I don't miss him much. But I'm sure the boys up in the big money end, they definitely notice a difference.” After shooting a 66, Lonard quipped that it was better than the 74s he had averaged the past few years at Firestone. What enabled him to shoot 74? He said: “Thick trees, thick rough, hard greens to putt on, being a bad chipper. You name it, I've got it all.” When Lonard talked about the course not being as hard and tough as a year ago, Jude Coen, the young lady next to him from the Australian Tour, said “Australians aren't hard and tough, the courses are hard and tough.” Lonard could not let that go. “Well,” he said. “The chicks are hard and tough, from what I've seen anyway, from the ones that will talk to me.’’ In this nation in this day and age, that might be considered sexist. To an Australian it’s just life. Coen laughed with everyone – while also rolling her eyes just a tiny bit. I don’t know … maybe you had to be there.

Oh … Lonard did not mention Adriana Lima being hard and tough, which of course provides an excuse to post a photo of her.

So now we come to find out that Manny Ramirez asked not to be trade to Los Angeles. His agent called the Red Sox and said he would behave (my word) if the Red Sox kept him and eliminated those oh-so-onerous final two year team options in his contract worth $20 million. Problem was the call came after the trade was completed, and by this point the Red Sox were doing dances in Kenmore Square. The offer from Ramirez’s agent, by the way, does kind of bring up the question as to what Ramirez was doing – and does pretty much confirm that the Red Sox’s belief that he was faking injuries and not trying was pretty much right on the money. Call me crazy, but that’s not the kind of guy I’d want as a teammate.

And … here's Manny signaling how many are out after the leadoff hitter of an inning flied to center (thanks to deadspin.com for this photo)

The Boston Red Sox improved on Thursday. They improved by trading one of the better hitters of our generation, but a guy who was starting to blow up the team’s clubhouse with his antics. Apparently, there is even a limit to “Manny Being Manny.” If it does not seem like the Boston Red Sox had had it with Ramirez’s whining and mysterious injuries, read this interview with Curt Schilling, one of the more honest guys in baseball. Ramirez’s act had worn thin. So the Red Sox got rid of him and brought in Jason Bay, a very nice player the Indians tried to acquire last offseason. On paper, the numbers indicate Ramirez is far superior to Bay. But when you add in what Manny was costing the team, Bay will be better for Boston. The proof? According to Peter Gammons, the Red Sox will pay Ramirez’s salary the rest of this year. Talk about being eager to send a guy packing. Ramirez quit on the team, period, and a guy who does that is not welcome on a team. As Gammons said: “When you’re making $20 milion a year and say you don’t want to play, and you sit out games and say I might play or might not, what does that do for the integrity (of the game).” He added: “The happiest man in America right now is Terry Francona.” Let’s be honest. Manny is out for Manny, which he showed when he showboated after hitting a home run in the playoffs in Cleveland last year when his team was getting waxed. The guy can hit, but all the peripheral stuff means that Boston is better without him.

Chris Duhon averaged 22.6 minutes, shot 38.7 percent and averaged 5.8 points per game last season in Chicago. This means he was to the Bulls what Devin Brown (22.6 minutes, 40.9 percent shooting, 7.5 points). Didn’t matter to New York, which gave Duhon a contract worth the full “mid-level exception” (who comes up with these ridiculous phrases?), which means he’ll make more than $5 million the next two years. Many in the NBA see this deal as “out of line” (my phrase) with the going rate. No matter, Duhon’s contract now is being used in the Delonte West negotiations. As in West’s agent, Aaron Goodwin, claimed it’s a comparable situation – in fact less than comparable because West starts and Duhon will not. So Goodwin says the Cavs are not being fair by offering West just more than Daniel Gibson received (Goodwin’s “they’re not being fair” rant appeared in the News-Herald). Which only proves that these contract things become an exercise in tedium and boredom. At what point do we all get sick of rich folks arguing over how much money they’re going to make? To the Cavs, Duhon’s contract is inflated. To West’s camp, it’s the new barometer. Please. Just work it out and let us know when things are over. Last year it was Anderson Varejao and Sasha Pavlovic. This offseason it’s West. If West wants to play in Cleveland, he’ll sign. If he doesn’t, he can sign a one-year qualifying offer for $2.76 million and take his chances after this season in free agency. If he’s good enough, it will work out, right? Just spare us the histrionics that mean something only to those who are in the middle of the mess.

Speaking of contracts, SI.com reports that “(Manny) Ramirez has been unhappy with the $20-million team options in his contract for 2009 and '10.” Now THAT will sure ruin a day.

CC Sabathia is 4-0 with a 1.82 ERA in Milwaukee, but in a key game against the Cubs this week he gave up nine hits and three runs in 6 2/3 innings in a Brewers loss. Sabathia is a great pitcher, and he’s shown it by improving his record to 10-8 and brining his ERA near 3 after a horrible first month. He didn’t exactly pitch badly against the Cubs – the loss was aided by an error and a ninth-inning Chicago comeback when he was out of the game – but until he actually wins a game like that questions about his ability in those games will come up. Fair? The playoffs last year come to mind. He quite simply got himself too worked up for those playoff games, and it might have cost the Indians a World Series spot. One interesting thing about CC in Milwaukee – he’s thrown three complete games, and he threw 124 pitches in the other. Have to wonder if Sabathia can pitch that much the rest of the season – complete game after complete game. The old rented mule line comes to mind. Obviously the Brewers are thinking only short-term with him. Any pitchers who throws that much – even a guy with the fluid motion of Sabathia – takes risk, and it’s a risk that might not show itself in the short-term but over time if his arm wears down. Don’t worry about his contract, though. Somebody is going to give him $140 million this offseason.

Our own Marla Ridenour wrote an interesting story in today’s paper where some PGA Tour players balk at the fact they now have to undergo random drug testing. Who can blame them? Professional sports is one aspect of our society where one must prove their innocence. Kind of goes against the entire grain of our legal system, if you ask me, where one is innocent until proven guilty. Drug testing without cause presumes a problem, and makes an individual prove he or she is not doing something.

Personal aside to RedHawkRick: Don't blame me; I do not smoke.

A few folks wrote to say I shouldn’t have been so negative about Moscow when I wrote about playing pro basketball there. One of my regular readers pointed out how beautiful the Moscow subway is, and this proves he’s right. It’s not the RTA of course … but who knew?

The negative? Apparently it can get crowded there ..

Then there’s my friend Bob, a fellow St. Ignatius alum who is grandfather to my daughters’ best friend and father and father-in-law to my girls’ Godparents. Bob regularly visits the upper reaches of Canada in the summer. He writes that his cabin is in Atlin, British Columbia, on the Yukon border just south of Whitehorse. He’s got a lot of good stories about being there, and this week he sent some pics, which I’ll share. Click on the picture to get the full effect. Memo to self: See if an Alaska vacation is feasible next summer.