Of course it's human nature to say things were better back then—spirits were brave, the stakes were high, men were real men, women were real women and small furry creatures from Alpha Centuari were real small furry creatures from Alpha Centauri. And so I don't want to pick on Auker, who has pitched 1933 and a third more major league innings than I ever will, and clearly is doing something right with his health if he's 95. But I do think that the NY Times sports writer is a fair target, and quotes Auker sympathetically and chimes in with disapproving clucks of his own: "Auker's views are not original; throwing and running were, once upon a time, routine. But in recent decades, the practice has changed. Today, baseball pampers pitchers and teaches them that too much throwing can be hazardous to their health."

Uh, yeah. That must be it. I'm not surprised that Chass leaves out the most common reasons for increased pressure on modern pitchers: hitters who train year-round, video-tape analysis, hitting charts, and multi-million-dollar contracts. But I am surprised to learn that the "things were better back then" storyline can beat out even the "steroids have ruined everything" storyline. Just remember that, however manly men were back in Auker's day, he himself only pitched until he was 31. (His last season was 1942, so he may have joined the army, but if so, why did he pitch in 1942, and why does the war have only two mentions in his autobiography?) And take this as another piece of evidence in the pile showing that sports writers are not entertainers, not journalists.

Americans are about to get bounced from an international tournament in their own sport -- and worse, at home -- and I haven't heard one word about the team's moral shortcomings. The basketball team's losses were proof of a breakdown in society. In baseball, hey, anything can happen in a short series.

There is that. And what other striking difference is there in the makeup of the USA's 2004 basketball team and 2006 baseball team? Does anything jump out at you when you look at the team photos? —King Kaufman

The state House of Delegates this week voted 137-0 to approve a bill prohibiting election officials from using AccuVote-TSx touch-screen systems in 2006 primary and general elections.

The legislation calls for the state to lease paper-based optical-scan systems for this year's votes. —Computerworld

Effa Manley, a savvy businesswoman whose gravestone reads "She Loved Baseball," became the first woman elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame yesterday.