Friday Tidbits 10/27/06

Well, the World Series has been much more eventful than most would have guessed. The Cardinals have avoided the sweep that many predicted. Now they find themselves one game away from popping the champagne open and celebarting like it's 1982. Anthony Reyes kicked the series off with a gem to outshine his rookie counterpart Justin Verlander. Game 2 will go down in infamy with the Kenny Rogers Filthy Finger Incident. Was it a case of cheating or perhaps careless wiping after Taco Night? We'll never know. If Kenny has to take the mound again in this series, I'm sure his hands will be inspected closely. Game 3 was all Chris Carpenter. He bounced back after not pitching up to his standards against the Mets in the NLCS. Game 4 saw the first rainout in 10 years. When they took the field the next day the offensive hero was none other than David Eckstein. Jeff Weaver tries to put the Tiger away tonight. Justin Verlander and the Tigers stand in his way. It's funny that most of the major shows last night were repeats. They did not want to compete against the World Series. The problem is nobody is watching it. It's too bad because it's been a pretty good series. In other baseball news, the Yankees picked up Gary's Sh*ffield's $13 million option. I think Steinbrenner dug through his couches to come up with the dough. However, the whiny steroid using Sh*ffield doesn't want to play first base. He can't come up with 13 million reasons like MeO would. Francisco Liriano could possibly be heading to elbow surgery. What looked like a promosing 1-2 punch with Johan Santana will most likely have to wait a while! For some reason the Red Sox brought back 40 year old Mike Timlin for next year. I guess they need someone on the staff to blow leads so Papi can hit walk off home runs.

Michael Vick proved everybody wrong...for one week at least. Vick exploded for 4 TDs last week against Pittsburgh. I've knocked Vick a lot of the years so I figured I should give him credit when credit is due. The new trend in the NFL seems to be whining. Matt Hasselback thinks the Vikings intentionally hurt him. Big Ben got taunted by the Atlanta Falcons. It's football Ben. The opposing team is going to try and get in your head. Speaking of heads, Shawne Merriman wasn't using his when he decided to use steroids to get ahead. Maybe Todd Sauerbraun could let Merriman know about HGH and it's undetectable qualities. It's a shame because I liked "Lights Out". Funny you didn't hear much about it though. I'm sure you all heard about Tony Romo taking over for Drew Bledsoe. Unless Romo is beefing up the offensive line, I don't see this move making much of a difference. Games are won in the trenches. Having a good offensive line and/or defensive line makes a team great. What good was the MeO signing if his quarterback doesn't have time to get the ball to him? If he had the option, do you think Parcels would have fixed his O-Line or signed MeO? You don't have to answer that. It looks like Big Ben is going to take the field again this weekend for Pittsburgh against Oakland. His body has been beat to hell. I don't know why he doesn't sit this one out. Charlie Batch has proved to be very capable this year in his absence. It's OK to rest up against a creampuff to be ready for the run you'll have to get back in the hunt.

The tyrant David Stern want NBA players to leave their guns at home. It's actually one of the smarter things he's said in a while. Will the players heed his advice? I doubt it. The Nets cut Jay Williams, who was attempting to make a comeback from a motorcycle accident. I applaud him for getting himself back to where he could even attempt a comeback. Hopefully, he'll continue to work and get another shot at it. Put your guns away Stephen Jackson. I wasn't talking about that kind of shot. Tuesday is Halloween. Perhaps the scariest thing that will happen that day is the release of Ron Artest's new rap album. CD players all over the world are coming up with mysterious ailments to avoid having to play it. Some clown in Orlando got a tounge lashing and an escorted trip to the parking lot after calling Dikembe Mutumbo a monkey. What a classless jerk. Mutumbo is one of the classiest people in the NBA. His charity work is extensive. He is a brilliant man speaking numerous languages. I'll speak for most of America and apologize to Dikembe for his remarks.

The Buffalo Sabres are 10-0. 10-0. It's so impressive that I had to say it twice. They tied the 10-0 start the 1993-94 Toronto Maple Leafs started the season with. They take on Atlanta on Saturday to try for the best start ever. Martin St. Louis needed only 6 minutes and 17 seconds to fire three goals between the pipes. Impressive stuff. Besides Buffalo's 20 points there are some other teams off to excellent starts. The Atlanta Thrashers have 17 points and the Minnesota Wild, Dallas Stars, and Anaheim Ducks each have 16 points. Anaheim's only two losses have been the shootout variety. Sabres RW Maxim Afinogenov and Thrasher RW Marian Hossa lead the league with 16 points. Sabres C Chris Drury and Hossa lead the league with 10 goals apiece while Sharks C Joe Thornton leads the league with 13 assists. Kings C Anze Kopitar leads all rookies with 12 points. Wild goalie Manny Fernandez leads the league with a 1.53 GAA. Sabres G Ryan Miller leads the league with 8 wins.

Michigan avoided the curse of the #2 last week although it was only 10-6 after three quarters. Texas squeaked by Nebraska 22-20 on a late FG by a walk-on kicker. Tennessee scored a late TD to avoid losing to Alabama. Notre Dame knocked off UCLA with a last minute 45 yard TD pass from Brady Quinn to Jeff Samardzija. Clemson rolled over Georgia in a battle of the #12 and #13 teams. Washington State knocked off #16 Oregon. In the Game of the Week, Minnesota knocked off Division I-AA North Dakota State 10-9 on a blocked FG attempt. Playing a powerhouse like NDSU should get the Gophers ready to take on #1 Ohio State this week. This week features games between #19 Oklahoma and #23 Missouri, #10 Clemson vs. 5-2 Viriginia Tech, #8 Tennesse vs. 5-2 South Carolina, #9 Florida vs.6-2 Georgia, and #21 Georgia Tech vs. 5-2 Miami. Speaking of Miami, the suspended Hurricanes are going to do some community service. The funniest thing is their program includes "After-school visits with South Florida youth to both tutor and discuss values such as sportsmanship and behavior". Hello! Isn't the lack of values, sportsmanship, and good behavior why they got in trouble in the first place? They are about the least credible people I can think of to preach these values. If they were doing this on their own, maybe they would have some credibility, sort of like the recovering addict talking to those battling addiction. However, when you are told you have to do it, you are just going through the motions. Incidently, all but one of the 13 suspended Hurrican players are eligible to play again this weekend. However, 16 of the Florida International players are suspended indefinitely. That concludes the Tidbits.

Feel free to add any stories you liked this week in sports or discuss any of the stories I mentioned.