1. Logan Morrison is a promising talent. He's a fun guy to have around when he tweets out stuff like this:

"McKeon asked me what I had going on tonite. Told him I was going home 2 play w/Twitter. He replied, "Oh, what kind of dog is it?"

But is it such a good thing that he shouted out Hanley Ramirez in front of his teammates?

Sure, it plays well, a Leader Guy showing how much he cares by putting a star in his place for being the last to Jack McKeon's team meeting on Monday. That's how it's being dressed up in public, too.

But Morrison is hitting .212 in June. He hasn't played a full year in the majors. As I mentioned in my column today, why is he calling out a batting champ and multiple All-Star? Who is he to say before everyone that Ramirez is slumping due to showing up late?

This isn't to defend Hanley, who has had issues with other managers and teammates. But this has been an awful month for the young Marlins, one that suggests they're not as good as the front office thought, are too entitled about their positions or just have a lot of learning to do.

Mike Stanton is the only one keeping his head down and going about his good work. Chris Coghan got demoted to the minors. Ricky Nolasco has been inconsistent and Chris Volstad hasn't put anything together.

(* As commented, I didn't mention Gaby Sanchez. I should have. He seems at a different level to me. He played well all last season. He's picked right up and been the most consistently good player on the Marlins all year. He's their MVP right now. He also carries himself like a pro. He's a little odler at 27, so maybe that's to his benefit.)
Where's the internal competition to show them it's easier to get to the majors than to stay there?

There is none. That's on the front office.

You've got to like Morrison's energy and spirit. But he should be looking within for how he can improve his game and stake a good career in the majors. He's not at a point to tell what Ramirez is doing wrong.

If you want to know how backwards the Marlins look, there's a place to start. The star is the last player to the new manager's meeting. And a struggling kid who hasn't played a full season feels full of himself enough to call Hanley out.

You've got a lot of work, Jack.

2. Hanley, by the way, is saying all the right things about his slump to the media. That doesn't mean he's doing everything right behind closed doors. But compared to how he was handling things a year ago it suggests he's changing for the better.

3. Yes, I'll be watching soccer, Panama vs. U.S., tonight.

4. Inter-league play in baseball has about run its course, hasn't it?

5. Donovan McNabb is a name still mentioned as a possiblity for the Dolphins. It's hard to get excited about that. But he cut a short video no doubt for prospective teams saying his 2011 will be a "special season." And: "For those who don't think it's possible, I feel I'll prove you wrong."

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1. As opposed to last summer's proclamations, Pat Riley set the tone for this Heat off-season when he said, "I'll say this. We are going to be multiple ...

(I'm adding the pause here for effect.)

" ... contenders."

That's it. That's the realistic tone now. A year ago, the celebratory soundtrack of the Big Three's signing was of LeBron saying, "not two, not three, not four ..."

"Did we make mistakes along the way?" Riley said. "Yeah, probably..."

Hey, the celebration was fun locally. It was magnified nationally and put more focus on them as the season played out. After losing in the Finals and being under a microscope for a year, the Heat sound like they'll embrace the idea of contending next year.

"Winning it?" Riley said. "That's a whole other deal. They've got to do it on the court."

You can be sure that's the tone this team will take now.

2. Riley said it will be up to LeBron to decide what he wants to improve. But he did give a glimpse into what he thought he might improve. It wasn't the post-up game or 3-point shooting, as has been suggested.

"The area you don't see him taking a lot of shots is the medium-range area," Riley said. "That's a different game."

You have to pull up and shoot. Or you have to be on the move and get a pass from that distance.

3. One funny Riley comment was his comparison of the signing celebration last summer to a bachelorette party before the wedding. "You always have a pre-celebration, don't you?"

4. The other funny moment was when Riley made an aside about how when his Lakers players were high-fiving in the mid-1980s he had no idea what that was. "I said, 'What are you doing?' '' he said.

5. In the answer to my question about whether he'd coach again, Pat Riley looked over to Heat public-relations director Tim Donovan, who said, "Thirteen minutes, 27 seconds." That's how far into Riley's post-season presser it took for the question to get asked.

It took about five seconds for it to get answered.

"No, I'm not going to do that," Riley saidl

So that's that. At least until the Heat start 9-8 last year.

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Here's a primer on Jack McKeon to remind people who he is, what he's done and why a lot of us are rooting for him to turn this Marlins season around:

1. He used to jog with a cigar in his mouth.

2. When he met Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria for the first time at the Rascal House in Sunny Isles for his job interview, he said, "Are you Jerry?"

3. McKeon got in Brad Penny's face so often to such good results that Penny's father thanked him after the season.

4. This conversation with him before a game in 2005 where he was asked about the latest middle reliever to be called up from the minors.
"Well, I don't even know his name," McKeon said, cigar firmly in mouth.
Josias Manzanillo, he was told.
"OK, I'll call him Papi," he said flatly.
Closer Armando Benitez calls himself that, he was reminded.
"OK, Papi Jr."
Manzanillo is 36.
"Papi Sr."
You could try to call him Josias, it was suggested. Or maybe Manzanillo.
"What's that?" McKeon asked, cupping a hand to his ear.
Man-za-NEE-yo, it was enunciated.
"Man-an-ya," McKeon said.
Man-za-NEE-yo.
"Man-za-nan-ya."
How about Manzy?
"Manzy. I'll go with that."
He tried it out again. "Manzy."
He was asked what he knew about Manzy.
"Nothing much," McKeon said. "He'll get his chance. All these guys in the bullpen, they can't say they haven't got a chance."

5. He tells a cautionary tale of Alan Wiggins, whom he managed in San Diego. "Great guy,'' McKeon said. "He was arrested for marijuana at some point, and he'd go around talking to school kids, telling them the importance of making good decisions.
"Well, he went back to where he grew up in Los Angeles, started running with old friends and got into drugs. A few years later, I got a call from his agent. Alan wanted to see me in the hospital.
"I went in and saw this 180-pound man now weighing 90 pounds. He said, 'I'm going to die this week, and I want you to do me two favors. I want you to come to my funeral, and I want you tell kids the story of Alan Wiggins. How he lost his career, his family and his life.

"So most every time I talk to a group, I talk about Alan Wiggins."

6. He cried uncontrollable sobs of joy in the clubhouse after the Marlins beat Chicago in the Natonal League Championship Series. That was a portrait of that season: A 72-year-old brought to tears.

7. This grandpa quote: "This new breed [of player]. You see something that needs correcting, and tell them, and keep after them about it because it can cost games, and they get all upset. They just want you to pat them on the back and say they're doing great so you don't hurt their feelings or their confidence."

8. The title of his book, written after the 2003 season, was: "I"m Just Getting Started." And perhaps he was.

9. He can tell stories like this. "I managed for Charley Finley in 1977-78, and he put in the rabbit," McKeon said. "[Juan] Pierre and [Luis] Castillo are what he'd call rabbits. On my bench that year, he gave me four pinch runners -- no bats, no situational players.
"Just rabbits.
"He said to me, `We don't have good pitching, we don't have good hitting and we don't have good defense. But we're going to steal the pennant by running. He wanted to steal every chance. And if you didn't send someone the phone would ring in the dugout. Finley would be on the other end saying, `Why didn't you send him?'
"So I began sending them, even when I knew they had no chance. He wanted us to run, and we ran. But we didn't win. You see, it's not all about running.
"Running is a part of the game. But you've got to be smart about it. You don't just run for the sake of running."

10. He's 80 and full of life. Who can't root for a man like that?

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"Good luck trader jack and kick some but."

When @ozzieguillen twittered that out Monday afternoon, the first assumption was he meant, "butt" and not, "but I'll be there in a few months."

The second assumption is everyone in baseball knows these Marlins need Jack McKeon's 80-year-old temper up their backside. He might not know or remember all the players names (he didn't in 2003). But that won't stop him from recognizing unprofessional work when he sees it.

Will the Marlins listen to an octogenarian who has been out of the game for several years? That remains to be seen. But here are the Top 5 Marlins who can expect a stop from McKeon:

1. Hanley Ramirez. He wasn't a real popular guy in the franchise when he was leading the league in batting. Now that he's barely above .200. If you're looking for a top reason the Marlins are in the postion they are, here it is. In fact, while Ramirez had a nice second half to 2010, he was off the mark at the start here. His swing is a mess. Is his mind? His work? As if to haHave it it, Jack.*

(* Hanley gave Jack a gift on his first day. Hanley showed up late. So Jack benched him. Talk about setting the tone right from his first step in the clubhouse. That didn't just have to get Hanley's attention. It had to resonate through the clubhouse that there's a new sheriff in town. Best of all, this was a no-brainer for Jack.)

2. Ricky Nolasco. He has the talent to be great. And he keeps showing flashes of it. But then he'll tailspin into stretches like his last five starts where he can't get anyone out. McKeon rode Brad Penny as a young pitcher. Maybe he has to do the same here.

3. Chris Volstad. See Nolasco.

4. Chris Coghlan. He's in Triple-A right now. But, again, he'll be back. And when he does no doubt McKeon will be watching. But here's the thing about McKeon - if a player needed a pat instead of kick in the butt, he can give that, too. Maybe that's what Coghlan needs.

(* After I wrote this, Coghlan was put on the disabled list.)

5. Jeffrey Loria. The Marlins owner has tried to cheap his way through the ramp-up to the Marlins season. Some of that's natural. You don't want to block the path of young players like Mike Stanton and Logan Morrison. But some of it's just inbred tight-fistedness. Let's hope McKeon points out what others haven't been able to. It's time to spend some money in smart places.

1. When an estimated 3,000 Dallas fans attended Game 6 of the NBA Finals in Miami, it seemed like another loud chapter about South Florida’s awful sports market.

“Our fans just punked the s--- out of Miami fans,” Dallas owner Mark Cuban said.

Not so fast. Michael Lipman runs two ticket businesses, Tickets of America and White Glove International, and works directly with the Heat in the resale of premium tickets. Here’s what he says about the Dallas invasion.

“Common,’’ he said. “Whenever a team can clinch a championship in any sport and they’re on the road, their fans are going to travel.”

Example: Boston Red Sox fans out-numbering Colorado fans at Coors Field for the clinching World Series game in 2007.

“Same thing there,’’ Lipman said.

Of Game 6, he said, “There was a huge demand for tickets in sections 101-106, which is wrapped around the Mavericks bench.”

He sold 150 tickets to Dallas fans for the game. The cheapest courtside seat he heard was for $8,500. The most expensive he sold was for $15,500. The most expensive he heard was for $20,000 to rapper Birdman of Cash Money Records (According to some reports Birdman lost a $2 million bet on the Heat in the series).

Lipman, who lives in South Florida, said this wasn’t even the most profitable re-sale in local history to opposing fans.

“I did better with the Marlins in the World Series against the Yankees,’’ he said. “You had the New York crowd then. Locally, (Game 6) ranks second to that.”

2. A few updates to a blog I did recently on the NFL Network's Top 100 list. First, against what I thought, Matt Schaub (49th last year) and Eli Manning aren't in the Top 100. So that takes two quarterbacks off the list. It means 10 are in the Top 100 - and six in the top 30 (though Ben Roethlisberger at No. 41 is mystifying).

Still, the value of elite playmakers is more than I expected. That's because I didn't expect Arian Foster, Antonio Gates or Maurice Jones-Drew to be in the top 30. The list of the 20s was released Sunday night and had eight offensive players, including running back Chris Johnson (21), tight end Antonio Gates (22), receiver Roddy White (24), running back Arian Foster (25), receiver DeSean Jackson (29), tackle Jake Long (28) and Maurice Jones-Drew (30).

So in the Top 33 players, 19 are playmakers (QBs, RBs, TEs or WRs).

This doesn't mean the players are correct in voting this way. It just tells you what they consider are the best players in the league.

3. Why not Jack McKeon at this point?

4. The most interesting nugget from Rory McIlroy's coronation on Sunday was Jack Nicklaus saying they had lunch last year, and McIlroy wanted to know one thing: How Nicklaus closed out tournaments. Interesting he wanted to hear the philosophy of a great closer.

5. I'm interested to hear if Chad Pennington will talk openly as a Fox announcer this year or hold back in hopes of playing in 2012. You can't fake your way through a job like that.

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