Weekend Preview

What a weekend in the world of sports we have ahead of us. From the start of the World Series, to some great college football games there is almost no better way to spend a fall weekend.

I love the fact that the Mets lost in the NLCS. Congrats Cards. But it was a classic ?Game Seven. Anytime you have a Game Seven, it is worth watching despite rooting interests, and last night's Game Seven between the Mets and Cardinals was no let-down. Great plays, great pitching, a clutch hit in the 9th inning and the Mets losing. Can it be any better? Now that the Cardinals, who were within inches of pulling off the biggest late season collapse in history (don't worry Phillies, that honor still belongs to your 1964 team), are on the World Series to face the Detroit Tigers, who went through their own late season slump and actually entered October with the Wild Card, I think we're in for a good series. I'm going to say though that the pitching for Detroit is just superior to that of the Cardinals, and I'll take the Tigers to win it all in six games.

Penn State quarterback Anthony Morelli was cleared to play against Illinois. I don't think Morelli is really needed against the Illini because I believe, at home, that Penn State should still win the game just on their rushing attack, but the news that he is cleared is good news. Look for Morelli to have a good rebound game. The toughest part of the season is done for the Nittanys and I wouldn't be surprised if they win out and head to the Outback Bowl or Alamo Bowl.

Kudos to the Florida International University football program for kicking two of their players off the team, and suspending others indefinitely for their actions against Miami. On the flip-side, Miami took a stand against some of their players for one game (against Duke). Those players will get to play in the important games after Duke. The U says they will take a zero tolerance policy form this point on and will not hurt the kids financially (thus the reason they are still on the team, and school). I say it is too little, too late. Zero tolerance should be given all the time in this situation. All these players did was jump off the sideline and beat their opponents with helmets and kicked them while they were down, thus embarrassing your football program yet again, and your school. And NOW you enact a zero tolerance policy? I guess we'll find out if they are serious or not, because this kind of problem will happen again in Miami, just as it does every other year or so.

NOW CALLING ALL FLYERS! ATTENTION: THE NHL SEASON STARTS ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 5. Feel free to join in when you feel ready.

And now the Weekly Six Pack. I was 5-1 last week, updating my season total to 21-3. Pennsylvania football fans will be happy with my picks, unless you're attending homecoming festivities in the Cumberland Valley...

Eagles over Bucs
Colts over Redskins
Steelers over Falcons
Penn State over Illinois
Clemson over Georgia Tech
IUP over Shippensburg

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Broadstreet Wussies

I don't know exactly what the Flyers are doing at this point, but it sure isn't playing hockey. The Flyers lost last night by a score of 9-1. 9-1! Unheard of! With the loss to the Buffalo Sabres, the team who ousted the Flyers from the playoffs last season in embarrassing fashion, the Flyers drop their record to 1-4-1. They have scored 12 goals and given up 26. The power play percentage is at 8.9%, higher than only three other teams (Ottawa, Calgary, and Tampa Bay). The penalty kill is at 82.4%, which is in the lower half of the league.

Now, with the understanding that the NHL season is a long one and there is plenty of time to get better, I still feel it is vital that the Flyers make changes now because at the end of the season we will all be looking at their playoff seeding, if there is one, and thinking that they missed home-ice advantage by a point here against this team, two or three points there against another. Early season struggles can be overcome but the necessary changes must be made from the top down.

It is obvious to me that the people in charge of the Flyers are still neglecting to change their game for the new NHL and they have a sense of stubbornness to do so. Need proof? Look at the 9-1 loss. The new NHL is all about speed and skating. Physical presence is not as big a factor as it used to be. Having Petr Forsberg is tremendous but he is only one player. Bob Clarke, backed by Ed Snider, has an inability to adjust to the new NHL and a change must be made for the Flyers to adapt to the league. More proof that the Flyers are stuck in their 1970's past? Have you seen the commercials airing now celebrating the Flyers' 40th anniversary? I'll say I'm paraphrasing because I forget the exact slogan, but it is Forty Years and Still Fighting, accompanied by clips of Flyers fights through the decades. I'll let it slide because it is an anniversary, but after this I wish to see no more of this "we're bigger and tougher than you and if we can't keep up with you we'll shove you around a little bit" hockey.

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Fantasy update: I was a little premature in my writing about my fantasy football matchup this past weekend. Thanks to Rex Grossman's poor performance (6 turnovers) leading to a fantasy score of -9 points, and a big night from Anquan Boldin, I pulled off a miracle come from behind victory to stay undefeated, and continue to lead in the points department. Thanks Rex!

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Football Recap Monday

A rough weekend for my teams all around this weekend, and it certainly was an interesting weekend in the world of football.

First off, kudos to the Vikings of West Chester East High School for their thrashing of the Coatesville Red Raiders in Ches-Mont League play (31-14 winners). It's all about Viking power now.

The Eagles came off of their highly emotional home victory against the Cowboys with a very flat start, and end. The game was very winnable for the Eagles but a few costly mistakes proved too much for them to overcome in the hostile Superdome against the Saints. The Saints look like a genuinely good team right now. Drew Brees was very accurate, especially when it counted, and the coaching was spectacular, except for the challenge on L.J. Smith's reception. Anytime your team can run off eight and a half minutes and kneel on the ball the last two minutes for a game winning field goal, you did something right and that's exactly what the Saints did. I'm not sure the Saints will end the season at a record like 13-3, but it is nice to see them doing well, even though it came against the Eagles this time. If anyone is looking for Michael Lewis, he is probably 20 yards behind you at any given moment.

Penn State came up a touchdown short against now 2nd ranked Michigan. Too bad for the Nittanys. Michigan has a lot going for them and they are clearly the 2nd best team in the nation right now. No shame in losing to the Wolverines, even at home (this year) but it would be nice to see Penn State string together some wins against this Michigan program. Michigan owns Penn State in series history (except 1994...take that!), one of the few schools that gives Joe Paterno annual fits.

I don't know what everybody is saying when they talk about "The U" (University of Miami). They say they have lost their swagger, but did you see the beatdown they gave Florida International? It's nice to see Miami is back to picking on the teams they should beat. Miami has always been a program you expect shenanigans from every year, and they always will. With Miami, it is not a question of "Why did that happen?", but rather a question of "When will it happen?" "The U" and their alumni should be ashamed and appalled at their football program's actions. And then to hear their announcer proclaim that you don't come into our house and talk smack, and hearing players say that "they started it" and so on just disgusts me even more. Florida International players are not without blame either of course. I applaud both the ACC and Sun Belt conferences for coming down on these players. I applaud Larry Coker for his statements and actions on certain players as well. As far as I'm concerned though, Miami should be placed on probation and lose scholarships for their actions against Florida International, at the Peach Bowl against LSU and their pregame hysterics at Louisville and Florida State and at Penn State when they kept practicing when the Blue Band was marching onto the field back in 1992.

Here are a couple links to read about this disaster:



My fantasy football team got smashed (down by 25 going into Monday Night with two players playing but the other guy's got two bigger players going for him) and I was absolutely terrible in my football pool. Luckily somebody never entered their week's picks so I didn't technically come in last. It's about the little victories sometimes.

What to look for this week:
Cardinals beating out the Mets with pitching.
The Flyers winning two games.
T.O. cutting back on his tempers and complaints.
Penn State picking up another win en route to running the rest of the schedule undefeated.

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Kevin's Six Pack for the Weekend

Had to get this one done a little early in the day because for the first time ever I'm picking a high school game! This one is for you Vikings of West Chester East High School!

Philadelphia Eagles over the New Orleans Saints
Pittsburgh Steelers over the Kansas City Chiefs
Michigan over Penn State
Auburn over Florida
Shippensburg over Lock Haven
West Chester East over Coatesville

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Cory Lidle

I got home from work as the new of a plane crashing into a New York City apartment building was just breaking. Naturally, I was glued to the television. Once the reports came out stating that there was no hint of terrorism I went and did some other things for a couple hours.

Once I eventually came back to the TV I learned that Cory Lidle was killed ion the crash. Saying I was stunned wouldn't be quite accurate, but more asking myself "Huh?" is what I found myself doing.

This whole story has been bizarre to me, but I really have sympathy for his family. Reading this article on ESPN.com really got me feeling for them all.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2622099

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Football Recap Monday

This was one of those weekends that just screamed "EXCITING" both days. On Saturday Penn State edged Minnesota in overtime, thanks in part to a couple questionable calls that went the Nittany's way and a missed extra point in the overtime for Minnesota. Then on Sunday the Eagles answered many questions with a victory over the Dallas Cowboys.

PENN STATE
Penn State is in position to run the table in the Big Ten the rest of the way. Oh sure, it will be mighty difficult the way Anthony Morelli is playing at quarterback, and a strong Michigan team is coming into Beaver Stadium this Saturday for a prime time showdown. Obviously the Wolverines present some problems for Penn State, but sometimes a prime time game with a revenge factor can give the home team an emotional lift. If Morelli can get his game a little more together and the home crowd can be just like they were against Ohio State last year, Penn State can pull the upset.

Oh by the way, I read that this year's game will only last 59 minutes and 58 seconds, per Joe Paterno's request.

EAGLES
This was without a doubt the most hyped regular season game in Philadelphia in a long time. We all know it. The hype with TO returning to Philly was huge, and the importance of the NFC East matchup was even more important. The Eagles came to play.

The Eagles defense is good. Donovan McNabb is the MVP at this point of the season. Drew Bledsoe continues to show his age. TO continues to show Bledsoe's age (I'm not the one pulling the trigger). After watching the extremely entertaining game I found myself thinking that the Eagles, who should be 5-0 right now, are now putting themselves into position to be the THE team to beat in the NFC after their one year hiatus. Yes, Chicago is 5-0 and playing remarkably themselves, but the Eagles have that veteran leadership that is shining very brightly so far.

YANKEES
You can buy any lineup you want to put together, but unless you have pitching to back it up, you can't win in October. You won World Series rings when you had pitching and had clutch hitting. Now Joe Torre's job is in danger (he can manage my team in an instant if that's the case)? Another interesting offseason is underway for the Yankees. Maybe the Orioles and Blue Jays can take advantage of the turmoil with the Yankees and Red Sox now.

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Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year

Vote for your favorite college football coach every day!


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Cowboys Week

It seems to me that the week leading up to any Eagles game against the Cowboys seems to have some more energy, some more juice to it. And this year's first week has been one like none other. There hasn't really been any trashtalking between the teams but being in the Philadelphia area you can definitely feel the buzz.

Of course there is the whole circus with T.O. but to me this game is important for so many other reasons. This game is a must win for the Eagles because they need to show that they can win in the NFC East (have lost 7 straight division games), as well as that they are a team to beat in the NFC. The sting of the Giants loss still has some side effects but a sure win against Dallas would help ease that pain and put the Eagles in the same conversation as the Bears and Seahawks...not that they were really far away from that point in my opinion.

T.O. will get his kicks out of the hoopla that is sure to be abundant but this game will be a big confidence booster, or breaker, for Donovan McNabb, the man who was drug into and became as much of the distraction as T.O. was last year. A good performance from the quarterback, accompanied by an Eagles win, would do a lot to show that the Eagles and McNabb are past the whole shenanigans presented and left behind by Owens and they are focused on winning the Super Bowl.

Without further adieu, I present my Six Pack of Picks for this weekend, including the three normal selections, another NFC East division rivalry, and a classic college football rivalry;

Eagles over Cowboys
Giants over Redskins
Chargers over Steelers
Penn State over Minnesota
Texas over Oklahoma
Slippery Rock over Shippensburg

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Tribute to Paul Richardson

If you're like many people, you have no clue who Paul Richardson is. But odds are, if you've ever been to a Phillies game, you know who he is. Richardson was the organist for the Phillies for 30 years. All Phillies fans know his repertoire for sure. Richardson passed on Monday at the age of 74.

I will always have fond memories of hearing the organ sound at the ballgame, and until I read an article on ESPN about him, I had no idea he didn't play anymore during the games. His rendition of Take Me Out to the Ballgame is recorded at Citizens Bank Park is still played at every game so his legacy will live on. So here's to you Paul and may you rest in an ever lasting seventh inning stretch.

For more, click here for an article from ESPN.com.

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Anybody who laughed at me for drafting Donovan McNabb first in my fantasy draft, who's laughing now??? McNabb is on his way to Fantasy League MVP awards all over! I am proud to say that I am on top of my fantasy league by an overwhelming margin at this moment. McNabb has been having a blast so far this year in the real NFL as well, and if not for a 4th quarter collapse against the Giants the Eagles would be 4-0 going into this weekend's marquee matchup against the Cowboys. And I don't know if anybody has heard this yet, but T.O. is coming back to Philly this weekend. You'd think that would get more attention or something.

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If you listen to 610 WIP everyday I don't blame you. When Sportstalk 950 came on the air I was eager to check it out. I was disappointed in the programming originally. Their evening show featured a few want to be sports junkies who just came off a little more than nerdy and trying too hard. Also featured on the station was the nationally syndicated shows of Tony Bruno and Jim Rome. I never got to hear the Tony Bruno show because of work, but Jim Rome always seemed arrogant and turned me off. I didn't take to his sense of humor. But times have changed. I encourage normal listeners to 610 WIP to start listening more to 950. Jim Rome does grow on you and his interviews are really great. Jodi McDonald in the afternoon (Howard Eskin's time slot on WIP) is a far more pleasant show to listen to and offers a refreshing point of view as well as an abundance of intriguing interviews. And if you are up early enough to catch the David Stein show (ends at 6am) I once again offer my recommendation. Stein presents a positive, feel good outlook on life through sports. Definitely a better show to wake up too than Big Daddy Graham talking about snacks, babes, and then listening to an mouthful from Angelo Cataldi in the "overlap show". The morning show on 950 is actually more irritating and offensive than 610's morning show. Featuring the likes of washed up former NFL quarterback Glen Foley just doesn't match up to the rotating lineup of hosts of Keith Jones, John Marzanno, and Hugh Douglas on the Morning Team on 610.

In summary, 610 WIP for Anthony Gargano and Glen Macnow's shows (and the morning show when Cataldi is on vacation), and 950 for Rome and McDonald, and Stein (and Bruno if you can listen to him).

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Two down with Two to Go

Phillies are down two games in the wild card with two games to play. Doesn't look good and this week has certainly been torture to their chances. Houston once agian gave us a heartbreaking set back, Chase Utley was robbed of a potential game winning homerun the next night, the Phillies did everything they could to lose a game the next (but they won), and then they sat through a 4 and a half hour rain delay before playing the Nationals at 11:30pm or so. Follow that up with the Dodgers coming from a 3-0 deficit against the Giants to win 4-3 and things are not looking good.

It could happen though.


Kevin's Six Pack for the Weekend
Eagles over the Packers
Bears over Seahawks
Panthers over Saints
Penn State over Northwestern
Notre Dame over Purdue
Bloomsburg over Shippensburg

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Somebody Give T.O. a Hug

Ok, here's the thing; I think Owens is a phenomenal player and extremely talented with what he does, however I believe he has become a victim of his own ego. I have no sympathy for him after what he did in San Francisco, Philadelphia, and now Dallas. I will say however that I put all of those feelings aside when I hear this story. Obviously it can taken into speculation in many different ways, but if the worst case scenario is true and he did in fact attempt suicide, somebody needs to get in there and help this guy out. Nothing is worth killing yourself for.

While part of me believes that this story ran wild in the media too fast to be controlled, I wouldn't put it past TO to pull a publicity, feel sorry for me stunt like this. If he did attempt suicide I can actually understand what he was thinking.

This guy could have run for mayor in Philadelphia just two years ago and easily won. He then turned on his team, coaches, and organization in pursuit of happiness (more money) under the direction of his annoying, soon to be household name agent. The public scorned him, the media put the cameras on him, but many had a dim light on him. His actions wouldn't stop, he found himself out of Philly and in Dallas, and ever since he signed with the Cowboys he has been the story. Whether it was his relationship with his new coach, his persisting injuries that kept him from practicing, his verbal remarks to the coaches' words in the media or whatever, things just haven't been working out the way he would like. Hence, depression possibly kicks in.

We may never know what really happened with TO because of patient confidentiality and the police keeping mum. The Cowboys will not let this story come out anymore than it already has and we will all wait for Owens to suit up again for the Cowboys. The drama will continue, and we will only see more of TO so get used to it.

How 'bout them Cowboys?

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If God says so...

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End of Summer Ramblings

Time for a little catch-up rambling on this, the last day of summer...

The Eagles-Giants game did figure to a close one and in close games it usually comes down to kicking. Having David Akers definitely gave the Eagles the advantage, however the most important kick of the game obviously came from Trent Cole. Look for the Eagles to rebound strongly against the 49ers.

Going into this weekend's series against the Marlins, the Phillies are a half game out of the Wild Card lead, behind the Dodgers, and the Phills have the all important game in hand. If they can win more games against the Marlins than they lose, I think the Phills clinch that final playoff spot. And despite what has happened this season, the Phills have the pitching to make some noise come October. I'll throw Myers, Hamels, Moyer, and Lieber out there against any other rotation, have Wolf available for long relief, and Madson and Gordon ready to go for the 8th and 9th and I'll feel good with my chances as long as the hitting can put together a few runs here and there (ie Pat Burrell doesn't look at a third strike everytime the bases are loaded). The National League obviously is weak. The Cardinals' pitching is suspect, the Padres are streaky, the Dodgers have fallen off of late, and the Mets are suspect to a late season collapse under the pressure (plus their pitching is a huge question mark right now). It's simple; pitching wins in October.

Oh, and Ryan Howard is the NL MVP, just in case you were wondering.

Penn State hasn't won in Columbus, Ohio since joining the Big Ten in 1993. Ohio State is ranked #1 going in (PSU is #24/25 depending on the poll) and they're out for revenge on the Nittanys after last year's game, a 17-10 PSU victory and only their second loss of all of last season. Penn State will play better against Ohio State than they did against Notre Dame and I think the wide receivers for Penn State have a big game against the Buckeye secondary. If Penn State can keep it close going into the half, look for Tony Hunt to be the key player the rest of the way. Having said that, I say Ohio State wins a good, close game, 23-17. Then Penn State will go on to win the rest of their games.

Here's today's Enraging Thought of the Day; Why does McDonald's charge a Take Out Tax on their food? Does anybody else do this?

Kevin's Six Pack for the Weekend
Eagles over the 49ers
Seahawks over Giants
Bengals over Steelers
Ohio State over Penn State
California over Arizona State
West Chester over Shippensburg

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Tribute to Koy Detmer

Ladies and gentlemen, the Koy Detmer Era with the Philadelphia Eagles is officially over. Honestly, Koy was never a deciding factor in the team's success or the team's short comings (although he is kind of short himself). To see Koy leave is not exactly sad, but you do have to appreciate his love of the game and determination and his ultimate pro-team mindset.

Koy Detmer may be the only quarterback in the league who devoted himself to his "holding game" more than his quarterback game. It is a popular belief that because Koy devoted himself to being an excellent holder for kicker David Akers, that he kept a position on the team the last few years. There may be better quarterbacks and backup quarterbacks, but Koy was devoted to knowing the Eagles' system and being the best holder in the league.

We will always remember Koy for his strange "whipping" after his early touchdown passes, and his ability to hold the ball for one of the top kickers in the NFL. We will also remember when McNabb went down with a leg injury and Koy stepped in the next game, a Monday Night in San Francisco, when Koy himself found himself being taken off the field on a cart and done for the year.

Good luck Koy in whatever you do next!

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ESPN: The Worldwide Leader in Sports?

As much as I'm addicted to ESPN, I can't stand it most of the time. Once again Sportscenter did a feature on a mock playoff system to determine the NCAA Football champ for this coming season. They did this with the NFL and had two analysts critique each match up as if it were playoff weekend. I rank this stunt right up with the time they did mock GM press conferences for baseball in the off-season.

First of all, the NCAA does not even have a playoff system for division 1A. So to crown Ohio State the champ over USC is completely ludicrous!
Second of all, so many things will happen this year that nobody knows about. There will be the Cinderella BCS buster (Utah two years ago) as always, teams that fail to meet expectations (Tennessee last year) and teams that will exceed expectations (Penn State).

And the Little League World Series? Enough is enough! I have had it up to hear with all of this (Expletive deleted) little league on this (Expletive deleted) network! ESPN is exploiting these kids everyday and causing them to face way more pressure than 10, 11, 12, and 13 year olds should be facing. Whatever happened to the"fun" or the "love of the game"? Most of these kids already are gaining a sense of importance and could probably grow up with that attitude of arrogance. It is a disgrace.

On top of that, ESPN continues to provide some of the worst programming. This week featured the World Championships of Cup Stacking. You read that right; Cup Stacking. A competition where kids try to stack cups better than the others. Throw this in there with the domino competitions, poker, blackjack, darts etc. If I were at ESPN I'd be showing more Baseball Tonight (with Harold Reynolds) and NFL Prime Time, and video yearbooks etc. than made up and so-called sports.

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Notre Dame

The college football season is just around the corner and the pre-season hype has been underway for a while now. What team seems to be getting the most attention? It isn't the defending champ from Texas, nor the runner up (and possibly the best team the last few years) from USC. It isn't even the consensus preseason #1 Ohio State. You guessed it, Notre Dame.

Haven't we already heard this story before? New head coach comes in and turns around a program that seemed on the decline, and now all of a sudden they are national championship contenders? Sure, Charlie Weis did turn a soiled program around and give some shine back to the Dome, but didn't Ty Willingham do the same thing? How did that turn out?

The Irish went 9-3 last year, 3 wins better than their 6-6 season in 2004, ending the season in an embarrassing loss that was worst than the 34-20 score might indicate. In 2002, Willingham's first year, they went 10-3. Notre Dame fans will tell you that their schedule going into last season was a fierce one, and I'll give you that fact. Let's remember, going into the season they had to look at games at Pittsburgh and at Michigan to start things off, as well as trips to Washington, and matches with USC and Tennessee were looming. But a funny thing happens as the season goes along...

Pittsburgh finished the season 5-6.
Michigan struggled to a 7-4 year.
Michigan State was 5-6 (including a win over the Irish).
Washington was 2-9.
Purdue was 5-6.
BYU went 5-6.
Tennessee had a 5-6 season.
Syracuse went 1-10!
Stanford was 5-6.

Not including the Fiesta Bowl game against Ohio State, USC and Navy were the only teams on the schedule, in addition to Michigan, that had a winning record. USC defeated Notre Dame, and Navy hasn't beaten Notre Dame in a few decades. Of course the offense put up good numbers; they played against young or non existent defenses all year long. Give credit for actually winning the games Notre Dame should typically win, but let us not go overboard with the resurgence of Notre Dame and start proclaiming them a National Champion contender...yet.

You heard it here first folks, Notre Dame will start out the 2006 season 0-3 with losses at Georgia Tech, and home against Penn State and Michigan. You can take that Charlie Weis and Brady Quinn and National Championship talk down a few notches when that happens.

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A Case FOR A-Rod

So apparently Alex Rodriguez is getting killed in New York. Anybody surprised?

In an off year A-Rod has been throwing errors from third all season long, his batting average is below normal A-Rod standards, and his strikeouts and untimely hitting seem to be getting the Yankee fans up in a roar. Funny, for a second I thought I convinced myself I was talking about Bobby Abreu. Anyway, I am starting to think that picking on A-Rd has become the trendy thing to do.

It's easy to point out the inefficiencies of the game's highest profile player. It's a natural thing to point out when a great player starts to show signs of weakness. In this case you are talking about a guy who once signed a record smashing contract, thus ditching his small market former team for a team with no chance of winning.

It seems we can not get through a day without hearing a criticism of A-Rod. Now, I'm no Yankee fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I will say it's getting old. Let me just say this; What third baseman in the league would you take over him? Heck with that question, the guy's a natural shortstop! How many thirdbasemen or shortstops would you take over A-Rod?

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Parking Lot Etiquette

I have a no new pet-peeve; People who can't back out of their parking spaces properly.

It always amazes me how so many people have trouble backing out of their parking spots. How many times have you seen people slowly inch their way out of their spot, holding up traffic, only to have to adjust once more (sometimes twice)! The problem is these people slowly back out in a straight motion, instead of cutting their wheel to the way they want to go because they are afraid of scratching the cars on their sides. I believe that if you can pull into a spot without inching your way in, then it should be 100% possible to back out in the same (well, opposite) motion!

The people with the most problems are not a surprise; old people and women with big SUV's. Look, no matter who you are, if you're going to drive your car, learn to drive it.

What they should have in driver's ed is a session on parking lot etiquette. Too many times people race their cars down a lane and have to slam the brakes or swerve out of the way of a car backing out. And then, who honks their horn? The racing driver. And also, if there is a crosswalk ANYWHERE and people are standing there waiting to cross, you have to let them go! Don't keep driving. That completely renders the crosswalk useless! The last thing we want is real life Frogger in the parking lot.

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Monday Update

Well the dog days of summer are really here as we're experiencing near record breaking heat this week. How ironic then that the trade rumors are starting to sizzle in Philadelphia everywhere you look.

Whether it be Allen Iverson or Bobby Abreu, everybody seems to have an opinion on some form of trade or no trade move. Of the two, the most likely to be traded would surely be Abreu. With the American League races as tight and competitive as they are it's very possible that Abreu could end up in Boston or New York. And with more teams mentioning his name every day it has gotten to the point where if the Phillies don't trade Abreu, the more I wouldn't be surprised. It is, afterall, in their history of bad decisions to not make a move when they should to help the team's future (Billy Wagner anybody?).

The longer and longer the trade rumors go on about Iverson, the more and more I feel he will be a Sixer this coming season. I'm one of the many who feel the Sixers should not trade him. Besides the fact that you won't get equal value for him, there is the fact that you won't get anything for him. Whatever the Sixers get in return would likely be junk and not players to build a team with. If you're not getting anything that will help your team on the court, there is no reason to trade him, or anybody. I understand that the money that would be unloaded would be the key factor, however I stand by the notion that you need players to help build the team, not junk players just to free up cap room.

And here's an interesting story...

GMAC Bowl moves to day before BCS Title Game

I'm still note quite sure for the reason of this. The plan is to broadcast the game in primetime the night before the BCS championship game. Is anyone going to be watching this game when another BCS game will be played? Sure, people may switch their TV sets over on commercials, and it gives bars a second game to put on, but it seems to me that the GMAC Bowl is trying to sell itself as a legitimate bowl game, when in fact this move will only hurt the game. The bowl analysis and pregame shows will be limited at best when put up against a BCS game. Even though ESPN will be broadcasting the game, it will still get pushed back in the Sportscenter lineup past the BCS game, title game, and even the NFL playoffs. If I'm in charge of the GMAC bowl I keep humble and stay right where I am with the week before Christmas.

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All Star Game

Tonight is the Major League All Star game, and for the third year in a row we will be constantly reminded that the winning league will receive home field advantage in the World Series.

Naturally both managers (Phil Garner of Houston and Ozzie Guillen of the White Sox) are saying the right things; that they want to manage the game to win, rather than try to get all of their players in for an appearance. While I like that they say they have the attitude of winning in mind, I'm not quite ready to believe it (come to think of it I actually do believe Guillen).

Whether the American League continues to demonstrate its recent dominance over the National League, or the NL squad puts to rest the AL bandwagon remains to be seen. I would bet on the AL winning but when it comes down to it, does anyone really care?

We all know that homefield advantage in the World Series should be determined by regular season record (just like every other sport except for the NFL and its neutral site). A recent ESPN poll showed that 77% of those polled believed the home field advantage in the World Series should be determined by overall record. A paltry 14% thought the All Star game result was a good idea, and a measly 8% were too old fashioned to give up on the alternating year concept.

They say it is the fans game, so why don't the fans get their way in determining the impact of the result? Why do the players that the fans want to see not have to show up? Those players who back out of the game should forfeit their All Star bonus! Until baseball decides to revoke the fans' right to vote for the starters, and the fans don't always get it right (see Ken Griffey Jr. on occasion), the players that get the most votes should have to attend. The game will never really live up to the bragging rights contest it used to have because we now have too many interleague games. It used to be hat the teams really want to win the game and would go all out. Not every player would play and that was ok! It is because of this attitude that managers seem to have that they should get everybody in that has caused the all star game to seriously drop off in appeal. The best of the best should play and whoever gives you the best chance to win at any particular moment should play.

In any event, enjoy the All Star game, whoever you root for. I'm a National League guy so hopefully Ryan Howard can knock in a go ahead homerun and Tom Gordon will pick up the save in the late innings.

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