(AP/Coco Crisp on Twitter)The sports world, along with just about every imaginable social media outlet known to man, was abuzz early in the 2011 season when Coco Crisp finally removed his trademark braids and revealed ‘baseball’s baddest afro' since Oscar Gamble's ruled the world 35 years earlier.

Seriously. It was epic enough to be placed in that elite class.

The only problem with it was Crisp didn't keep the look for nearly as long as many of us had hoped he would, but still, during its short stay it was more than apparent he had been blessed with hair very few before and after could claim to match. Or, as our own Kevin Kaduk put it, locks that were a lock for the Fashion Ump Hall of Fame.

Dontrelle Willis attended spring training with the Phillies in 2012. (Getty)Perhaps retirement wasn’t all it was cracked up to be for Dontrelle Willis, or maybe the competitive fire of a 30-year-old hurler who should still have a few decent years left in his once dominant arm has been lit again.

Whatever the case is, the quirky left-hander, who first stepped away just six months ago, is ready to give baseball one more shot after signing a minor-league deal with the organization who drafted him in 2000, the Chicago Cubs.

According to CBS Sports' Jon Heyman, who first reported the signing on Friday evening, the deal does not come with the customary spring training invitation that is attached to minor-league deals for veterans and former major leaguers. However, the Cubs have said Willis will get his chance to workout in the big league camp and pitch in 'A' games if his stuff looks good.

Of course it's anything but a certainty that will be the case after Willis posted an ugly 8.53 in four minor league appearances for the Baltimore Orioles organization last season. He was also placed on the restricted list for two months and subsequently filed a grievance against the ballclub after openly disputing their decision to make him a reliever, proving that his behavior and mindset in and around the game were becoming as erratic as his mechanics and fastball command.

(AP)With slugger Alex Rodriguez still waiting for the go-ahead to have surgery on his hip, New York Yankees GM Brian Cashman has made some candid statements about his club's power. And how it lacks.

The Yankees led the majors in home runs and finished second in runs scored in 2012, but the possibility of being that strong again in either category seems low with A-Rod in limbo and Cashman not about to replace other departed power sources. Nick Swisher, Russell Martin and Raul Ibañez all departed via free agency. That's 64 home runs replaced with the likes of Ichiro Suzuki, Brett Gardner and a light-hitting catcher to be decided. And it doesn't factor the lost power of A-Rod, though Kevin Youkilis probably can be counted on for 15-20 deeps.

Deal with it, Cashman says. He is. Via the New York Post:

“I know a lot of people have told me they think home runs are bad,” Cashman said. “I’m not one of them. Well, those people are going to get a chance to see what it looks like.”

I've seen these people around, those who think home runs are bad, and that teams "rely" on them too much. These are the same people who swear by the sacrifice bunt, and drone on and on about team speed. Team speed, for crying out loud! As Earl Weaver would say, "Get them big [expletive] that can hit the [expletive] ball out of the ballpark and you can't make any [expletive] mistakes." A winning formula if there ever was one.

As for A-Rod, the news that he still hasn't been scheduled for surgery isn't too surprising, based on what we heard earlier in the offseason.

These things can blind.He who would lase has been made to pay.

The teenager caught pointing a laser from a suite inside of Busch Stadium and causing a delay of a St. Louis Cardinals-San Francisco Giants game pleaded guilty in December, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had identified Erik Bogard, who was 17 years old at the time, as the one pointing a green laser at Giants pitcher Shane Loux on Aug. 5.

It should go without saying that laser pointers are dangerous. They can blind a person, or certainly distract one — exactly what we don't need in the middle of a baseball game.

The P-D writes of Bogard:

He pleaded guilty in municipal court Dec. 14 of disturbing the peace at an athletic event and was sentenced to serve six months on probation, complete 20 hours of community service and pay the Cardinals $500 in reimbursement for costs. Under terms of the suspended imposition of sentence, his record would become accessible only to law enforcement.

Another charge was dropped, and Bogard was subject to 30-day jail sentence and a $500 fine for disturbing the peace. If Bogard behaves himself until mid-June, the P-D adds, the public record of his arrest will be erased. The same cannot be said for this blog post or others like it.

(Presswire/Aaron Hoffman)At one time or another, I’m sure just about every single one of us has gone to great — sometimes even embarrassing — lengths to land a phone number.

Yes, ladies, that includes many of you as well.

But I think it's safe to say very few of us have secured one in the manner an Ohio high school baseball player did over the summer when he came across the cellphone number of Cleveland Indians second baseman Jason Kipnis after he 'just happened' to wander into the Indians clubhouse at Progressive Field.

As we learned on Thursday, the young man’s name is Aaron Hoffman, and his phone number heist happened back in June when he was invited to participate in the Northeast Ohio Baseball Coaches Association All-Star events, which take place at Cleveland's home ballpark. While hanging around the facility during what I assume was their free time, Hoffman and a few of his adventurous new friends decided it would be cool to sneak into the Indians clubhouse. It was there they came across one of Kipnis' golf bags that carried a nametag and his phone number, which Hoffman filed away in his own phone.

Sergio Romo in Vegas on Dec. 30. (Getty Images)San Francisco Giants closer Sergio Romo had some recent travel troubles after a trip to Las Vegas over the New Year's holiday.

We're not talking about lost luggage or a severe lack of legroom, either. As first  reported by TMZ, Romo was handcuffed in Sin City's airport after a run-in with TSA workers on New Year's Day. The Associated Press later reported that Romo was facing a misdemeanor summons for violating airport rules after being detained by authorities at McCarran International Airport.

From the AP:

Note: Hideki Matsui's cameo comes at the 36:41 mark and lasts 25 seconds

In an era when nicknames have become decreasingly creative, one of the good ones came from Japan with slugger Hideki Matsui. Matsui, who recently retired after a successful run with the New York Yankees, earned the moniker "Godzilla" back home because he was a big, strong guy who hit home runs. The famous radiated lizard of popular culture in postwar Japan wasn't really into baseball — unless he was smashing a stadium to bits — so the analogy only goes so far.

But here's the thing, as C. Trent Rosecrans of CBS Eye on Baseball points out: Matsui actually appeared in the movie "Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla," the franchise's release in 2002. So we're not talking about a guy who was called "Godzilla" because it's the first thing many of us dopes think of when we think of Japan. This was organic. And Matsui is a man devoted to his namesake.

Here's how Japanese Baseball Cards described Matsui's cameo, which can be viewed for FREE on Crackle or in the above video:

Despite a BuzzFeed post that suggests otherwise, popular Pittsburgh Pirates superstar Andrew McCutchen is not universally beloved. In addition to NL Central opponents, the center fielder's known enemies now include a small, fluffy dog whose owner recently decorated his bedroom wall with an Andrew McCutchen "Fathead" wall sticker.

Oh, that poor widdle snowball. Too scared to leave the safety of the bed and venture past a five-tool player in two-dimensional form. With McCutchen's range, can you blame him?

The good news, though, is that a quick search of YouTube reveals other canines who share a similar phobia.  And lest you paint all dogs with the broad brush of race-based prejudice, please click down to see the hounds being met with a number of good reasons to growl at the person depicted on the decal.

Namely, being the lucky dog who gets to date Kate Upton, being a member of the Green Bay Packers or Miami Heat or just being Brett Favre.