Sunday reading

It's so cold and dreary here today, the weather people are predicting snow tomorrow ...

My ball team played a practice game today. We won 3-1, but our team was so cold and miserable, we convinced the other team to stop it after six innings. Plus, I struck out twice ... The season starts in less than a month, and I'm nowhere near the shape I should be in ...

And Phoebe did not give us a good night of sleep. So far, she's been an excellent sleeper, but not last night ... We also learned on Friday she's a few ounces underweight and we were told to bulk her up this weekend with a lot of feedings ...

But hey, we'll keep going.

I know you've missed them. So here they are, several weeks worth of good reads ...

Baseball...
a Bill Buckner welcomed back by Red Sox
a Cedeno: Cubs 'thinking about' World Series after beating Mets
a For centenarian Cubs' fans, 'the first 99 years are the hardest'
a How in the world did this guy win 347 games? ... A good read from my friend Tom about Greg Maddux.
a Mr. Cub in Sosa's corner
a Reporters on scene recall Elia's meltdown ... listen to the meltdown here.
a Now is the time to appreciate Ken Griffey Jr. and Frank Thomas
a Touring New York's Yankee Stadium before the walls tumble
a Red Sox "curse" jersey fetches $175,100 in charity auction ... Now this is a great prank!
a Baseball needs to pick up where Canseco left off
a Heat Reaches a Boiling Point

TV ...
a Neil Patrick Harris: Say No to Britney!
a How They Get Each Other ... another good read about "Mother."
a 'The Office': Jim's Best Pranks!
a Rainn Wilson and the real officea Why 'Men in Trees' and 'Old Christine' should come back ... Never been a fan of "Men in Trees." But Kates and I do really enjoy "Old Christine."
a Where in the World Isn't Ryan Seacrest?
Music ...
a Mariah Carey has a winning formula with 'E=MC2'
a Mariah is a pop queen, but don't forget Elvis is still the King
a Come away with Wong Kar-wai: director persuades Norah Jones to try acting
a Sara Bareilles talks about her hit song, going commercial and writing

Politics ...a Chelsea Clinton Finds Her Voice
a Cheney's shades: A 'Naked Lady?'
a Why Obamamania? Because He Runs as The Great White Hope
a Obama picks up support and calories

Media ...
a At Sparkly Newseum, The Glory Of the Story Goes Above the Fold
a The Katie-Hillary Bond
a Tough Question For CBS: Who'll Follow Couric?

Life & other stuff ...
a Cops kill cougar on North Side

Sunday reading

Some of the good reads (and links) that caught my eyes during the last week ...

Let's start it with this video of one sports anchor's look at the Duke-Belmont upset ... Clever!



Baseball ...
a Season forecast: Tom Verducci's playoff picks and surprise teams for '08 campaign
a A-Rod won't address allegations
a Cubs, WGN celebrate diamond anniversary
a As Jinx Turns 100, the Friendly Confines Are Getting Feisty
a Wrigley, Cubs in limbo as Tribune chief Zell seeks home-run deals
a From Reggie to Chub: One Last Roll Call ... It's been a dream of mine to get to Yankee Stadium ... Unfortuately, it's not looking like it's going to happen this year.
a Deep Inside the Big Ballyard in the Bronx
a You Can’t Just Blow Up History
a The Spirits of Yankee Legends Permeate a Locker Room
a Ballparks Come, Ballparks Go, the Memories Are Forever
a Shea in ’64: The Planes Above, the Mets Below

March Madness ...
a With No Issues, Williams Is Content
a Ford Field, Reliant Stadium raise regionals
a Time to appreciate Big Ten's last 2 ... This story came out, of course, before both teams lost.
a Wisconsin Becomes a National Power by Staying Close to Home

Politics ...
a Okay, Barack. Now Show 'Em Your White Side

Media & the Internet ...
a 'The Simpsons' announces the death of print ... my good friend Matt pointed me to this one.
a LeBron James' Vogue cover called racially insensitive

Life & other stuff ...
a Pottermania lives on in college classrooms ... Good stuff from my good friend Raechel. Some days I long to be in college again just so I can take some of the classes they're coming up with these days ...
a It's a gas: $2.49-per-gallon gaffe lures bargain hunters
a Families speak about switched identity ordeal ... Gripping story. I couldn't imagine what this would be like ...
a In new book, crash survivor ponders why she lived ... different read, same gripping story as above.
a Get Ready to Step Up, Dad ... hey, I'll step up.
a Western Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses
a The Washington Post: Peeps Show 2

Sunday reading

Some of the reads that piqued my interest this last week ...

Sports ...
a University of Wisconsin, Washburn wrangling in court over ‘W’ logos ... Ah yes. The good 'ol Washburn 'W'. See Washburn is a rival of Northwest, and it struck me every time we played them how similar Washburn's 'W' looked to Wisconsin's 'W.' ... Not that I think the school needs to get sued over it, but it is interesting ...
a BCS got it right this time ... Whatever. Yes, it was a loony college football season, but it didn't make me any more hip to the BCS.
a Why clean up college football's lovely mess? ... Ditto.
a No favoritism toward Pats, or is there?
a Cuban's 'passion project': Buying Cubs
a A new boss in the Bronx
a Barry Bonds Pleads Not Guilty to Perjury
a Bonds' team has tough road ahead
a Baseball waits, wonders as Mitchell report on steroid use in the sport looms
a Gagne deal is for one year ... I think he's a has-been. But I'm willing to believe.

Internet & media ...
a Japan's Bloggers: Humble Giants of the Web
a Readers' online postings enliven site, merit caution
a The Decline Of The Critic

TV ...
a Zachary Quinto: Highly logical, for a human ... All I know is I detest is character in "Heroes."
a Pulling Their Punch Lines

Music ...
a No academy CDs? Play live!
a It's a holiday tune full of pure joy ... I remember the first time I heard this song too. December 1994. I was a sophomore in high school, getting ready to head to my job as a grocery clerk at the local Price Chopper. I was listening to my stereo in my room -- as usual. I started bouncing around my room, and I thought then that it was one of the greatest song's I'd ever heard ... Yeah. Here's the video.
a James Taylor returns to his roots
a Jordin Sparks maintains innocent charm in pop CD debut
a Blake Lewis, 'American Idol' runner-up, looks to move beyond the show with release of new CD
a Led Zeppelin's glorious excess ... I'm becoming a fan too. And here's one thing I won't soon forget: How cool it was a couple weeks ago to be glancing at the Billboard charts and seeing both Led Zeppelin and the Eagles with albums in the Top 10 ... whoah.
a The Song Still Remains The Same for Led Zeppelin
a The McCartney interview: 'I'm trying to create an antidote' for difficult times

Politics ...
a The Love Song of Dennis J. Kucinich
a Bush in Psych 101: 'Feeling... pretty good about life'

Life & other stuff ...
a Easy on the eggnog, Cinderella
a AT&T saying good-bye to its last pay phones
a D.C. leads metro areas in walkability

Sunday reading

Kates and I are feeling moved by the power of music today …

Our morning church service was an inspiring one that included brass accompaniments and an awesome, and chilling, arrangement of “This Is My Father’s World” ...

Then, after another Packers win (yeah, baby!) , we were back at our church again for an organ recital and festival of hymns. While a local music professor played our organ magnificently, the voices of our choir and a packed sanctuary filled the air. It was a virtual of greatest hits of hymns -- again with bell and brass accompaniments.

While driving around tonight and doing some errands we had The Weepies going in the car. Some of the most beautiful music I’ve ever heard … and now Old Navy’s got them all over their holiday commercials. Cool.

Finally, I’m sitting down to watch -- for what it is and isn’t worth -- the American Music Awards …and checking in on the Patriots game during the commercials …

Here are some of the headlines that caught my eyes during the past week …

Baseball & sports ...
a Kansas reaches new heights in Top 25 ... Sweet. But seriously, would the powers-that-be of Division 1 football suck it up and set up a playoff system already!? The chumps on ESPN last night actually proclaimed that by losing its second game of the season Oklahoma was knocked out of a chance to play for the national championship. Excuse me!?! Kansas hasn't lost a game, they've powered over every team they've faced, and you're putting Oklahoma in the same sentence as the nationa championship, not to mention forgetting about Missouri, which has only lost one game -- and, by the way, will take on the Jayhawks next weekend! Yeah. Fix the BCS ... and then get rid of the Big Ten Network.
a Worst Free-Agent Contracts of the last 10 years ... Yep. That Kevin Brown deal was pretty bad.
a Posada among top Yankee catchers ... It would have been nice to see him in a Cubs uniform, but Posada's the only thing I like about the Yankees. He's a good one ...
a Brewers' Braun revels in ride to NL Rookie of the Year

Politics ...
a For Obama, a Handsome Payoff in Political Gambles
a Is Clinton campaign too scripted?

Entertainment ...
a A cliffhanger for soaps
a What's on the Line In the Writers' Strike
a Darkened Broadway casts long shadows
a Is the Ticket Biz Out of Line? Um. Yeah. And it's only getting worse ...
a The SNL iPhone Sketch that Never Aired ... funny stuff.
a Post-Oscar Letdowns
a Writers strike is good news for TV newsmagazines

The Internet ...
a Facebook isn't your diary
a Google Empire Moves From Creating to Recreating

Life & other stuff ...
a Big Boom Demise for Vegas' New Frontier
a Blue light special: Inside the stunning Michigan Avenue skyscraper beacon
a Don't try hiding behind privacy
a Historic hotels given second chance to serve guests
a How Science Is Rewriting the Book on Genes
a Reading a face comes down to microexpressions

Playing catchup...

So the Red Sox won the World Series Sunday night ...

What can you say? Sure I was rooting for the Rockies -- they were the sentimental favorite. But, don't get me wrong, I've been a Red Sox fan for awhile now, too. They're darn good (as the analysts said afterward, get ready world, this is going to be the team to beat for years to come. No more curses in Boston...), and they pretty much knocked the purple mountain majesty out of the Rockies ...

* * *

Thank you Jacoby Ellsbury. For my free taco, that is ... In case you missed it, and I know many of you did, Ellsbury, the lovable Red Sox rookie stole second base in Game 2. Even if you were paying moderate attention to that game, it was easy to miss. It wasn't at all a significant point in the game, and Ellsbury swiped it without even drawing a throw ... But, hey, it was enough for Taco Bell to offer everyone in the country a free taco between the hours of 2 and 5 p.m. on Tuesday ...

So, on Tuesday, at about 2:15, I took a jaunt to a local Taco Bell for my free taco ... Going in, I wasn't sure what to expect. Would the parking lot be packed!? Would the drive-thru be a dozen cars deep? Would I have to fear being trampled?

Turns out, my car was one of two in the parking lot. I went inside the store and waited as another couple placed their order; clearly they had no knowledge of the free taco. Then, the cashier asked them, "Would you like your free taco?" The man looked at his companion, shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head. The woman -- she declined the free taco.

My turn. I stepped to the register. Ordered a taco supreme for my cohort Laura, soft taco for myself and a Mountain Dew to go with it. And then I added "And yes, I want my free taco."

The cheery cashier replied, "Ok, I was waiting to see how you were going to order and then I was going to ask."

"Yep. I'm a big baseball fan, so I know all about it."

The cheery cashier then went on to tell me all about her and her boyfriend cheering and getting excited about Monday night's Packers game. Sure, it was a great game, but how she thought that had anything to do with the Worlds Series, a stolen base and free tacos, I'm not so sure ...

I took my free taco back to work and noted it was the best free taco I'd ever tasted ...

I should have gone for more. It didn't occur to me until afterward, when I got this e-mail from my friend Matt, that I could have hit up every Taco Bell in the city for a free taco and no one would have known ...

I outsmarted Taco Bell. I just pulled up to the drive-thru and said “I’d like my free taco.” And she said, “Would you like something to drink with that?” Me again: “Nope, just the free taco.” And then I peeled out of there! Woo Hoo!

Actually, I don’t think I really outsmarted Taco Bell. But I did enjoy my tasty free taco. And I really wanted to drive back through again.

Dang. I could have done my run at 2, and again on my way home just before 5. Next year.

* * *

So Joe Torre's going to manage the Dodgers!? Nice ... I'm happy, thrilled really. But it's a well-known fact Torre didn't exactly have a stellar managerial record before arriving at Yankee Stadium. Now we'll get to see what he's really made of ...

And the Tigers got Edgar Renteria!? Also nice. Now they just need Craig Counsell, Moises Alou and Jeff Conine and they'll really be the '97 Marlins reincarnated. They've already got Dombrowski, Leyland and Sheffield ... Too bad Livan Hernandez and Kevin Brown are washed up.

And Alex Rodriguez is opting out of his contract. I still can't blame him ... Even then, I'm still debating in my head whether I'd want him on my team ... It's always interesting with A-Rod.

More good reads ...
a Schilling: 'Realistic chance' I won't be back ... That sucks. I'll be really sorry to see Schilling leave Boston ... But what's this!? He's interested in coming to Milwaukee!? Oh, tell me more!!
a Papelbon a hit on Letterman ... I watched this last night. Good stuff. Is it just me, or does anyone else think Papelbon's just a little bit nuts?
a 2007: 'A great year for baseball' ... I second that. My highlights: Verlander's no-hitter. The Red Sox four straight home runs. Sammy Sosa's 600th. Barry Bonds 756th -- sigh. And of course the Brewers and the pennant races, not to mention my two games in one day. Oh, and the whole 'winter ball' experience ...

* * *

How about that Packers game on Monday night!?!

It was a snoozefest until the final minutes of the fourth quarter. For the better part of the contest, the game was only background noise as I worked on other things; I paid more attention to Deanna Favre's interview with Kornheiser and the gang in the broadcast booth then I did during other play in the first three quarters ...

Then Kates joined me and we took a seat to see the Broncos scramble and kick the tying field goal in the final five seconds. How amazing -- and comical -- was that replay of the players running on/off the field and hastily getting in position for that kick!?

Seeing the end of regulation, Kates announced she had to go to bed and went upstairs, while I remained in front of the TV, determined to stay it out ... No sooner had Kates gotten up the stairs, Brett Favre was airing it up to Greg Jennings, who pulled it in and ran it in for the winning score ... I bolted up the stairs and was running down our hallway, hands in the air -- like Favre running down field to meet his teammates -- shouting the details to Kates as I turned on our bedroom TV so we could catch the replays together ...

Ah, Brett Favre.

I don't know what Mike McCarthy told him before the season, but the guy is throwing better this season than he has in years. I take back everything I said a couple years ago about Favre and retirement ...


* * *

I spent Monday in Chicago. (Woo hoo!) Saw the new "Maps" exhibit at the Field Museum ...

Kinda fascinating.

When my cohort Liz pitched the idea of me tagging along with her and one of my editors to review the exhibit, I wasn't that excited. I mean, c'mon, how exciting can maps really be?

The exhibit is comprised of more than 100 significant and rare maps, spanning hundreds of years from those carved on stone tablets to today's computerized images ... (The Trib has a great online interactive...)

The highlights in my eyes included a map from the 1930s of London's underground rail system, a significant map because the rail system's simple, rectangular design became the template for other large city systems ...

Another gem was a colorful heart-shaped globe, that was more a beautiful piece of art than a usable map. Still, it was made more captivating in that the shapes, sizes and proximity of the continents remained exact even with the distortion of the globe ...

We saw a road map of the United States in the 1930s. What made this one so fascinating was that the map had been used during one family's series of vacations. With no interstate highways, the map was colored with red and blue lines tracing routes they took to various destinations, including the year of the vacation route ...

There was a map used to draw the boundaries of the new United States after the Revolutionary War, a map on which the negotiators had outlined the U.S. boundaries in red and gave it to England's King George III ...

There was Charles Lindbergh's flight map. Maps drawn by Abraham Lincoln and Leonardo da Vinci ...

But the one that had us all talking during our train ride back: An Inuit's pencil sketch, done in the 1800s, of a series of islands he'd drawn based on what he observed while kayaking. And next to that pencil drawing, a recent satellite image of the same islands; the pencil drawing was astonishingly accurate ...

* * *

Some of the radio stations started playing Christmas music yesterday. On Nov. 1.

Fa la la la blah!

Sunday rambling

Toured haunted houses on Friday night ... Worked around the house yesterday ... Stayed up late to watch the Sox-Indians game last night ... And just finished watching the Packers-Redskins game, which neither team apparently wanted to win today ...

Now I'm wondering where the weekend went again ...

* * *

Kates and I just finished eating supper. Pierogis with sausages and an array of peppers. Good stuff.

Afterward, Kates tells me “You’re on dish duty.”

“Wha?” I say. “I got a baseball game to watch.”

“Whatever. I got papers to grade. Masters papers to write. I got people calling me. I’m a busy woman.”

Whatever? I’m always on dish duty. We need a dishwasher …

* * *

I still can't stop listening to Regina Spektor ...

Here's two weeks worth of good reads that caught my eyes ...

Entertainment ...
a To Leno, it's guilty until proven innocent
a Can Lindsay save herself from Britneyville?

Music ...
a Sell your old CDs at your own risk. It won't be long before you get a yen to sing along with them again
a Sting tops Blender’s list of worst lyricists
a Are record companies still relevant?
a The folks who brought you 'American Idol' turn voters loose on bands
a Josh Ritter Eschews Politics for Heartland Rock on 'Historical Conquests'
a Kid Rock has an 8-track mind
a Radiohead, the savior of 21st century rock?
a 'Kurt Cobain About a Son' an intimate portrait of the artist

Business...
a Is Apple losing some of its shine?
a The end of the Wal-Mart era
a Newspapers, bloggers now on same page

Washington & politics ...
a Arlington National Cemetery Plans to Move Beyond Its Borders
a Hillary Chuckles; Pundits Snort
a Chill out: Stop fighting over global warming -- here's the smart way to attack it.

Baseball ...
a As Bonds and Giants Part, BALCO Limps On
a Cubs' baggage gets heavier
a Song Makes a Comeback Along With the Cubs
a GM job of no interest to Stone ... thank goodness. I got a little bit nervous this week when I read he could be the GM.
a Yanks' loss may mean end of an era
a A-Rod could solve a lot of problems
a On the Mark: A-Rod fails to shine again
a Meet the Mets: They're not what they seem
a Where does Mets' collapse rank?
a Oh baby, what's a Sox fan to do?
a Times change. To his credit, so did Bud

Life & other stuff ...
a Whatcha Doing Now? ... And Now?

Aunt Threatens To Devour Helpless Newborn's Toes

WALDEN, TN—While family members stood silently by and did nothing, visiting aunt Debbie Koeler proclaimed her desire to consume the "tiny...

Yankee fallout

... In a replay of my activities around this same time last fall -- several late nights in a row, concerts and postseason baseball -- I arrived home last night at about 1 a.m. from the Regina Spektor show ... and stayed up until past 3 watching the Indians-Yankees game on the DVR.

C'mon I couldn't go to bed without knowing the outcome of the game! And for that, I got just over three hours of sleep.

But hey, the Indians wiped out the Yankees! Sweet bliss ... What'd I tell you: Indians in four.

Now -- while I try to decide who I'm going to root for in the ALCS ...

(While I greatly admire Big Papi and the Red Sox Nation, I think I'm going to lean toward the Indians for these reasons ...

• The Red Sox are just three years removed from their last world championship, but the Indians haven't won it all since 1948.


• The Indians beat the Yankees after going winless against them during the regular season; that's heart. Experience, schmerience.


• And you gotta love a team that's made it this far with a roster that's had barely any posteason experience, aside from Kenny Lofton's 84 playoff games.


• I loved the '95 and '97 Indians. I loooove Kenny Lofton.)

... the real fun begins.

The Yankees soap opera.

First of all, Steinbrenner and his band of suits would be fools to get rid of Joe Torre ... The guy has returned pride to the Yankees, won 10 division titles, including nine straight, in his 12 years as manager. And he's got the utmost respect of his players ... No matter how successful they've been in their respective playing/managerial careers, I honestly can't see Don Mattingly, Joe Girardi or Tony LaRussa faring any better managing the Yankees ...

I could care less what happens to Mariano Rivera. I think he's overrated and it won't make any difference whether the Yankees have him next season.

Roger Clemens needs to stay home for good.

And that brings up Alex Rodriguez and the churning speculation of whether he's staying or going ... If I were Alex Rodriguez, I think I'd want to get the heck out of the chaotic Bronx, no matter who's calling me a quitter, and go to a franchise that's committed to building a winner around the right players for the team, not because they're sluggers or power pitchers who can be lured by throwing money at them, even if I have to renegotiate my contract and accept a pay cut. I'd want to go to a team where I could have fun playing again, go back to playing shortstop and earn the respect of the fans ... Then again, I'm not A-Rod.

... And if I were the Cubs, I'd forget about trying to make a run at Rodriguez and go instead for the veteran catcher who's a proven leader and a guy who can handle my pitching staff. That'd be Jorge Posada ...

Rockies rollin'

My tagline for the week:

Hey, I'm just happy I can start cheering for the Cubs whole-heartedly ...

Check this out and hear what Lou Piniella is saying.

More Cubs stuff ...
Chicago Tribune multimedia
99 things every real Cubs fan should know

* * *


How about those Rockies!?!

How about that game last night!?!

Going into the game, I couldn't say I was rooting for one team more than the other; I barely knew anything about either team. But as the game went on, the Rockies, their exciting lineup and their exuberant fans started to win over my heart …And when the Padres came from behind to tie the game at six in the eighth, I was all but certain it signaled the beginning of the end for Denver’s run …

Then the Padres put two on the board in the top of the 13th and send Trevor Hoffman, arguably the greatest closer this game’s ever seen, to the mound. Seriously -- game over … Nope. Kaz Matsui doubled. Troy Tulowitzki doubled. Matt Holliday tripled and drove in the tying runs … all with no outs.

I was doing all I could to squelch my clapping and screams, and not wake Kates.

Then Jamey Carroll hit the sacrifice fly to right field that sent Holliday sprinting to home plate, planting his chin in the dirt as he skidded past Michael Barrett, clearly not touching home plate for the winning run.

The unfortunate part of it, though, is that we’re going to have to listen for the rest of the week to ESPN and all the other sports talkers berating the umpires' disputed calls and pushing for instant replay in baseball. If you ask me, Tim Kurkjan put it best immediately after the game -- It was a heckuva ballgame, you’ve got the Colorado fans going crazy and you can’t say, “Oh, wait a minute, we have to review this play.” Then you take 10 minutes to review it, find out he did or didn’t touch the plate and oh yeah, now you can celebrate …

Nope. The absence of instant replay is part of what makes baseball, for lack of another word, pure.

And seriously, how awful was TBS’ coverage!? … Ugh. Good thing I'm a huge baseball fan and the game was exciting ... First of all, the announcers were such no-names TBS could've pulled any guy from the street into the booth and we wouldn't have known the difference -- Any stories or insights they provided were about as exciting as a pair of college-aged amatuers auditioning for their first internships. Plus the graphics were too gimmicky and large to digest, and Cal Ripken, sitting in the studio, looked as though he was in just as much disblelief at the unintelligent questions his partner was tossing him ... The last straw was when I caught one of the analysts say something like “Barrett has done a great job since coming over from the Mets” (He was traded from the Cubs, you idiot! He‘s never played an inning for the Mets in his career …) Worse yet, the analyst never bothered to correct himself, which leads me to believe the researchers or producers working behind him weren't any more competent ...

And we have more several more games of dealing with this.

I miss Jeanne Zelasko, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver.

* * *

Here’s what I’m thinking about the playoffs …

A couple weeks ago, I was saying Angels-Cubs.

But frankly, I’m not high on any of the National League teams right now …

I don’t believe the Phillies or the Diamondbacks are strong enough to advance, which leaves the Cubs and the Rockies. I’d like to think this could be the Cubs’ year, but c’mon it’s the Cubs, and they‘ve faded down the stretch.

The Rockies, however, are on a roll that’s going to be hard to stop -- check last night’s game as exhibit No. 1 -- They’ve won 14 of 15 games, and I would not be surprised if they blow through the postseason the same way last October’s Cardinals did … They're looking like a team of destiny.

In the American League, it’s the opposite. Angels-Red Sox, Yankees-Indians -- I could see any one of those teams taking it all … But injuries have slowed the Angels, and now I’m seeing the Red Sox rolling through the playoffs …

… And Yankees-Indians? Don’t even talk to me about the Yankees vaunted lineup and Mariano Rivera in the bullpen. At least the other three AL teams in the postseason have heart; the Yankees are robots. The Yankees have blown enough postseason games since 2001 (in addition to the fact they buy their pennants, rather than nurture players …) to lose their rights to be playing in October. It’s gonna be the Cleveland Indians in four games.

The Rockies will take the Cubs in five games; the Red Sox will beat the Indians in six.

Red Sox win the World Championship in a high-scoring seven-game series.

Baseball reads ...
a Burning questions: Race is over, now what?
a Here’s what the Sox need to get by the Angels
a Phillies celebration could be short-lived against a Rockies team of destiny

Onion reads

Peyton Manning Apologizes For Cheating One Time When He Was 5

TERRE HAUTE, IN—Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning was barely able to compose himself as he apologized to his family, friends,...

Roger Clemens Officially Earns His $20 Million

NEW YORK—After a half-season plagued by inconsistency, injury, and general disappointment, Roger Clemens finally earned the almost $20...

Barry Zito: 'My Dad Says I Shouldn't Throw Curveballs Anymore'

SAN FRANCISCO—In an interview concerning his upcoming start against the Nationals, San Francisco Giants ace Barry Zito announced that he...

There's only one September ...

I'm feeling like I've said this before, but how great of a weekend was this for baseball!?!

And I know I've said this before: This is the most exciting baseball season we've seen since at least 1998 ...

Kates and I spent our weekend making the rounds to each of the parents' houses, and the baseball was always on. Going in, we knew this was going to be a make-it-or-break-it weekend...

Friday night was Applebees takeout with Kates' parents. And then the Brewers-Reds game ... When we turned it on, the Brew Crew already was down 5-0 and Ben Sheets had been plucked from the game in favor of Chris Capuano (Chris Capuano!?! ... ugh...). We got to see Prince Fielder tie the franchise home run mark, and Capuano actually pitched better than he had in months, but the comeback fell short ... The Brewers lost. The Cubs had beaten the Cardinals. The Brewers fall 1.5 games back from the Cubs, and the Cardinals -- thankfully -- lose their eighth straight to go six games back ...

I switch channels ...

To the Red Sox-Yanees game. It was 10:30 at night and that game was in the eighth inning. We had just missed a Jason Giambi home run, but with a 7-3 lead the Red Sox appeared to be cruising ...

Right ... Robinson Cano homered for the Yankees. Melky Cabrera walked. Johnny Damon doubled. Derek Jeter singled. Bobby Abreu doubled. And Alex Rodriguez singled to give the Yankees a 8-7 lead ...

Kates was already asleep on my shoulder. And I went lights-out for the ninth, only to make up to the postgame highlights.

That was Friday night.

* * *

On Saturday, it was off to my parents' place ...

For lunch, I brought Culver's; Kates brought Arby's (... hey, we were road trippin' ...). We had some sit-down time with Mom & Pops ... and then it was time for another Cubs-Cardinals game. The first of a doubleheader, actually ...

The Cardinals were looking good ... Then Alfonso Soriano whacked a two-run homer to win it. Alfonso!!

On to the Red Sox-Yankees game ... What started out as a captivating pitcher's dual between Josh Beckett and Chien-Ming Wang turned into a Yankee-drubbing (lovely!) in the blink of an eye ...

We watched until the eighth, and then it was time for Kates and I to hit the road again ... Flipping between the Cubs-Cardinals nightcap and the Brewers-Reds games all the way home ...

I figured the Cardinals couldn't keep losing the way they had been; they took their game. And I figured the Brewers couldn't let themselves slip any further; they took their game too with Prince hitting another home run to become the single-season record holder for the Brewers.

So the Cubs still lead. But the Brewers are just one back. And the Cardinals are all but done at six games back.

* * *

On Sunday, Kates and I threw the Packers-Giants game into the mix as we did some shopping and worked around the house ...

To be honest, I didn't watch the Packers that closely. But they looked good enough to me. And a 35-13 win can't tell me anything less ... I'll take it.

Didn't catch any of the Brewers game. But they won, and I'll take that too.

I did, however, listen to almost all of the Cubs-Reds game. And the Cubs won ...

Driving to the hardware store for some supplies and listening to the jubilee of Pat and Ron celebrating the fact the Cubs were heading back to Wrigley in first place, I couldn't keep the smile from leaking on to my face. It was then then it hit me: Hey, it's either going to be the Cubs or the Brewers winning this thing, this has been one HECK of a pennant race and I'm going to be having a ball no matter which one makes it ...

Of course, I wasn't done yet. The Red Sox and Yankees were on Sunday Night Baseball (lovely!) ...

And it was a classic as usual.

... Curt Schilling against Roger Clemens (no two pitchers had gone against each other with more wins in the history of Fenway Park ...)

... Game is tied 1-1 heading into the eighth. Then Derek "Mr. Clutch" Jeter launches a 3-run homer over the Green Monster to silence the Red Sox nation ...

... Jeter had fouled off pitch after pitch, and Jason Varitek went to the mound after almost every one to talk with Schilling. Jon Miller offered up an interesting stat that put to rest one of the thoughts swirling in my head all weekend long: The average American League game lasts about 2 hours and 53 minutes. The average Red Sox-Yankees game lasts 3 hours and 33 minutes -- because there's so much strategy and thinking that goes into each pitch.

... The Red Sox start mounting a comeback in the bottom of the ninth ... Against Mariano Rivera (... Need I say again how horribly overrated I think Mariano Rivera is!?! Every time a broadcast team starts gushing about him I want to run to throw a baseball at the TV ... He's not invincible people = 2001 World Series.)

... Then Rivera loads of the bases for (insert dramatic music here) David Ortiz. (More dramatic music here.) ... A couple weeks ago, Matty and I were discussing who we thought the three most exciting players were in baseball right now. I answered Vladimir Guerrero, Prince Fielder and David Ortiz. Prince had come through for me this weekend, I hadn't been paying much attention to Vlady, but surely Big Papi was going to come through here, I thought ...

He struck out ... oooooooooooooooh! I sigh with the Red Sox Nation ...

And so ends my latest baseball weekend.

* * *

... So I caught this story on MLB.com today ... and once again, I'm wondering, how much more fun can this get!?

What in the world has happened to the standings everywhere else? Five minutes ago, it seems, it was two Wild Card races and a pair of National League division races. Now every division but the AL West has a race, half of baseball is still alive, it looks like a seventh straight year with a new world champ, tiebreaker-scenario talk will soon be all the rage and someone will be crying more tears of joy than Jamie Pressly.

Uh. Yeah!!

A week ago I figured my ultimate postseason was out of reach. Now, anything could happen ...

If the Red Sox and Yankees meet again, it would be in the AL Championship Series. You know what those are like, and it could happen again. Any wild guess will do. The Cubs and Indians could meet in a battle of the two teams with the longest world championship droughts in the Majors, and the Cubs could win it all for the first time since 1908. The Brewers could win it all for the first time, and so could the Padres or Rockies. It could be another Subway Series, it could be 1986 revisited with Mets-Red Sox, or Grady Little could come back to Fenway with the Dodgers.

I might pee my pants.

That is, if it's a Cubs-Indians world series. Or even a Cubs-Red Sox World Series. Or if the Brewers or Dodgers even make it to the World Series.

The Rivalry never seems to disappoint when it comes to drama. Fans who went to sleep Friday night assuming the Red Sox had won the opener easily awoke on Saturday to hear about an epic Yankee comeback. Saturday was the day Josh Beckett one-upped Chien-Mien Wang, and then Sunday was a fabulous Roger Clemens-Schilling pitching duel (representing the most-ever combined victories by two starters at Fenway) that Jeter broke up. And what an amazing finish, with Big Papi just loaded up for a grand slam walk-off against a closer he had beaten before. This time, Rivera won.

Like I said -- I watched every one. And no, I was not dissappointed.

Last year, the Tigers basically gave away this division at home on the final weekend, their hopes spoiled by Kansas City while Minnesota clinched. Of course, Detroit took advantage of its Wild Card berth instead, making it to the club's first Fall Classic since 1984. Those Tigers seem determined to do things different in 2007, and now it remains to be seen whether their momentum will stretch across an entire fortnight ...

Guess where Cleveland plays on the final weekend of the season? Kansas City. The Royals won at the Jake on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep, but if the AL Central is still a race on the last weekend, it would be too ironic.

Too ironic.

There's only one October. There's only two weeks left in the regular season.

And I looooooove this commercial ...

Dang Yankees!

Fucking Yankees, Reports Nation

BOSTON—Moments after the New York Yankees continued a month-long stretch that has seen them climb from the bottom of the AL East to pull within a once unfathomable four games of the first-place Red Sox by defeating the Baltimore Orioles...

Newly Appointed Ambassador Ripken Accidentally Causes Nuclear War

TEHRAN—Mere days after being named a U.S. State Department Goodwill Ambassador and Special Sports Envoy by Condoleezza  Rice, baseball...

Sunday reading

Some of the stories and headlines that have caught my eyes the last couple weeks ...

Music & entertainment ...
a Kelly Clarkson's dispute with Clive Davis has made her music hard to hear
a The Baby is Back on Ferrell's Funnyordie
a Chuckles, Guffaws and Some Yucks: Potty-Mouthed Toddler Got Will Ferrell's Comedy Web Site Up and Running
a Bringing Out the Worst In Celebrity Coverage? Esquire Chided for Jolie Cover Story
a What were they thinking? Good actors' bad choices
a Blunt's shaking his hit
a Watching Films or TV Together Is a Rite of Coupledom, Until A Scarlet Temptress Beckons
a TV cancellation hidden in a cloud of euphemism
a Paris fans are so Paris
a Rowling's spell, not a wizard, is behind the magic of 'Potter'
a When bad roles happen to good actors
a What will Ben Silverman think of next for NBC?

Sports ...
a Once the dirtiest player in the NFL, Conrad Dobler is now fighting for guys he tried to dismember ... My friend Mike is responsible for many of the photos you see with this one ...
a 'Bronx' revisits boys of summer 1977
a With Old-School Sluggers, A 'Derby' Done Right

The Internet ...
a Blogging Vs. Broadcast Rights: Free Press Or Freeloading?
a Calling In Pros to Refine Your Google Image
a Nanoseconds Of Happiness: You're Going to Love Your iPhone, Until the Next Gizmo Calls a Candidates learning that YouTube and other Web sites are potent portals

Other stuff ...
a A Roto-Rooter rescue
a A President Besieged and Isolated, Yet at Ease
a For 50 years, Milwaukee's been on a freeway ride
a Robotic cars could take pressure off nation's highways
a Travelers to the Grand Canyon have always had a killer view. Now they can take a step in a new direction
a Two Little Letters, Addressed to Everyone, That Speak Volumes
a Big blasts at harbor rock out near Big Gig

This day in baseball

... The Brewers are flying!!

... The Cubs came from behind this afternoon to go above .500. They've won five straight, baby ...

... And Barry Bonds isn't playing tonight. (And no my delight in that has nothing to do with the fact that he's black and I'm white ... )

It's been a good day in baseball ...

... well, except for the fact that Roger is returning to the Yankees. But c'mon, he's not going to be their savior. The Yanks still aren't winning the World Series ...

Good baseball

At times this spring I've felt ashamed of myself for being so busy that I can't follow the baseball as closely as I'd like ...

In fact, I had no idea Alex Rodriguez was so hot until seeing some of his stats on the scoreboard at Miller Park a couple week's ago ...

But I still get at least a glimpse at my daily newspaper. All I need to know is that the teams I've attached myself closest to -- the Dodgers, Tigers, Angels and Red Sox -- are playing well. Heck, the Brewers are in first place and nine games over .500!! And the Cubs appear (as I pause for good measure) to be putting together a run ...

But the best part: The Yankees are losing.

I'm not holding my breath yet, though. They seem to start this way every year ... Check back in October.

This from yesterday's SI newsletter ...

Something is rotten in the Bronx. Despite a big month from third baseman Alex Rodriguez (far left, with Derek Jeter), who leads the majors with 14 home runs, the Yankees finished April at 9-14 and at the bottom of the AL East standings. Can New York turn things around in time to make the postseason? Despite last night's 10-1 win over the Rangers, in which rookie righthander Phil Hughes threw 6 1/3 hitless innings before leaving with a hamstring injury (one that will sideline him for 4-6 weeks), SI's Tom Verducci foresees an uphill climb. "The cold fact is the Yankees face overwhelming odds to get into the postseason," says Verducci. "They were not just a little off their game in April, or a game or two below .500. They were .391 baseball awful. How many teams recover from that kind of terrible start to get into the postseason? Would you believe 4.8 percent? From 1996 to 2006, 62 teams played worse than .400 baseball in April. Only three of those teams made the playoffs. If there is good news for New York it is that it was done twice just last year, bringing the odds up all the way from 1.3 percent."

Yankees Lose World Series

An oldie but a goodie I recently stumbled across from The Onion ...

Here's hoping they don't even make the playoffs this year ...

Yankees Lose World Series

NEW YORK (Oct. 27)-Many baseball fans were disappointed Wednesday when the New York Yankees, 26-time world champions and the highest-paid team in baseball, did not win the 2004 World Series.