REPORTING FROM THE JOCK-OSPHERE

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"Who can take a rainbow, wrap it in a sigh? No, seriously."

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The comment section. Some call it the worst of the Wild, Wild Web, where readers hide behind the wall of a pseudonym and take potshots. (Or just say what they really feel, which oftentimes is more harsh than what they would say to someone's face.) But it happens to the jocks and the front office folks too. If you want to read something nasty, go check out Schilling's blog when he talks politics. Most of the time, bloggers take the high road and just bite their lip.

This week,however, when a reader took Padres front office man Paul DePodesta to task in his latest post about their woeful season, he responded back.

Paul DePodesta: Taking on the Critics

The commenter named "staypuft1212:"

"The team couldn't hit it's way out of a paper bag," they write. "Luckily, I no longer live in San Diego and don't have to be directly exposed to the stench that emanates from the field at Petco Park. It just ruins my morning everyday when I sign onto the internet to read the newspaper. Please, do SOMETHING to end this, just give up and try to build for next year, trade GIles, trade Maddux and trade Wolf."

And DePodesta's response:

"This blog is mine, not the Padres. I don't make a practice of hiding negative commentary. It comes with the territory, which is fine," he writes.

"I certainly feel your frustration, which is what I wrote the other day and which was the primary reason for starting this blog in the first place. It's no fun to lose, and it's even worse to underperform.

"There is no doubt that this season has been trying, to say the least. Much of our personnel is the same as the past two years when we won 88 and 89 games (top of the rotation, back of the pen, and middle of the lineup), and we felt as though the changes we made to last year's club were upgrades. Obviously, that hasn't been the case to date."

AROUND THE 'SPHERE

Other Jock's had stuff to say as well.

Kyle Harrison: Big Game

The LA Riptide midfielder is amped to go head-to-head against the Rattlers of Rochester this Saturday. Don't forget, the first 1,000 fans will receive a Brodie Merrill player card, courtesy of Bud Light.

"We're playing Rochester in Rochester this week and this is a HUGE game for our team for sure," he writes. "We're sitting at 2-3 right now and we definitely need to build some momentum heading into the second half of the season. We get Jesse Hubbard back this weekend (missed last weekend for his wedding), which is huge for us. He's one of our leaders and guy that can completely change a game, so it's nice to get him back.

"We've to come out and fly around Saturday night, and I think we will. I'm excited and it's going to be a great atmosphere in Rochester."

Tommy Lasorda: Bait and Switch at the Charity Grill Off

Dodger legend Tommy Lasorda shows you how to be a winner in any situation:

"A couple of weeks ago I was in the Bay Area with Michael Milken and the Prostate Cancer Research Foundation's Home Run Challenge tour," he writes. "Safeway, who is a huge sponsor of the PCRF, and we thank you very much Safeway, was having a grill-off as part of the fundraising efforts.

Chris Cooley: Taking out the Trash

The Skins tight end on how he's getting rid of his garbage:

"There is no public trash removal at the end of our little road, at least not within a reasonable price range," he writes. "I mean, I can't justify paying more than a couple bucks for someone to drive by and pour my trash into a truck. So I looked for practical ideas of dealing with the garbage. For a while I would take a bag or two every couple days to Redskins park and illegally dump in their bins. That ended up being too much work. Then, I thought the Mormon church might be a good option because it's closer to my house, but it seemed like they always have people lurking around watching what's going on. Finally I broke down and bought a pair of black beauties and decided I would make it to the dump every couple weeks.

"Now my pick-up has become the dump runner. The bed smells horrible and I sometimes spill trash on the sides but I have actually given it the sole designation of 'garbage truck.' The ways diesel prices have soared have frustrated me enough to protest driving my truck and use the alternate Mercedes. Ya, real bummer I guess. I gotta hand it to the truck though, I can load some serious trash in the bed."

We look forward to next week, when Cooley goes into great detail about how he cleans his kitchen.

Mike Mason: Visiting The Playboy Mansion…Holy Smokes!

We know, we give way too much space to Mr. Mason. But come on, it's the Playboy Mansion, and he writes like a red carpet reporter. Just pretend he's Billy Bush!

"I love my life!" he writes. "That's pretty much the only thing I can think about typing right now. I get to ride my dirt bike for a living and then to add to it I got to go to the Playboy mansion last night and check out half naked chicks and dudes boxing!

"Luckily I had a couple drinks in me so I handled business well! Once we got in I noticed there was a lot of buff dudes with gel in their hair and kids with extra small t-shirts on, so I ignored them and went back on the mission of staring at the chicks.

"I did catch a glimpse of Chuck Lidell and Shawn Merriman, two dudes that I think are pretty awesome so I got star struck for a minute. Chuck has that permanent look on his face like he's ready to pinch someones head off so I kind of kept my distance with him."

"Since Oakland and San Francisco were playing each other in inter-league play, the grill-off was supposed to be between two Giants and two Athletics. However, Dave Roberts couldn't make it so they asked me to partner with the player from the Giants.

"Standing next to the player from the Giants, I said, 'Hey buddy, this is the last time you'll ever see this'

"I said, 'I hate the Giants, but since it's for charity I'll make this exception.'"

"So they give you a steak, and you are supposed to season it to your liking. The grills were burning and everybody was hungry, and they were judging the best steak.

"Now before we go on, you have to know that I have NEVER cooked a meal in my entire life. Never!

"So Mark Ellis of the A's is standing to my left and he's telling me about all the barbequing he does.

"When Ellis turned away to talk to his partner, I put his steak on my plate, and my steak on his plate, and I won.

"A few days ago I got a huge trophy.

"People asked me how a guy like me who has never cooked a meal could cook such a delicious steak.

"I said 'luck, luck of the Italians!'"

Thomas Williams: Kickin' it with Legends

Former USC linebacker and current Jacksonville Jaguar T-Will lets you in on the good word:

"We wrap up our workouts this week and then head to California for the Rookie Symposium Sunday," he writes. "All the coaches are gone so right now we're just lifting. We'll get a small break before training camp starts in late July. I do miss California and I'm looking forward to spending a few weeks at home.

"I'm also planning to attend a fantasy football event Ronnie Lott is hosting in San Francisco July 18. It's a charity event and they will have a bunch of legends there. Any time you can get in the same room with Ronnie and Marcus Allen and Joe Montana and Michael Irvin and Tim Brown and guys like that you're in a good spot. I'm excited about it."

Thomas, don't just settle for autographs from these giants of the gridiron; see if you can get them to line up and recreate The Catch. Now that would be way more satisfying.

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