This "Pearl of Wisdom" is a cheap shot

If you want to understand why CNN/SI is going out of business May 15, read the following excerpt from one of its writers, Jeff Pearlman:

Playing the All Star Game in Milwaukee is a complete joke because (your answer here). Click here to send in your essay on this topic. One lucky winner will receive an all-expenses paid trip to Milwaukee -- of course -- where he or she will wear Jeff's press pass, sleep in Jeff's Holiday Inn (guaranteed to be smoking) room, be blown off by countless players and eat at any one of the city's four good restaurants. Submissions due ASAP. (My editors inform me that I'm not authorized to run a sweepstakes in my column. That's OK. You wouldn't have wanted to go to Milwaukee anyway.)

That appeared in a column called "Pearls of Wisdom" that CNN/SI actually has run regularly. With commentary like this, again you get some insight into why the operation is folding up shop.

Let's start with a list of questions for the Pearl:

--Have you ever been to Milwaukee? If so for how long? Did you see any of the city other than your smoke-filled Holiday Inn room, the cab and the ballpark?

--Did you get a journalism degree, and if so did you ever hear of actually committing an act of journalism before putting your opinion in public view? This senior lecturer in journalism and mass communication gives you an F in Reporting 101.

--Are you that needy of a column topic that you couldn't go beyond a hackneyed, smart ass, formulaic cheap shot that has been taken by other national writers who know little about Milwaukee? If so, I'm sure some OnMilwaukee.com readers have plenty of ideas for you.

--Is offering your press pass the only way you can get anybody to share your hotel room?

--Have you ever wondered why you get "blown off" by so many players?

--Where do you plan on working after CNN/SI folds up? Don't bother applying here.

Pearlman's mindless commentary reeks of the opinions of some national writers who somehow think they have become more erudite because they live in the smog-filled cities of the East Coast. The real good ones don't do it. The hacks like to pick on Milwaukee because it is relatively small and in the Midwest, or because they have a mad-on against Bud Selig, or because they lack the creativity to come up with a good column idea.

Send Pearlman some entries for his bogus sweepstakes contest. Do it fast though, he won't have the same e-mail address for long.

Let's also do everything in our power to show him how wrong he is about Milwaukee. Sure, we gripe and disagree about the fact that the Miller Park roof has some problems and the Brewers haven't had a winning season since 1992. Let's put those aside and show Pearlman, and the world, that Milwaukee is a place with a great quality of life, capable of hosting a world-class event like the All Star Game.

Despite two tough losses in Montreal, look for the Brewers to remove the interim from Jerry Royster's job description fairly soon. Bob Melvin doesn't offer any more than Royster. Both have been minor league managers and major league bench coaches.

Royster is already here, and he seemed to bring a different attitude to the clubhouse almost immediately and will likely be able to retain the coaching staff, including Dave Stewart.

Paul Molitor has some family concerns that prompted him to withdraw his name from the running. The only other possibility that could be better than Royster would be if Felipe Alou would take the job, but that isn't likely to happen.

Give a contract to Royster for the remainder of this season, and perhaps through next season too.

As one who holds his masters degree from UWM and has taught there for 18 years, it was great to see the Panthers' baseball team play a doubleheader at Miller Park Wednesday. The Panthers beat Bradley, 5-4, and 20-7.

The games were part of a unique three-year marketing agreement between UWM and the Brewers that seems to be working out for both sides. By the way, no tax dollars were used to pay UWM's share of the agreement. It came from donations and promotional revenue from corporations that advertise on campus.

Jose Hernandez, who has been the Goat of the Week already this season, hit for a higher average than any National League Player in the past week. He did tarnish that a bit with another ninth inning strikeout in a key situation Tuesday night, but made up for it with a clutch homer Wednesday night and his overall play for the week.

Jeffrey Hammonds is hitting around .350 and had three hits and two walks in the 15-inning loss to the Expos Wednesday night.

It has to be Alex Sanchez's error that cost the Brewers the game Wednesday night in Montreal. Sanchez tried to one-hand Jose Vidro's liner to center and dropped the ball. If he had caught it, the Brewers would have gotten out of a bases-loaded situation and moved to the 16th inning.

It's a no-brainer. Pearlman earns a set of goat horns for showing no brains in his cheap shot at Milwaukee. Sanchez also gets a set for his big error.