By JOHN McGRATH, Tacoma News Tribune

Detroit Tigers owner Mike Ilitch ranked No. 238 on the 2010 Forbes Magazine "400 Richest Americans" list. Last year, the net worth of the fast-food magnate was estimated to be $1.7 billion.

Another Super Bowl between the New York Giants and New England Patriots brings to mind what Mark Twain once said about composer Richard Wagner.

"Wagner's music," Twain observed, "is better than it sounds."

The news startled me.

"University of Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino," I heard on the radio Tuesday morning, "is planning to retire ..."

I thought: Wow. There has to be something more to this, because Louisville is 12-0 and ranked No. 4. Coaches just don't bolt from a program with that kind of record unless there are compelling personal issues.

Ron Santo was one year removed from high school in Seattle when he and his Double-A teammates faced the stern appraisal of baseball legend Rogers Hornsby. It was 1959. Hornsby hadn't collected a hit in more than two decades, a reality that did nothing to improve the grumpy disposition of the Chicago Cubs roving minor-league batting instructor.

Last Sunday, the Red Sox and Yankees played a baseball game that lasted four hours and 15 minutes. Yes, the game went 10 innings, but there wasn't a bench-clearing brawl, or a rain delay. The Red Sox and Yankees needed no heavenly assistance to eat up 4:15.

It takes more than an absence of hitting to turn three winnable games into three demoralizing defeats. If the Seattle Mariners had made the plays they were supposed to make, there's a very good chance they would have concluded their brief but interminable series in Washington, D.C., against the Nationals on Thursday with a sweep.

Norm Charlton, bless his steely heart, couldn't have been pleased that Orioles outfielder Felix Pie made up with Seattle first baseman Justin Smoak before the Mariners' game at Baltimore on Wednesday.

.Pay no attention to Ken Griffey Jr.'s official job title in his latest career opportunity with the Seattle Mariners.

Griffey was hired Tuesday as a "special consultant," which can either mean he'll consult the organization on special matters, or that he's a consultant who happens to be special. If that sounds vague, it's because it's vague.

.It is not often that I look at Alex Rodriguez and say to myself: "Geez, I'm sure glad I grew up to become a rumpled sportswriter instead of a fabulously wealthy baseball legend who dates equally wealthy movie stars!"

Unlike those Seattle Seahawks fans unable to let go of the Super Heist in Detroit five years ago, I've got nothing against the Pittsburgh Steelers.