How Much Better Will It Get?

While following today's baseball action (I unfortunately had to make do with internet live scoreboards) I had my annual epiphany about how my baseball fandom varies so widely throughout the calendar year. During spring training, I'm obsessed with the upcoming season. After a long offseason, it's always exciting to rexamine the leagues and I absorb as much of the preseason predictions and analysis as possible. But after the novelty of opening day wears off, my passion for the sport becomes rather tepid. I look at the standings every few days and read a few weekly baseball columns, but I rarely if ever watch the actual games on TV. I guess it's just because the season is so long and each game is so relatively insignificant that as a fan, I'm strictly on cruise control. But come September's whispers of talk of magic numbers and home-field advantage, I get sucked back into the mix.

But then there's nothing like watching a playoff baseball game. During tonight's Cubs-Braves game, I magically saw the importance of every pitch, the subtleties of every managerial decision and I was absolutely mesmerized by the spectacle of it all. I know I'm only gonna sink in deeper as the playoffs continue which both scares and excites me tremendously.

As for today's games, could they have turned out any better? All three teams I rooted for were victorious and no one at work had a clue that I was a complete slacker all day. I think that things look especially bright for the Twins, who know that even if they lose on Thursday, all they need to do is hold fort at the Metrodome, which will be the loudest postseason venue they've visited since their Kingdome meltdown in '95. The Cubs also sit pretty, especially with stud-of-studs Mark Prior taking the mound at Wrigley on Saturday.

 
Ah, Sweet October

Since we are on the cusp of The Greatest Sports Month of the Year, I thought that this would be a perfect time to get off my lazy duff and start getting into a blogging groove. College football is getting into its conference season, the NFL season is starting to take real shape and we're about to begin the most intriguing baseball postseason in recent memory. With so many thoughts swirling in my head, I'm gonna have to break it down by sport.

Blitzes From All Angles

* Do you think Sports Illustrated's editors get a bonus every time one of the cover jinxes comes true? Because that's the only explanation for Oregon's appearance on last week's cover, which hit newsstands three days before their all-too-predictable loss to Wazoo yesterday. Even when they were 4-0, the Ducks had to be the least-deserving SI cover subject ever.

* When I sat down to watch yesterday's USC-Cal game, I thought to myself, "May the worst team lose." It's so uncomfortable to watch a game where you hate both teams so much. I obviously had to root against the Bears, but I wanted to break a bottle over my head when I caught myself humming along to the USC band's uber-obnoxious fight song.

* I notice Stanford has another bye this Saturday. You know, if we want to go to a bowl game, we might actually have schedule some opponents every now and then.

* Is there a greater sound in the world than that of Keith Jackson's voice on a Saturday afternoon?

* There are only 9 undefeated teams left in the AP Top 15, and we're still in September. My preseason prediction that no team will go undefeated is looking better and better. And even though my Sugar Bowl picks, Texas and Michigan, have both lost, both are still undefeated in conference play. Thanks to my friend the BCS, national title hopes still abound!

* Good Lord, when did the 49ers turn into Vanderbilt? The way the Vikings breezed down the field was shudder-inducing. Our porous secondary, combined with the fact that Jeff Garcia forgot how to throw a pass more than 15 yards, puts us on a collision course with 6-10.

* I wonder if a special teams player has ever won the NFL MVP award. Because after I just saw Kansas City's Dante Hall return another punt for a touchdown, you have to consider him a leading candidate at this point in the season.

* Brett Favre's recent struggles only expose what I've been thinking for some time now: he's only good when he's got the lead. Whenever the Packers get behind by 10 points or more, Favre starts playing like a rookie- forcing passes, throwing off his back foot and piling up interceptions. And this has been happening for years, not months.

* Like Det. John Shaft, The Sports Guy delivers ten times out of ten. Bill Simmons's latest ESPN column is another comedic gem, as he brings back his weekly NFL picks feature. The Sports Guy has become my joy, my inspiration, my shining star in a cloudy sports universe. I just can't believe I only discovered his column a year ago. I wasted far too much time this past summer going back and reading his archives. The NBA draft diaries are the "highest of high comedy."

* Why is it that you always hear football commentators talk about the defense being tired at the end of the game? Isn't the offense just as tired? They run everywhere the defense does, but you never hear an announcer say "The Bucs defense is giving the wide receivers some much needed rest right here." I don't get it.

* Should I be proud or ashamed about the fact that I look forward to ESPN's NFL Prime Time more than the actual games? Chris Berman and Tom Jackson do such a great job of adding great commentary to a bevy of highlights on every game that it's a must-see every Sunday afternoon.

* I've got the perfect role for Matt Damon: The Tom Brady Story. It's perfect- he's a spitting image for the guy, and he's from Boston to boot!

Sick With Baseball Fever

* I was very happy to hear the news that ESPN will be carrying the majority of the division series this year. The TV contracts of the past two years had games broadcast on ABC Family and Fox Family channel, leaving viewers completely flummoxed when trying to find the games.

* But the main reason I'm happy to see the games on ESPN is because that means that we once again get to hear Joe Morgan call the playoffs. Morgan is my hands-down favorite announcer in all of sports. Not only does he have that smooth vocal delivery, but his comments are always insightful and informative. Each time I hear a Jon Miller-Joe Morgan broadcast, I learn something new about the game.

* I've never had a full-time job during the baseball playoffs before, and following the games will be quite a challenge. Predictably, all of the Giants games are during the day, while some other games start as early as 10am. Luckily, my office is headphone-friendly, so it's internet radio to the rescue.

* With Fox carrying the LCS and World Series again, I'm bracing myself for the crass onslaught of promos for the network's upcoming fall TV lineup. Over/under on the weekly number of smug Joe Millionaire commercials: 30. Expected total length of time the behind-the-plate virtual billboard will be showing a 24 ad: 17 hours, 13 minutes. Estimated number of gratuitous T&A shots of Tru Calling star Eliza Dushku: Not enough.

* As for the actual games, let's start with the AL. It's a damn shame that Mark Mulder is injured, because this could have been The Year for Oakland. The pitching staff is still decent, but unfortunately their lineup won't be able to hold up their end of the bargain. The Red Sox have to be considered the most dangerous team out there, thanks to that ridiculously potent lineup. They will face the Yankees in what will be an absolutely epic ALCS. We're talking scalpers selling tickets for 20 times face value. New England alcohol sales spiking by 600%. Every journalist on the East Coast fainting from anticipation. But do they have what it takes to get over their nemesis? I can't believe I'm writing this, but the Sox are going back to the World Series.

* In the NL, it's hard for anyone to root against the Cubbies, even if you live in Atlanta. I mean, did you see how excited those Wrigley fans were when they clinched on Saturday? Meanwhile, the Braves win the division every year and Turner Field is half empty during the playoffs. You have to think there's gonna be quite a few Cubs caps in the Atlanta stands when the series starts on Tuesday. Though I'm extremely wary of jinxing San Francisco, you have to think that the G-Unit has what it takes to make it past the fishies. It'll be a rematch of the 1989 NLCS, and despite the abscence of Will the Thrill and Candy Maldonado, the results will be the same.

* As for my World Series pick- no, not even I am dumb enough to try to predict that.

 
Touched by a Crasher

Well, after a loooong hiatus, I'm back on the blog scene. And what a better time to do it than following a post from Random Black Guy himself! I am honored and surpised that he would even find my blog, let alone offer a compliment. I will definitely keep an eye out for when his DVD hits the marketplace. I'm actually quite surprised that Nicholas "Sixx" King hasn't gotten more pub since his VMA antics. But maybe this is for the best- the longer he stays under the radar, the better chance he has of future stage crashings. But he still has a ways to go to catch the ultimate event crasher, Dion Rich, who has somehow broken into 32 straight Super Bowls.