Monday Morning Meissnervations

Holy Jumpin' Up and Down Martha....It's Monday already! Here's what's up....

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First things first: Yesterday, at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, we celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary of our Rector(That's church speak for Head Priest) Joe Diaz and his lovely bride Jan. Seven years ago, when she was in her last days, my wife's mother Mary Barrows, asked Joe and Jan to take care of her daughter Kimberly(Her only child). The Diaz's agreed and kept an eye on her thereafter. They became Kim's "adopted" parents. He walked her down the aisle at our wedding four years ago and she stood in as Kim's Mother. Now, they fill the role of "Gampa and Gamma" for Jimmy and are a very important part of our lives. Yesterday, they also repeated their vows, with their whole family in attendance. (I thought I was gonna cry!) Papa Joe and Mama Jan, we love you very much!











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Yesterday was the annual Banjo Bowl game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. (Say what? Banjo Bowl? What's that? Well, read all about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banjo_Bowl)

The game was tied 7-7 after one, then the Riders reeled off 35 straight points and won in a rout, 55-10. Darian Durant was steady at quarterback, Wes Cates scored three times and Luca Congi kicked six field goals and five converts. On the other side of the ball, Winnipeg's numbers were very ugly, especially in the turnover column, where they hung the number 8.(Youch!) Fred Reid, who rushed for 260 yards against BC, hasn't approached 100 since. And Yvenson Bernard, who rushed for 110 against BC, has touched the ball 5 or 6 times since and lost 2 fumbles yesterday against Saskatchewan. The Bombers could have the best running bnack tandem in the entire CFL(by miles and miles) with Reid and Bernard, but it's just mystifying how they're being used. Winnipeg, at 3-7 with two straight against Montreal on the horizon, are a team desperately looking for answers. They'll get 'em only if they ask the correct questions.

Meanwhile, the Riders are 6-4, tied with Calgary for first in the West and play Edmonton twice next week. The Eskimos have lost two straight, but will present a much stiffer challenge than the Bombers did. Game time in Regina next Sunday is 4:00pm EDT and 6:00pm EDT the following Saturday in Edmonton. Catch the games on http://www.620ckrm.com/.

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In the CFL West, Saskatchewan and Calgary(They don't meet again until October 17th in Calgary) are 6-4 for 12 points, Edmopnton is 5-5 for 10 points and BC is 4-6 for 8 points. In the East, Montreal is 8-2 for 16 points, Hamilton is 5-5 for 10 points and Toronto and Winnipeg are both 3-7 for 6 points.

Speaking of Toronto, they beat Hamilton 23-21 in overtime, to break their 10-game home losing streak(They hadn't successfully defended the Rogers Centre turf since August 8th of 2008) and their 5-game 2009 losing skid. Congratulations Argos.

And the CFL again proved they have things right. In overtime(Toronto-Hamilton was the league's first O.T. game of the 2009 season), they play it like in the U.S. colleges: Each team gets a crack at offense, starting at the 35. If they're tied after one "mini game"(as they call it), they go again. If it's still tied, it then goes down as a tie. I caught the replay on Saturday and it was fun to watch the celebration.

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A pork chop and mashed potatos walk into a bar. The bartender says: "Sorry, we don't serve dinner."

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NHL preseason opens tonight, with the Vancouver Canucks playing the New York Islanders. NHL Network has the game at 10:00pm EDT.

Portland Winterhawks finished the WHL preseason at 5-1. After winning less than 20 games in each of the past three seasons, they are dramatically improved and could challenge for some hardware this season. Some great touch up front and a very mobile defense could spell trouble for opposing teams this season.

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Stick a fork in the Tampa Bay Rays, they're done. They lost twice at Boston yesterday and have now lost 11 straight, the longest losing streak in the majors this season. They now trail the Yankees by 19 1/2 in the AL East and trail Boston by 12 1/2 in the Wild Card. On local sports radio, one talking head even raised the thought of the team perhaps needing to change managers after the season, saying that the popular skipper Joe Maddon may have taken this team as far as he could(Remember how wonderful he was at his job last season, when he piloted the Rays to their first-ever post season appearance? I guess it might be time to play "What have you done for me lately?"). Personally, I think unloading Maddon would be a knee-jerk or panic reaction. Now, if the team struggles out of the gate to start '10, then maybe. But now? No. This team already has loads of problems with drawing fans, and relating to the ones who do attend. A managerial change before next season would just make things worse.

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In the American League, the Yankees lead Boston by 7 gam,es, Detroit leads the Central by 5 1/2 over Minnesota and 6 over the White Sox, while in the West, the Angels are 6 in front of Texas. Boston leads Texas in the Wild Card by 4 games. In the National League, Philadelphia leads Florida by 6 1/2 and Atlanta by 7 1/2, while St. Louis is 9 1/2 in front of the Cubs in the Central. The Dodgers lead the West by 3 over Colorado and 7 1/2 over the Giants(who beat the Dodgers 7-2 yesterday). Colorado leads the Wild Card race by 4 1/2 over San Francisco, 5 1/2 over Florida, 6 1/2 over Atlanta and 7 1/2 over the Cubs.

Go Giants! They host the Rockies for three games starting tonight.

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Oh, can't forget: Derek Jeter passed Lou Gehrig to become the Yankees all-time hits leader this past weekend, while yesterday's game one base hit made Ichiro Suzuki the first player in Major League history with nine straight 200+ hit seasons. Ichiro Mania lives in Seattle!

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A horse walks into a bar. The bartender says: "Why the long face?"

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The NFL opened their regular season yesterday. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to Dallas 34-21. I'd comment about the game, but I slept through most of it(Some things are just more important).

The Broncos beat Cincinnati 12-7 on a miracle-deflection 87-yard touchdown with 11 seconds to go; Brett Favre(YAWWWWWWWN!) "led" the Vikings past the Browns 34-20(Adrian Peterson rushed for 180 yards) and the Seahawks beat St. Louis 28-0. Pittsburgh opened the season Thursday with a 13-10 overtime win over Tennesee, who never got to touch the ball because the NFL stubbornly holds on to their archaic OT rules. Atlanta thumped Miami 19-7(Big game for QB Matt Ryan); Baltimore beat Kansas City 38-24; Philadelphia rolled past Carolina 38-10(But may have lost QB Donovan McNabb for awhile with broken ribs); the Jets beat Houston 24-7(I wonder if Jets QB Mark Sanchez would trade that win, for a USC win over Oregon State last season? Uhhhh, probably not. But it was funny to see him hand the game ball to the referee after time expired, then, when the referee gave him the ball back, the look on Sanchez's face, when he realized he got to keep the game ball from his first NFL win, was priceless. Good for him!). Indianapolis beat Jacksonville 14-12(Payton Manning tied Johnny Unitas for most wins in Colts history....but don't say that outloud in Baltimore); New Orleans beat Detroit 45-27(6 TD passes for Drew Brees, decent debut for Matt Stafford); San Francisco held off Arizona 20-16; the Giants edged Washington 23-16(Payton Manning was solid for the New York Football Giants, while you still have to like an NFL team with an actual fight song, instead of something that sounds better performed by a Vegas supper club band); and Green Bay held off Chicago(and new QB Jay Cutler) 21-15(Only neat thing about spending last winter in Wisconsin: Brats on Sunday in front of the TV while watching the Packers). Tonight, the NFL holds it's annual(?) week one Monday Night twin bill, with Buffalo(Shut up about T.O. already, will ya?) at New England and San Diego at Oakland(The Raiders are quite possible the worst franchise in all of pro sports, not just football).

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Did Serena Williams make a complete and total fool out of herself at the U.S. Open? She blew all her gaskets yesterday after being called for a foot fault, subsequently being docked a penalty point(It was her second code violation of the day, after breaking her racket in the first set), which turned out to be the winning point of the match for Kim Clijsters, who went on to win the title. Serena and her sister Venus are in the Women's double finals, but if possible sanctions are levied, it could be Serena's last Grand Slam appearance ever. Another case of a rich, spoiled athlete thinking they are bigger than the GAME they PLAY. Will it send a message if she's barred from future Grand Slam events? Probably not. But it would be a refreshing change of pace, wouldn't it?

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And in closing, how 'bout them Oregon State Beavers? Almost let Saturday's game slip away, but with the help of a pass interference call late, rallied to win 23-21. Jastin Kahut, who earlier hit the left upright on a long field goal attempt(Gotta be the windiest stadium in all of football!), ad to withstand a maddening clock mismangement by his team, then two straight UNLV time outs, before drilling a 33-yard fielod goal into a firece win with 7 seconds left in the game. Not pretty, but a win is a win.

The Beavers, off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2005, host Cincinnati next Saturday. The Bearcats destroyed SE Missouri 70-3 this past Saturday. Kickoff is set for 6:46pm EDT, with the Beaver Radio Network(and http://www.kpam.com/) and Fox Sports Net(TV--Check your local listings) carrying the game.

Go Beavs!

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That's it for now. Have a great week everyone!