Sports fodder . . .
The World Series is not over. The Colorado Rockies can certainly win two of three at Humidor Field and send this Series back to Boston. The Red Sox, don't forget, were lucky to win Game 2 and now they have to go to Denver without their DH. Don't celebrate just yet, Red Sox fans.
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It's time major league baseball settles its designated hitter silliness. There is a simple solution. Get rid of it all together or force the National League to use it. The National League is at a disadvantage in American League parks (the immortal Ryan Spilborghs at DH?) in the World Series and the American League (do you sit David Ortiz, Kevin Youkilis or Mike Lowell?) suffers when it goes to the National League park. Before he retires to stud in Milwaukee, Bud Selig needs to fix this mess once and for all.
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The NFL is actually thinking about conducting a future Super Bowl in London. That's just another reason why the World Series will always be more meaningful to its fans than the Super Bowl. But we shouldn't be surprised that the NFL would takes its biggest game overseas. The Super Bowl, after all, is just a season-ending party used only to schmooze corporate snobs. It's a week-long drunk for people whose only interest in the outcome is the bet they have in their Nevada sports book or office pool. It's not a sporting event. Baseball would never think of conducting a World Series at a neutral site.
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Defensive back DeAngelo Hall can't wait to get out of Atlanta. Then again, can you blame him? Head coach Bobby Petrino, a former Wolf Pack assistant coach, is probably wondering why he ever left college football for the Falcons. Hall is making Petrino's rookie year as a NFL head coach a constant misery. He was caught by television cameras a few weeks ago yelling at Petrino on the sidelines and now he's criticizing Falcons management for cutting Grady Jackson. If you want to know the biggest reason why coaching in college football is better than coaching in the NFL, the Hall-Petrino ugliness is all the proof you need. In college, players don't criticize their coaches. In the NFL, players run the team.
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There were a lot of promising developments in the Wolf Pack's victory at Utah State last week. The defense played well, especially in the second half. Yes, it was only Utah State. But when you hold someone to 212 total yards and limit them to under 23 minutes of possession time, it doesn't matter who you do it against. Expect the defense's improvement to continue Saturday against Idaho.
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You have to admire the way head coach Chris Ault has adjusted his offensive game plan for quarterback Colin Kaepernick. The Pack has taken all the pressure off its young quarterback by running the ball every chance it gets. Ault and his staff have done a tremendous job this season, breaking in two young quarterbacks without the offense missing a beat.
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In case you were wondering . . . Wolf Pack 45, Idaho 27.
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If the Red Sox win the World Series this year, can we finally stop hearing about 2004? The Red Sox are no longer a touching feel-good story. If they win this year they will have turned into - dare we say it? - the New York Yankees. The Yankees? They have already turned into the old Red Sox - disappointing their fans every postseason.
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Is this the best New England Patriots team in history? Is this year's Patriots team the best NFL team ever? Is Tom Brady the greatest quarterback ever? Is Bill Belichick the greatest NFL coach in history? These are all questions that will be asked when the Patriots win the Super Bowl in a few months.
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Has anybody noticed that the NHL season has started? Of course not. The NHL's biggest problem is that it just can't seem to get the Stanley Cup in a city that cares about it. Fans in the last three Cup championship cities - Tampa Bay, Carolina and Anaheim - couldn't tell the Stanley Cup from a baseball catcher's cup. Hint: You wouldn't want to drink champagne out of a baseball catcher's cup. The Stanley Cup needs to return to Canada (the last time was 1993 in Montreal) before the NHL turns into the MLS.
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Wolf Pack fans, don't be upset that your men's basketball team isn't ranked in the first USA Today/ESPN poll released this week. Florida, which has won the last two NCAA titles, wasn't even ranked in the Top 25. The Top 25 poll in men's basketball is meaningless. Championships in basketball, after all, are won on the court. It's football that allows its championship teams to be determined by a computer.
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Oh, by the way, the Oakland Raiders should have selected Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson with the first pick in last spring's NFL draft.
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Why have the Yankees seemingly narrowed their list of managerial candidates to Joe Girardi, Don Mattingly and Tony Pena? Is that the best they can do? They might as well name Rudy Giuliani manager than one of those three. Girardi and Pena were fired from their only manager jobs and Mattingly has never even managed a Little League team. We understand that managing the Yankees is the easiest job in all of sports next to being Tom Brady's backup and Manny Ramirez's hairstylist, but when did the job become an entry level position?
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What exactly is "a good piece of hitting?" Have you noticed that a good piece of hitting only occurs when someone slices a line drive to the opposite field with two strikes. Why can't a 500-foot home run on the first pitch be called a good piece of hitting? And why is it just a "piece" of hitting? Which piece? And why isn't there also a good piece of pitching or a good piece of fielding? Just asking.
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We're here to offer the NHL some free advice. It certainly needs it. Why not put all of the Original Six franchises - Chicago, Boston, New York (Rangers), Montreal, Toronto and Detroit - in one division? The Original Six is the best thing about hockey. They are the best rivalries and a constant reminder of when hockey was great. But those teams don't play each other enough anymore. Put them all in the same division and allow those great, old rivalries blossom again. The league couldn't help but grow and develop. Hey, someone has to do Gary Bettman's job for him before hockey goes the way of the USFL.