I don’t know if you saw the recent Sports Illustrated story on the Paralympics from Rio.  It’s not a highly covered event – especially coming on the heels of the regular Olympics.  Some of the pictures are truly impressive and speak volumes about the courage of what these athletes are able to accomplish despite their disabilities.  SU is always amazed at how people navigate Manhattan with their disabilities – they are real heroes and people who should be admired for what they live with and have to overcome.  I hope the US gold medalists from the Paralympics are also invited to the White House for an audience with the President.  Check out these pictures:

Long-time SU subscriber A. Grossman weighed in today on the retirement of Mark Texeiria:

“BACK TO BASICS
 Thanks for the memories Tex but its now time we go back to our 1996-1999 way of winning which is:  Patience at the plate, going with the pitch and not swinging for the fences. Our  home runs will come, but contact hitting and not swinging at so many ridiculous pitches will  get our team’s average back up above 260. More runners on base means more opportunities to score runs including more runs coming in on a homer. Getting another big time closer and toss in a couple of solid seasoned starters to balance all the newbies and I’ll see you at the stadium in October.”

SU agrees: 2017 is going to be a fun year in the Bronx.  It’s fine to lament some of the trades of the top relievers as SU  subscriber S. Goldman did this week in his comments.  It’s true that not every prospect will make it to Yankee Stadium.  But you can also trade them for more experienced players to fill certain holes and I will enjoy following their progression in the minor leagues the next couple of years.  The Yankees have some young starters that are pretty decent and I am already pumped about next year.

Did you notice that since SU applauded Chase Headley achieving 50 rbis for the season, he hasn’t had one more rbi?  He truly is mediocre and should be priority #1 for Cashman in the off-season.  He needs to go.  I know Ellsbury is locked in for the next 17 years at $22 million a year but that is such a bad contract.  SU says eat the money and move him to any team.

The playoffs are here this weekend for the Mets, Giants and Cardinals.  Game on – it will be fun to see how this unfolds.

Finally, long-time SU subscriber and Michigan alum S. Levine passed this article along from the Wall Street Journal.  I got a chuckle out of this:

Michigan’s Formal Rebuttal to Jason Gay

The Wolverines of the Wall Street Journal respond to Mr. Gay’s column on America’s finest university

PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sept. 30, 2016 10:27 a.m. ET

University of Michigan graduates working at the Wall Street Journal were the subject of a Thursday column in the newspaper by sportswriter Jason Gay, who attended the University of Wisconsin Madison.

The column bemoaned the rise of Michigan’s No. 4-ranked football team; poked fun at its coach, the future supreme court justice Jim Harbaugh; and described us—the Journal’s hardworking Michigan people—as insufferable elitists.

Or so we’re told. We were too busy to read it.

Because this column seems to have painted a distorted picture, we would like to set the record straight by employing a device that is near and dear to Mr. Gay’s heart—a list.

Here are 19 thoughts that have crossed the minds of the Wall Street Journal’s Michigan graduates over the last 24 hours:

1. Solving the world’s problems is hard work. Sometimes we wish we’d gone to a school where people drink beer for breakfast.
2. Sadly, Michigan has never felt the need to have a mascot. But if we did, it would probably be a pants-less rodent in a turtleneck sweater. Oh wait, that’s taken.
3. Coach Harbaugh was smart to ditch the pleats. Flat-front khakis are much more flattering on him. They’re also perfect for antiquing.

4. Michigan’s No. 24 ranking in the recent Wall Street Journal/Times Higher Education college rankings was a robbery, if you ask us—even if it was the best finish for any public university.
5. Wow, these rankings just keep going and going. Look at No. 67!
6. Jason Gay… Wait a minute—isn’t he the guy who wrote that column about the squirrel attorney?
7. Why do alumni of some public research universities in the Midwest keep prattling on about the ‘elitism’ of other public research universities in the Midwest? Haven’t these people visited the East Coast?
8. Ann Arbor was recently named America’s best college town. Madison’s finest hour came in 1986 when it served as the backdrop for the Hollywood classic Back to School, which earned Rodney Dangerfield six Academy Awards.

The greatest moment in Wisconsin sports history.

9. Michigan has a tight end named Jake Butt and a defensive end named Taco Charlton. These are not jokes. They are miracles.
10. Michigan is the winningest college football program in history. Wisconsin also has a glorious legacy of football success. (Go Packers!)
11. We’re glad the team we are playing has a handy “W” on its helmet—otherwise we wouldn’t know who they were. Also nice to see people are still using fonts from 1991.
12. When it comes to the best place in America to buy cheese—OK, let’s all agree there’s absolutely no contest. It’s Zingerman’s.

13. Appalachian State has become one of the best teams in the Sun Belt, winning 11 games last year and recently taking No. 11 Tennessee to overtime. We put that program on the map!
14. SORRY JASON, I’M HAVING A HARD TIME FINISHING YOUR COLUMN—THERE ARE 115,109 PEOPLE HERE AND THEY’RE ALL SCREAMING.
15. This week NASA hired a Michigan aerospace professor to lead its effort to figure out the origins of life and the universe. Kind of a lateral move.
16. Michigan has already won college football’s real national championship, which is measured by an algorithm that gives extra weight to glowing New Yorker articles.
17. Jason Gay’s columns would be a lot better if James Earl Jones(Michigan class of 1955) read them aloud. While former Michigan student Madonna sang background vocals and Tom Brady dancedalong.
18. And they were written by Arthur Miller, who also went to Michigan.
19. Wait, who is Michigan playing this weekend?