Pujols leading NL in voting

Albert Pujols leads the National League in all-start balloting. Tony LaRussa tied Sparky Anderson the other night for 4th all-time on games managed. Jim Edmonds has returned to the lineup from a rib injury. In more solemn news, I'd like to pay tribute to the late Darryl Kile. He died three years ago yesterday on June 22, 2002. It was a sad day for Cardinals fans as we had lost Jack Buck within the week. Darryl is missed. As a personal note, after he died, I wrote #57 on my St. Louis hat.

Is Tucker Carlson moving to Jersey?

Will he play in New Hampshire?

Soon, Granite Staters will be able to hear this centrist Democrat for themselves. The Status has learned that Bayh will be in the state on July 10 and 11. A schedule has yet to be finalized.

Manchester's Steve Bouchard heads Bayh's All-America PAC and is planning the visit. In '04, Bouchard worked first with Florida Sen. Bob Graham, and then, after Graham dropped out, with retired Gen. Wesley Clark.

Also, Joe Lieberman is coming to New Hampshire next month as well.

Chances are, Joe Lieberman won't be running for President in 2008. But in '04, unlike some of the other candidates, Lieberman appeared to have a good time in, and to have genuinely liked, New Hampshire.

He'll return on July 6 for a fund-raiser for his Connecticut U.S. Senate campaign at the home of two major '04 supporters, Dick and Katrina Swett.

The flag amendment has passed in the House.

The House on Wednesday approved, for the sixth time since 1995, a constitutional amendment that would let Congress prohibit the physical desecration of the American flag.

The measure now goes to the Senate, which has consistently rejected similar proposals. But this year, both supporters and opponents of the amendment say that passage in the Senate could be extremely close -- within a vote or two.

This week in 1980, The Blues Brothers opened nationwide which explains the articles in the Chicago Sun-Times as of late.

GOP Treasurer vacates his capitol office. He was a volunteer with a state-paid secretary. Now, wouldn't it make sense to have a volunteer secretary?

Dave Disponett, the Kentucky Republican Party treasurer who had a Capitol office as a volunteer in Gov. Ernie Fletcher's office has given up the first-floor space so Lt. Gov. Steve Pence's office can use it, Disponett said.


Disponett's name has figured prominently in a complaint filed with the state Personnel Board alleging that the Fletcher administration had based hiring of Merit System workers on politics, in violation of state law.

Administration officials said Disponett interviewed applicants for political jobs and board appointments and handled special assignments for Fletcher.

A Fletcher spokeswoman said neither the complaint nor objections raised by Democrats had anything to do with Disponett's move.

Walter McCarty offers his advice on basketball. He tells them to keep trying.

McCarty lives in Boston with his wife and their two young daughters. But he returned home on Wednesday for the start of his three-day camp at the Evansville Basketball Academy. During a break for lunch, he talked to the 80-some campers about basketball and about life.

One message he tried to get across was the same lesson his mom taught him 20 years ago. "If some of you don't get to play much, don't get discouraged. You're all gonna grow some; you're all gonna get better."

But they need to work at it.

"The fundamentals you're learning today are the same ones we practice in the NBA," said the Phoenix Suns' 6-foot-10 forward. "No matter what level you're playing at, the fundamentals remain the same. Make sure you learn to do things the right way."

McCarty developed his love for basketball when he was a young teen. "I practiced and played all the time; it's all I wanted to do. I never went to any proms. I was too busy playing."

Not that he'd advise them to spend every waking minute on the court. "But if you want to get better, you have to practice."

That's what McCarty did. In college, he shot 500 3-pointers a day. "I'd shoot 'em till I couldn't shoot no more."

In other basketball news, Rex Chapman does not think Randolph Morris will get drafted at all. Even I don't think Morris has the skills for the pros yet. He's making the worst mistake of his life. He needs to stay in school.