Straight bouncing

Sometimes life and sports has neither rhyme nor reason and that's all good.

Here in The World, we can hang.

First, though, why does it seem as if rulings in all sports are designed to make us believe we didn't see what we saw?

Maybe that's what legendary broadcaster Jack Buck really meant after limping Dodgers star Kirk Gibson hit a pinch-hit, game-winning home run off of Oakland in the 1988 World Series.

The late Buck said, "I don't believe what I just saw."

Me, either - I don't believe I watched Detroit's Calvin Johnson catch a football with two hands over his head.

Then put the ball into one hand as he fell to the ground on his butt.

Catch complete to qualify the legitimacy of the rule since quoted by numerous knucklehead talking heads explaining how the correct call was made.

Detroit was cheated, deprived of a victory it earned.

The NFL would be out of a lot of footballs if I was a wide receiver or runner.

I'd take every football back to the bench after I scored, and then into the locker room.

Secondly, why must there be different rules for a catch in the end zone and the field's other 100 yards.

A catch is a catch, isn't it? Shouldn't it be? Hail, yes.

I've seen Johnson criticized for getting up to celebrate.

He's a young receiver on a team that won two of 32 games during the previous two games.

He made what he thought and what should have been a great catch to win a game.

We're lucky homeboy wasn't spinning on his back like one of the Bronx Rockers in 'Beat Street.'

Hitting and quitting

I've long since maintained their are many scouts who wouldn't know talent if it punched them in their mouths.

Houston Texans running back Arian Foster is a case in point.

The man came out of Tennessee in 2009 and wasn't drafted.

He spent all but six games last season on Houston's practice squad.

He gained 231 yards and scored three touchdowns in Sunday's 2010 season-opening victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

Pete Rose should be in the Hall of Fame.

I've said it before, I'll say it again and I'll say it until I die.

Pete Rose should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

How can the man with the most hits in the game's history not be in the Hall of Fame?

Don't give him an induction ceremony.

Prevent him from further employment in baseball.

However, once again, don't tell me I wasn't watching one of the best hitters in the game's history when I was busy disliking him because he was one of the best and toughest clutch hitters and I was neither a Cincinnati Reds nor a Philadelphia Phillies fan.

Write on the man's plaque that he was a low-down dirty dawg who bet on baseball and lied about betting on baseball.

Just don't tell us Rose wasn't one of baseball's best hitters when those of us old enough to see him play have seen differently.

Let those who didn't believe the USA basketball team would bring home the gold in the FIBA World Championship stand up.

The 2010 team was the most talented in the tournament and Kevin Durant is one of the world's top three players.

Until LeBron James can consistently make jumpers, I'll take Durant every day.

And I love James' talent, so that's saying something.