Baseball playoff series that have a rain-out are sort of fascinating: Pitching calibrations change, and the travel day between shifting the series from one city to the other evaporates, triggering a day-in-day-out drama of consecutive games.
Two rain-outs, on the other hand, are just lame.
With last night's rain-out -- and tonight's expected encore performance -- not only haven't we had baseball since Tuesday night (with the earliest resumption being Friday), but a potential Game 7 would extend into next week, rather than be neatly wrapped up this weekend.
(What is this, the NBA Finals? The biggest gripe about the NBA's championship series -- and, arguably, the biggest strategic mistake by the usually strategically brilliant David Stern and Co. -- is the interminable delay between games. The argument has always been: If MLB can play a 7-game series into 9 days, why does it take the NBA seemingly interminable weeks to do the same thing? But I digress...)
One World Series rain-out ratchets up the drama and triggers an addictive, "no-nights-off" momentum.
TWO World Series rain-outs, on the other hand, and soon most casual fans are going to forget there's a Series going on.
More notes for today:
Matt Leinart is a "Baby-Daddy!"
Tony Romo to start at QB for the Cowboys: Does that make him Jeff Hostetler to Drew Bledsoe's Phil Simms? I'd like to hear Simms weigh in on what it's like to have Bill Parcells stop paying attention to you.
Tiki Barber hates Michael Irvin!
Big Ben to start Sunday? It looks like Big Ben is going to play this weekend, and I'm feeling deja vu: Haven't I been through this argument before with the Steelers and their fans about putting Ben's long-term future at risk for some suspicious short-term gain?
QB controversy in Jacksonville? David Garrard is splitting snaps with Byron Leftwich to run the Jags' first-team offense. I know Del Rio is just hedging his bets, in case Leftwich's chronic case of "gimpy" flares up, but the coach doesn't seem to be tamping down the controversy angle.
Stop the presses 1: Derek Jeter doesn't give a rat's ass about A-Rod. Not that the Captain loathes A-Rod or anything. He just doesn't feel the need to analyze him for the media, though Jeter did insist that everything is okey-dokey in the Yankees locker room. Yeah, sure.
Is Orel Hershiser going to be the next A's manager? I guess Oakland figures that the guy who helped beat them in the World Series in 1988 is the best-equipped to lead them to the World Series in 2007.
Stop the presses 2: David Stern doesn't want NBA players to carry around guns. Yes, but how does he feel about players who use intermediaries to exact their own vigilante justice on C-list rappers after being mugged outside of Diddy's restaurant?
NBA Preseason: The Raptors are 7-0. I know that preseason records aren't supposed to mean much, but I think Toronto will shock everyone and make the East playoffs this season. (In the West, count me on the Warriors bandwagon; Don Nelson will win Coach of the Year.)
CFB Tonight: Clemson at VA Tech. Doubters! Here's your chance to watch the highest-scoring offense in the country (and the last remaining hope of respectability for the ACC on a national stage) play in one of the more hostile stadiums in the country (even if the Hokies are down this year). Players to watch? The Tigers' 2-headed RB tandem of James Davis and CJ Spiller, the best RB combo in college football.
Coming later this morning: Why Jim Tressel will never leave Ohio St.
Finally, I'm wondering if any of you have new ideas for what to call the Florida-Georgia game, now that the SEC and school presidents don't want anyone to call it the (amazing) "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party." It's become the hot game among CFB fans.
(This effort to tame the name, by the way, is so ludicrous. Ironically, it's a lot like Prohibition: You can attempt to play down the alcohol, but the people won't stand for it. In Prohibition's case, the rules were repealed; in the TWLOCP's case, fans will still call it what they want to call it and mock efforts to do otherwise.)
-- D.S.
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20 comments:
Just one thought - there's no reason for Pittsburgh to start Big Ben this weekend against Oakland. It's freakin' OAKLAND.
I'm pretty sure Charlie Batch could handle them just as well. Sure, it might not be a 17+ point blowout, but last time I checked, this isn't college football - there are no voters looking at final scores to determine who the better team is.
A win is a win, and the Steelers could beat Oakland with me at starting quarterback (I do throw a pretty nice post pattern...) They don't need to risk Roethlisberger.
How about a doubleheader Friday in St. Louis?
Michael Irvin may not be a journalist, but there can be no doubt that he is an idiot.
everydayshouldbesaturday.com has a ton of great ideas of what to call the UGA/UF game this weekend. The leader in the clubhouse is "World's Largest Outdoor [Beverage Redacted] Party"
I'm mostly upset for the potential rain-out tonight because the Office and My Name is Earl are repeats because they didn't want to compete against the World Series...
What surprises me is that Irvin still has a Job with ESPN and Dan Shanoff does not? Dan what did you do???
mrw,
You do realize we can tell who wrote the comments given the name at the top right? Just checking.
And, with regards to banning the guns from the arena for NBA players, Stern just wants to make sure no one takes advantage of loopholes in the "no whining to the official" policy. Busting a cap in their ass is not considered whining technically.
A guy like Tiki using a word like "facetiously"? I'll give that guy the benefit of the doubt over T.J. or Irvin any day of the week.
mrw woke up on the wrong side of the bed.
I think Irvin is fine on the show. Loud..sure. But he's made plenty of good points over time. They've ALL made stupid points over time as well.
Irvin, Jackson, et al. have every right to criticize Tiki Barber. Just as Barber has every right to criticize them.
Still..it is odd..why did Tiki announce this now?
Tiki didn't purposely "announce" his retirement now. His conversation with Ronde was overheard by a reporter and the story grew from there. Tiki has even commented that he DID NOT want it to come out now.
Regarding Leinart's baby...
I've always wondered if some of these women that have children with sports stars are just in it for the money (and some fame). Think about the child support money Leinart will owe for the next 18 years. Since it is based on a percentage of his income, she is set for the next 18 years. I image she will earn more in child support than in salary for her full-time job.
Anyone else see this as a possibility, or am I thinking to rationally?
Students here will probably keep calling it "The Georgia Game." Which is actually my favorite part of all this. They're going for the name change because students keep dying each year, but I don't ever hear people say, "I'm going to the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party™ this weekend!" It's more like, "Yeah, I'm going to Jax on Friday--you ever been? It's just one massive party. Awesome." I highly doubt any new name could fool people about what Haloween weekend is really about in Jacksonville--buckets and buckets of alohol.
or alcohol, even.
And finally, Dan, your comments on Matt Leinart were classless and beneath you...but you probably already knew that. Tacky.
Really? I thought they were tame--he didn't even use the word "bastard"!
I usually just laugh at Michael Irvin and then turn the channel since I can't really understand him either. I'm with cfost though....If that druggie can keep his job at ESPN, what the HELL did Dan do!!!?
Dan, are you EVER going to tell us what happened; even a Cliff's Notes version??
Why the heck is the media insinuating that Jim Tressel would even consider coaching the Browns when Romeo Crennel is still here? Another example of nothing better to talk/write about.
Dan- Being that Joel Zumaya is your guy.... no mention of ZUMAYA-GATE????
In case you hadn't heard, there was a strange phenomenon in game 3. Zumaya was hitting 99-101 on the radar gun on Fox, as always, but, if you noticed, there were no oohs and ahhs for the normal three-digit figures on the radar gun. The reason was that there weren't three-digits on the stadium scoreboard. Those were the same numbers Carpenter had been hitting all night. Everyone knows that Zumaya's fastball is alot faster than Carpenter's. Apparently it was so striking that Justin Verlander was in the dugout and saw the numbers on the scoreboard and was concerned Zumaya was hurting from his injury again. He went up into the dugout and checked the broadcast and saw that they were the usual 99-101 and he said he was rerlieved. When someone asked Todd Jones about the anomoly he said "Maybe it was 95 Canadian. ... Or metric." And in case you were wondering, the MLB.com Gameday reading was on FOX's side. So what the heck was going on there. Some people think that they were de-juicing the numbers so that their hitters wouldn't be as scared. I think that may be the case.
Dan....your take?
Simms wasn't benched by Parcels in favor of Hostettler. He was hurt. The Giants went on to win the Super Bowl. Parcels retired and the notorious Ray Handley benched Simms for Hostettler (a terrible mistake). When Handley and Hostettler left, Simms regained his starting position and led the GMen to an 11-5 record and the playoffs in is final year.
I missed the classles comments about Leinert's baby...where they removed?
MLB and NBA do their championship round wrong, anyway. In a 7-games series, how can the team with home field/court advantage say they actually have the advantage, when the pivotal Game 5 is played on the non-home-advantaged (I would say underdog, but that's not always the case) home. The MLB and NBA use the 2-3-2 format. I believe this format favors the non-home-advantaged team because if they get a split in the first 2 games, then they can actually sweep at their home.
The only sport that has their playoff system correct is the NHL. They utilize the 2-2-1-1-1 format, despite having to fly across country. Hence, the home ice advantaged team has both pivotal games (5 and 7) at home.
"Yes, but how does he feel about players who use intermediaries to exact their own vigilante justice on C-list rappers after being mugged outside of Diddy's restaurant?"-Dan Shannoff
Hey quit rippin on my boy F-A-B. He ain't C-list compared to the rest of em today.
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