A little too early to accurately identify ‘contenders’

SPORTS radio lately has been loaded with talk of which teams “are still contenders,” which aren’t how they therefore should act on player personnel the rest of this season.

But how does one now define “contender,” especially in July?

The Cardinals won the 2006 World Series with the 14th-best regular-season record, 83-78.

That season, the Yankees, tied for the best record at 97-65 and despite Mike Francesa’s guarantee they would annihilate the Tigers in the first round — “You could not have a duck in front of you, on one leg, worse than this Tiger team” — lost, three games to one. The Tigers then swept the A’s to play the Cards in the Series.

So ESPN this year fired tennis commentator Doug Adler after he noted Venus Williams’ “guerilla tactics” in her Australian Open match. A Twitter-armed agitator heard “a racial slur,” as if Adler, for crying out loud, had called her a “gorilla.”

But ESPN apparently bought it. Adler quickly was removed from the telecasts then dismissed.

Last week, ESPN released partial results of a poll it took ranking the “50 Greatest Black Athletes” — as conducted by ESPN using the website “Survey Monkey.” Hmmm.

Joe Frazier was listed at No. 45, which reminds us that Muhammad Ali, for whom ESPN has named its Humanitarian Award, mocked Frazier as a “gorilla.” Reader Ronald Wieck asks a good question for which there is no good answer. “A reliever who enters the game in the ninth with a four- run lead is then destroyed [for four runs]. But he has not blown a save because he’s not eligible to blow a save. Who thinks this stuff up?”

As for Thursday’s Post special, “How To Fix Baseball,” reader Don Reed suggests we should’ve consulted Arnold Rothstein, the fellow who fixed the 1919 World Series.