Q&A: Jimmy Rollins swings for Babe Ruth?s record 575-foot homer

Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins stands 5-foot-7 and weighs 175 pounds, and he proudly owns 161 career home runs in nearly 6,600 career at-bats.

Those stats did not make him an obvious candidate to try and hit a baseball farther than anyone in recorded history ever has. But throw in a little Red Bull (which sponsors Rollins), along with some "mad scientists" who have been experimenting with composite bats and lively balls, and you got Rollins attempting a Guinness World Record on Monday.

Rollins tried to break the record for "Longest Batted Ball," a mark of 575 feet owned by immortal slugger Babe Ruth. Adding to the circuses, Rollins took his hacks with souped-up bats at the intersection of the Ben Franklin Parkway and 20th Street in downtown Philly. The spectacle ran live on ESPN3.com during lunchtime.

While Rollins failed to gain Ruthian lengths with any homers ? the farthest he hit any ball was 463 feet ? he did entertain Philly pholks in a unique way on their lunch hour. Phillies blog extraordinaire The 700 Level recapped the events in brief but entertaining prose.

Below, check out a YouTube video of Rollins' performance, plus a Q&A we did with J-Roll before he tried to break the record. Of course, we also stray from the topic a little, exploring Rollins' brief but storied acting career and his second career as a music impresario:

David Brown: Do you know how long your longest homer is?

Jimmy Rollins: Do I know how long my longest is? No. One at Veteran's Stadium, I hit into the left-center-field suites in my rookie year. I've hit a couple into the second deck at Citizens Bank. And my favorite ?�you know John Smoltz don't like it, but ? I drove him out of Citizen's Bank to center field. I had fun with that one.

[Editor's note: Red Bull reports that Rollins' personal length record in a game is 420 feet.]

DB: Last year, you were setting up to do this and you had to postpone it. But leading up to the event, your teammates were giving you a hard time about it. Has it come up at all leading to the event this year?

JR: I remember we were playing the Washington Nationals and they might have been staying at the Four Seasons ? which is right across the street from Benjamin Franklin. And I remember Adam Dunn saying he might come over and check it out. It was pretty cool that other teams knew about it. My teammates might have forgotten about it by now, I'm not sure. It's not something we've talked about yet, but I'm sure the next day ?�regardless of whether I [break] it or not ?�we'll hear something about it.

DB: Are Guinness people going to be standing by, ready to authenticate this?

JR: That's the way it's supposed to go down, as far as I know. I think the only way you can do it is to have them around. You can't [only] report it; I think they have to be there on-site and make sure it happens. The Guinness people take it very seriously. It'd be a great thing to get done and in the record book, so maybe one day I can show my kids, "Look at what your daddy did."

DB: Did you ever want to set any other kinds of Guinness records?

JR: When I was younger, I had plenty of ideas, like trying to bounce a ball longer than anybody, or jump rope longer than anybody. But as you get older, you realize you have to be really dedicated to try and break some of that stuff.

Even these days, there are plenty of times when you want to see the unbelievable happen. Like, for example, Mike Stanton down in Florida. We were playing them and I thought it would be nice to be up eight or nine runs and just watch him absolutely mash a ball ? just to see how far it could go. Just to see him hit the ball up to Harry the K's Restaurant. It's just something, to see the flight of the ball ... it's something you can't explain. You really have to be in love with baseball. Just like in golf, when that ball takes off, with its velocity, you just wonder where it's going to land. Here's an opportunity in an open field for me to go for it, to see how far I can hit it.

DB: Despite your size, in your soul, are you a slugger?

JR: I'm not a slugger. They do it without effort, in my eyes. My goal is to hit the ball hard. I know I have some pop, so I'm not concerned about that. If you hit the ball hard and you get backspin on it, good things usually happen. Here's a chance to hit the ball correctly, but as hard as I can, without any consequences. If they catch it, there are no outs.

DB: There's never been anything proven about guys doing home run hitting contests and having it mess up their swing, but people always talk about it. Where do you stand on this?

JR: I don't worry about it at all. I think a lot of it has to do with your personality. Some guys enter the home run derby and do very well and they feel that, when they come back during the regular season, they have to prove winning wasn't a fluke. Instead, they should take it as just an event, one moment to hit home runs. The pitcher's going to try and groove you a ball right there.

Situations during games don't necessarily allow you to hit home runs. You might have to get guys over. They're not just going to sit there and throw you batting practice fastballs, so it has to do a lot with the way you approach it. It's a moment in time. And me, I don't ever have to worry about proving I'm a home run hitter. The guys that are hitting 40 and 50 never have to worry about me beating them.

DB: Is this going to be a pitching machine or a person throwing you pitches?

JR: It's going to be Mick Billmeyer, who is my batting practice pitcher every day during the season. Knowing him, his arm angle and his speed ?�and the other way around, with him knowing where I like the ball ?�it's going to help.

DB: You've also got a charity bowling event coming up today. Who is the most dangerous bowler on the Phillies?

JR: I would have to say Ryan Howard. We're some pretty big bowlers. We usually go, every spring training, we'll go every Wednesday or Thursday and get 10-15 players and break it up into three teams and we'll have a tournament. We haven't done it the last couple years because players get traded and things of that nature.

But Ryan's a pretty heavy bowler. Like me, he has his own balls. He has a strike ball, he has a spare ball. He throws from the left side, I throw from the right. We've played some pretty good matches.

DB: Which would you rather experience again? Your MVP season of 2007 or the World Series season of 2008?

JR: 2008, over and over and over again. That's not even a question. No thought needs to go into that. There's nothing like lifting up that trophy when you've won the last game of the season. There's nothing in comparison. At that moment, you are the best player because you're on the best team. Everybody on the team that contributed are the best players. MVPs get the individual accolades but everybody plays for the ring. You can put trophies up on your wall, and you earned them, but it takes a winning team to put that ring on your finger.

DB: We're a couple of years away from the 20th anniversary of your appearance in the Mavis Staples video, "The Voice."

JR: [Laughs]. That long? Wow.

DB: You've put your acting career on hold. You've been in a couple of music videos, but it's been a while ...

JR: If I get a phone call and somebody wants me to be in a video, I'd do it. If I get a phone call and somebody wants me to get up on a big screen, I'd do that also. I guess I need to revisit that part of my life. I've always loved being an entertainer. For some reason, people think I'm funny. I'm not funny as in "ha-ha" laughs, but just being around me. It'd be something [acting] that would be fun to try and do again.

DB: What do you think happened to your character in "The Voice"? Was he saved?

JR: I was never really saved. I was slinging drugs, shooting a kid and then ?�the song's called "The Voice," [which refers to] listening to the voice in your head. Everybody has a sense of right and wrong and the video shows people going through life and the decisions they made and there was really no ending as far as my character. He just was what he was.

DB: Well, I was sort of hoping you'd turn your life around because it was you.

JR: [Laughs]. Right. That didn't happen, at least not in the video. Maybe there's a follow-up, but I didn't get the part.

DB: Pick one: Too $hort, or MC Hammer.

JR: Oh, jeez. You said "pick one"?

DB: It's a hard question.

JR: I know, because MC was the first one who put me on the scene. And I grew up loving Too $hort, but I'm gonna go with Hammer.

DB: How's the recording business going? The recording industry is changing, so how are you changing with it?

JR: As far as me signing recording artists, I'm no longer doing that at this moment. I am buying publishing, which is ?�if you make the right investment ?�a sure-fire way to make money in this industry. Investing in artists becomes a headache because, one, you have to deal with an artist. And then you have to deal with producers. And trying to get the music out there.

Buying publishing rights, which is what I'm doing now, you'd be surprised who's out there and needs a publishing deal. I came across Justin Bieber, who has some writers on his ... ay, yai yai ... "Eenie Meanie" song with Sean Kingston. They were looking for a publishing deal, and Justin Bieber's a hot artist, so why wouldn't somebody come by and publish it for him?

Anyhow, I was able to get into the game with him. And since then, I've got some Lupe Fiasco, some Snoop Dogg. As long as the music is selling and being used and synched to things like, "So You Think You Can Dance?" or the Rock Band game, the money's going to keep flowing in. It's not about spending money, it's about making money. The longer I'm in the game, so to speak, the more ways I'm understanding how to make money. As opposed to spending it.

DB: Have you met Bieber, or just his people?

JR: I've never met him. We've only spoken with the writers. It'd be nice to meet him. He's a talented young man.

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Must see: Tulowitzki scores winner from 1st base on shallow single

�

Only at cavernous Coors Field.

Ty Wigginton placed the ball in the best spot possible for a bloop single. Brent Lillibridge, coming in from deep center, approached the ball like it might bite him. And then, with his relative inexperience in the outfield still showing, he hesitated.

Troy Tulowitzki, hustling with two outs after getting a big jump from first base, did not hesitate after getting waved home by coach Rich Dauer.

These combined factors set up the Chicago White Sox to fail, and Tulowitzki's sprint ended safely with a slide at the plate, sending the Colorado Rockies to a 3-2 victory in 13 innings Tuesday night. Remarkably, it was the Rox's first victory in their final at-bat, and in extra innings, this season. (Didn't they use to do that for a living?)

The rest of the Rockies stormed the field and playfully pounded Wigginton, as if he were the one mostly responsible. They really should have been wailing on Tulo, or Dauer, or Lillibridge, or the guy who made it 415 feet to center at Coors.

An added irony for the White Sox: Manager Ozzie Guillen had removed usual center fielder Alex Rios in the seventh for loafing. Lillibridge, who has made some terrific outfield saves this season (mostly in right field), came into the game with 160 career innings logged in center. He's an infielder by trade.

Lillibridge tried to explain his approach:�

"We're playing no doubles in one of the biggest ballparks in this league," Lillibridge [said]. "He (Wigginton) bloops it right in there behind second base, and the first thing I'm doing is sprinting in there. Once it stops, I have to make sure. I can't go in on a bare-hand sprint and miss the ball. I'm not going to make a mistake there. I'm going to make sure I get it."

As the damning replay shows, Lillibridge wasn't sprinting. He wasn't loafing, either, but he was being tentative and acting unaware.

"It's just a weird, weird play that I've never seen or definitely haven't been a part of."

Agreed on that part. But the White Sox needed a real center fielder out there in the 13th. So, where can manager Ozzie Guillen turn? Guillen, who furiously and comically pirouetted from the dugout's top step to the tunnel moments after the game ended, was more focused on his team's repeated offensive shortcomings.

"That was the worst game we played all year long, to me," [...] Guillen said. "We don't take opportunities over and over and over and over. When you do that, the baseball gods get you."

Amen. But now, about center field...

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Chauncey Billups to the Knicks: ?We?ve got plenty of stars, thank you?

Chauncey Billups might not be wrong when he tells Chris Tomasson of Hoopshype (via PBT) that he would prefer his New York Knicks focus on accruing depth whenever the next few offseasons take place, rather than attempting to find that mythical third star in order to put New York over the top.

Here's the killer quote:

"It's not about that,'' Billups said of collecting big names on a team. "We got two of the biggest names in basketball already (in Anthony and Stoudemire). It's not about that. It's about getting somebody that can play with the talent that you have? You look at the Mavericks, and they just share the basketball every time down the floor? Dirk is one of the best the game has ever seen. But he couldn't do it by himself? So it's all about the team?."

He's right because New York was first-round fodder, swept out in four games, this season even with Amar'e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony leading the charge. He's right because putting your eggs in a third star's basket is always risky business when they can be paid more by their current team -- and for longer terms. He's right because the Knicks are already bereft of the sort of sweetening assets it would take to even sign-and-trade for a Dwight Howard or Chris Paul, after Isiah Thomas swooped in and handed half of Manhattan to Denver for Anthony last February.

He's right because, typically, this is how you build a team. The third part of the Big Three is usually sound role players and a tough bench.

But with New York, I get the feeling that the orthodox route might not work. Not because of the usual bluster regarding how the Knicks need to stay in the headlines, or because Knicks fans wouldn't be satisfied without a big name suiting up next to their terrific duo. No, despite some of the more vocal types on the message boards, Knick fans by and large know what's up.

It's because that terrific duo, I'm sorry, just isn't on par with other championship-worthy duos around the league. Stoudemire and Anthony are near the top of their positions offensively, but they're absolute sieves defensively, and in a way that I suspect even the strongest of supporting casts wouldn't be able to help. You can point to Dirk Nowitzki's and Jason Terry's championship turn in Dallas as evidence that strong role players can help overcome weak defenders at the star positions, but in reality defensive stud Tyson Chandler was Dallas' second star, not Terry.

And lacking defenders like Stoudemire and Anthony might actually need someone as profound as a Howard or even a Chandler to put that team in the second round and beyond. Depth is key -- it always will be -- but not when the foundation is this deficient in one area.

So, wait on that defensive star, New York. Nene is probably out of the picture, but so might be the entire 2011-12 season. And for once, we shouldn't be shaking our heads at the Knicks going for that boffo name to fill up the back page.

Mainly because they already made their bed in that regard, trading for Anthony to pair up with Amar'e. One star tends to lead to another.

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Josh Cribbs will not be unfairly ticketed, Cleveland police

Cleveland Browns playmaker Josh Cribbs was getting his hair cut Tuesday, when he remembered he needed to go out and feed the parking meter.

When he did, he saw two things: First, eight minutes remaining on the meter. Second, despite the time remaining, a parking ticket from the Cleveland Heights Police Department.

Well guess what, Cleveland Heights parking enforcement officers? Josh Cribbs is not having it. Fox 8 in Cleveland is getting to the bottom of things.

"I wrote, 'not guilty!' [on Twitter] I made sure to take pictures with time stamps," laughs Cribbs. "I got a lot of response. People saying the Cleveland Heights Police Department is notorious for writing out tickets, people who have been wronged." [...]

"Well, since this is a lockout, I have the time to fight for Cleveland, fight for the blue collar workers here, and I think it's wrong and I am trying to stand up for those who can't."

That's maybe a touch on the dramatic side -- I doubt Steven Soderbergh is going to give this story the Erin Brockovich treatment -- but hey, I'm all for it. No one likes parking tickets, especially if they're undeserved. You were wronged, Josh Cribbs, and you don't have to take it.

Again from Fox 8, here's how Chief Jeffrey Robertson of the Cleveland Heights Police Department defended his department's actions.

"We do not ticket without a violation. It appears that someone came out and put a quarter in Mr. Cribbs' meter, or turned his meter back to allow for a grace period 22 minutes before he came out."

Likely story, pal. I'm afraid the only people I trust to get to the bottom of this are the Football Cops.

Gracias, Pro Football Talk.

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Amazing tales: USF lineman lifts Cadillac, saves trapped man

Danous Estenor may sound like the name of a character from a Tolkien novel, and he may look like a grizzly bear who could maul anyone who crosses his path. At 6-foot-3, 306 pounds, he probably could, actually. Off the field, though, the South Florida offensive lineman is more of the "gentle giant" type, more likely to channel his natural power to more productive ends ? such as last February, for example, when he hulked out on a 3,500-pound car to save a man trapped underneath. From Friday's St. Petersburg Times:

Across the parking lot on that Thursday night in February, [Estenor] saw a frightening scene: a tow truck driver pinned under the rear tire of a 1990 Cadillac Seville that had lurched forward as he worked underneath it, his wife struggling in vain with two men to lift the car. [?]

"I just see his legs," said Estenor,�21, a child of Haitian immigrants from Palm Beach. "The car is crushing him. He's not moving. I'm thinking, 'Oh, God, this guy is going to die.' "

"I tried to lift the car, and when I first tried, it didn't budge. I backed up. I don't know. But I felt this energy come, and I lifted it. I don't know how, but somebody pulled him from the car."

Maria Uribe had been sleeping in the cab of her husband's truck when she heard Arzola, 34, yelling "Ayudame!" ? help me. The scene looked "like a horror movie ? a lot of blood," she said. The�Cadillac's front right tire had run over Arzola's torso and dragged him about 10 feet.

Somehow he sustained only cuts, bruises and a dislocated shoulder, which�was pinned beneath the rear tire. He was back towing cars two weeks later.

Estenor's immediate response to the incident: To continue on to the cafeteria for dinner. Even teammates were skeptical of his adrenaline-fueled heroism until a few weeks later, when coach Skip Holtz brought Estenor in front of the team while he read a letter from the manager of the Bull's Den Cafe, in whose parking lot the accident occurred. Two Bull's Den employees, including the owner of the Cadillac, were attempting (unsuccessfully) to lift the car when Estenor came to the rescue.

"Ever since coach Holtz read the letter, they all say, 'Oh, where's your cape?'" he told the Times. "It's not bad. They're just making fun, but I'm glad [Holtz] let them know what happened. I always feel good when I do a good deed, to help somebody, any kind of way."

Yes, the heart, it is warmed. Now: How to recreate the same adrenaline rush when handling defensive linemen?

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Photo hat tip: USFNation.com
Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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On the Avalanche getting fleeced for Semyon Varlamov

The Colorado Avalanche did a very good thing in signing defenseman Jan Hejda from the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 4-year, $13 million deal. He's a solid pro and was a coveted commodity as NHL free agency began. He chose the Avalanche. That means something.

We wanted to get the praise out of the way before pointing out the incredibly baffling and potentially disastrous deal that is GM Greg Sherman's trade for Washington Capitals restricted free-agent goaltender Semyon Varlamov.

The Capitals didn't need Varlamov. They have Michel Neuvirth as their starter and Braden Holtby down in the AHL , with the potential to usurp Neuvirth one day. If they were going to add a goaltender, it would be a veteran with more playoff experience than Varlamov. Which is why Varlamov would have left for the KHL rather than re-signing with the Capitals.

To reset the scene: Varlamov wasn't going to play for the Capitals and was a restricted free agent.

Got it?

So the Avs traded a first-round pick in the 2012 Entry Draft and a conditional second-round choice in either 2012 or 2013 to the Capitals for Varlamov. Had Colorado signed Varlamov to an offer sheet, would the Capitals have matched it just to keep an asset they no longer needed?

If they didn't match, it would have cost the Avalanche a second-round pick, given the salary they settled on per TSN: 2 years at $5.5 million.

Instead, the Avalanche end up trading a second-round pick and a first-round pick for Varlamov. A first round pick that, frankly, could be in the lottery next year.

(UPDATE: GM Greg Sherman said on a conference call on Friday night that it would be "accurate" to say the Capitals would have matched an offer sheet on Varlamov. "That's a mechanism that can be used, but the team that holds the right on that to match," he said.)

So that's one level of potential failure, without even discussing the player. Varlamov is an athletic, extremely talented goalie. He's also one that has holes in his game and at 23 is as close to damaged goods as one can get. From Jonathan Willis at Houses of the Hockey, the many injuries of Varly:

Nine games due to a groin injury

Four games due to an undisclosed injury

13 games due to a second groin injury

One game due to a "lower body" injury

11 games courtesy of a knee injury

If Varlamov were 35, we would accept these injuries as par for the course.� Given his youth, they are significantly more troubling ? there are no shortage of examples where a young goaltender has lost his career due to injury troubles.

Maybe that's why it's just a 2-year term. But then why do you trade a first-rounder for him?

Joe Sakic, billed as an executive advisor to the Avalanche, gave a canned quote on the trade that said, "Semyon is an elite goaltender who is a key part of our future success."

The first claim can be logically disputed. The second is undeniable. As Adrian Dater wrote:

Today, they essentially placed the near-term future of the franchise on a 23-year-old goalie who didn't even start for the Washington Capitals in the playoffs and who has a history of groin problems. Oh, and they parted with what could be a first-round lottery pick next year, plus a second-rounder in either of the next two years to get him. Happy, Avalanche fans?

Then again, this could turn out to be a good deal for the Avs. But, wow, talk about a big-time gamble by GM Greg Sherman. They could have just signed 34-year-old Tomas Vokoun, a proven veteran, and given up no draft picks. But no, the Avs have laid a heavy, big-time bet on Varlamov.

This was written before the Avalanche were on the cusp of signing J.S. Giguere, but the sentiment still applies.

One question we'd have for Sherman: Did he, at any point, offer the Vancouver Canucks a first and a second for Cory Schneider?

Another question: How does it feel to be Brian Burke circa 2009, hoping the Bruins are picking somewhere in the late first round rather than second overall?

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Raheem Brock skips out on $27 bar tab, arrested

I believe we have a new winner of the category of "Most Bizarre Arrest of the Offseason." Free-agent defensive end Raheem Brock was arrested on Thursday night for skipping out on a $27 bar tab at the Copacabana in Philadelphia.

It's weirder than just that, though, and the main culprit in the story appears to be Brock's ladyfriend, who might not be the most fun date in the world.

I'm going to have to quote extensively from NFL.com to relay the story accurately. Here we go.

A female server at the Copacabana told NFL.com that it was the behavior of a woman accompanying Brock that led the defensive end to leave without paying his bill.

"It wasn't even (Brock) that was the issue," the server said. "It was the female he was with, getting angry and wanting to leave.

"The female was mad (because) she wanted something that wasn't on the menu. So she went across the street and got something from another restaurant."

When a manager told her she couldn't bring food from another restaurant inside the Copacabana, the woman became further enraged and Brock and his friends were ultimately asked to leave.

"She got a little colorful and a little angry with me," the server said. "I told my manager that she refuses to wrap it up and refuses to (stop) eating."

Charming! She sounds like a keeper.

As for the bill, Brock and Miss Congeniality eventually agreed to leave the restaurant, but they did so before paying a $27 bar tab. That's when the restaurant called the police. Brock was arrested outside for theft of services and resisting arrest.

NFL.com makes no mention of the woman being arrested or charged with anything, and isn't that just the way things always seem to go?

Brock spent last year with the Seahawks after spending the previous eight with the Colts. He'll be a free agent when we have football again, and it sounds like he might want to consider embracing free agency on the dating scene, too.

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