Good Morning, It's Thursday October 22, 2009
I put the outdoor furniture in the shed on Wednesday. It was a gorgeous day, but you know that winter is coming. The storm doors went up on Monday. Tomorrow it's the gutters. I'm off work for a few days, but I'm tired and sore.
BACK TO DEFEND
The Phillies wrapped up the NLCS last night with a 10-4 victory over the Dodgers. Jayson Werth hit a three run homer in the first inning and a solo shot in the seventh. They're off to the World Series.
NOW THEY WAIT
The Phils now watch to see if the Yankees wrap up the ALCS tonight. The Yankees just need to win one more game over the Angels. If they can't get it done tonight, the series will conclude either Saturday or Sunday.
BE NICE
Here's the surest way to make a Cleveland Indians fan cry. Remind him or her that when the World Series begins, it could match the two dominant pitchers of the playoffs, CC Sabathia against Cliff Lee. Both former
Indians.
STAT OF THE NIGHT
Heard on ESPN radio's play-by-play from always enlightening "Soup" Campell. In the first 22 games of the playoffs, nine games were blown by some of the major league's best closers.
CLOSING TUNES
As soon as the final out was made last night, the music blared at Citizens Bank Park. Truly old school.
First a chorus of The Who's "Won't get fooled again(Meet the New Boss, same as the Old Boss). Then they followed that with Van Halen's "Top of the world."
DON'T HIT ANYBODY
Bengals top draft pick Andre Smith practiced with the team Wednesday, sort of. He still hasn't been cleared for contact. The Enquirer's Joe Reedy reported in his blog that offensive line coach Paul Alexander described his marching orders, "Go ahead Paul he can practice, but he can't do contact. It's football, it's not badminton, right."
BAD NEWS BEARS
Running back Cedric Benson told the conference call with Chicago media yesterday that somebody from the Bears spread negative stories about his time in Chicago. "Anything negative they could say was said" claimed Benson. He thinks that's why he couldn't get a job in the NFL for four months. What did they say about Ced? "I was a prima donna, and didn't work hard on the field or I wasn't focused" said Benson. Bears head coach Lovie Smith said later Wednesday that nobody in the organization blackballed Benson.
SOMEBODY SAID SOMETHING
Even Carson Palmer admitted Wednesday that he was skeptical when the Bengals signed Benson because of things he had read. "None of the stuff I read was true" said the Bengals quarterback.
IN A TWITTER
Bengals wide receiver Chad Ocho Cinco has been nagging at the Bears with his incessant twittering. He wrote that "he would make Lance Briggs backpedal so much, his name would become Lance Armstrong."
SHORT YARDAGE
--The Browns have 12 players with the flu.
--Peyton Manning will try to have his sixth straight 300-yard passing game this Sunday against the Rams. That would match the longest such streak in NFL history.
--The Colts think all-pro safety Bob Sanders will play against St Louis. He's had right knee problems
--Kicker Jeff Reed apologized to his teammates for getting drunk and being disorderly with Pittsburgh police late Sunday night. Second time this year for Reed. We're not even halfway through the season.
FIGHTING THE FLU BUG
This is something I missed. The NFL earlier this month issued a memo about dealing with the swine flu.
If a team has at least six players unable to play as the result of confirmed or suspected cases of swine flu, it can receive roster exemptions for those players. A club can receive a maximum of eight such exemptions.
HATCH-ING AN INVESTIGATION
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch has asked President Obama to launch a Justice Department investigation into the way the BCS, The Bowl Championship Series, crowns its national champion.
UPON FURTHER REVIEW-YOU'RE SUSPENDED
The SEC has suspended the officiating crew that made blatant mistakes in the LSU-Georgia game, and the
Florida-Arkansas game. One was a personal foul and the other was an unsportsmanlike conduct call. The SEC said there was no video evidence to support the calls. The crew can't work again until mid-November.
A gutsy move by Commissioner Mike Slive. Maybe he should run major league baseball where bad calls have dominated the playoffs.
FATAL ATTRACTION
Baseball analyst Steve Phillips admits he had an affair with a 22-year old production assistant at ESPN, who then taunted his wife with phone calls and wrote a letter that graphically described their relationship.
GLENN CLOSE..PAGING GLENN CLOSE
22-year old Brooke Hundley is the ESPN assistant who called Phillips wife and said "we both can't have him."
In August, Mrs Phillips pulled into her driveway to find Hundley there. She also posed as a high school classmate of Phillips 16-year old son. She sent him repeated messages, asking personal questions about his family and his parents' marriage.
SOME GUYS NEVER LEARN
Back when Steve Phillips was the general manager of the Mets, he admitted having sex with a team employee, who sued for sexual harassment. The New York Post says Phillips is being sued for divorce by his wife. About time.
PART OF THE CONVERSATION
It's nice to see that the UC Bearcats are finally being mentioned in the upper half of the Big East Conference when it comes to basketball. The league's media day was held on Wednesday, and the Cats were picked to finish 7th out of 16 teams. Freshman Lance Stephenson was the preseason pick for Rookie of the Year, and senior guard Deonta Vaughn earned first team Big East preseason honors.
A-10 FAVORITES
The Xavier womens basketball team is picked to repeat as champs of the A-10. It was a landslide vote.
Both Ta'Shia Phillips and Amber Harris were preseason first team selections, Special Jennings is a third team choice.
WINSTEL'S WINNERS
The NKU women are picked for second place in the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division. Nancy Winstel has to replace four starters from a team that went 29-3 last season.
THE MISSILES OF OCTOBER
October 22, 1962...JFK announced a quarantine of all offensive military equipment being shipped to Cuba following the discovery of Soviet-built missile bases on the island. The world held its breath for several days.
THE MUSIC OF OCTOBER
October 22, 1966, the Beach Boys song "Good Vibrations" was released. It was the most expensive single ever recorded up to that time, costing $40,000 to make.
THE MOVES OF OCTOBER
October 22, 2000, the Bengals Corey Dillon rushed for 278 yards in a victory over the Broncos. That broke the NFL's single-game rushing record.
THE AMUSEMENT OF OCTOBER
Actor Christopher Lloyd is 71 today. Memorable roles in "Back to the Future" and "One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest." But my favorite Lloyd moment is his portrayal of the drug-addled Reverend Jim in the great TV show Taxi, and the episode where he had to take a driver's test. He was taking the written portion and he whispered to his friends, "What does a yellow light mean?" They whispered back "slow down." So he repeated his question...drawing out each word....Whhhhatt...DDDoes...Aaaaaa....Yellooooow Liiiight Mean? Of course they again replied "slow down."
And he kept asking slower and slower and slower. My description doesn't do it justice, but it's one of funniest moments on TV. Check it out on YouTube.
Enjoy the day...
See you on TV
Popo
