Happy Monday to you, Happy Monday to you....
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Baseball playoffs continue. In the ALCS, the Yankees are up 2-0 on the Angels, after winning 4-1 on Friday and 4-3 in 13 rainy innings on Saturday. Game 3 is this afternoon at 4:13pm EDT on Fox. Game 4 is Tuesday at 7:57p.m. EDT. Both games are in Anaheim.
In the NLCS, the defending champion Phillies are up 2-1, after pounding the Dodgers yesterday 11-0. Philadelphia won game 1 on Thursday 8-6, while the Dodgers won game 2 on Friday, 2-1. Game 4 is in Philadelphia tonight at 8:07pm EDT, with game 5 in Philadelphia coming Wednesday at 8:07pm EDT. The NLCS games are on TBS.
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The Saskatchewan Roughriders and Calgary Stampeders entered Saturday's game tied atop the CFL West standings at 8-6. At the end of the night, they were tied at 8-6-1, after an exciting 44-44 tie. Darian Durant threw for 427 yards, Chris Czarka rushed for 3 touchdowns and Luca Congi toed 12 points for the Riders. Joffrey Reynolds was the star for Calgary with 135 yards and 3 touchdowns rushing. Saskatchewan hosts BC this Saturday at 5:30pm EDT on CKRM Radio.
In the West, after the Riders and Stamps at 8-6-1 for 17 points, BC is 8-7 for 16 points and Edmonton is 7-8 for 14 points.
In the East, Montreal is 13-2 for 26 points, Hamilton and Winnipeg are 6-9 for 12 points and Toronto (rumored to possibly be up for sale) is 3-12 for 6 points.
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The Tampa Bay Lightning dropped two games over the weekend, losing 7-1 at Ottawa Thursday and 4-1 at Pittsburgh on Saturday. Tampa Bay struggled offensively and on special teams, but got some solid goaltending from Antero Niittymaki in Saturday's game.
The Lightning play their next 4 at home. Tampa Bay hosts the San Jose Sharks on Thursday and the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday, with both those games starting at 7:30p.m. EDT. Thursday, October 29th, the Ottawa Senators come to town for Hockey Fights Cancer Night. That game starts at 7:00p.m. EDT. The New Jersey Devils make their second appearance this season at the St. Pete Times Forum on Saturday, October 31st, with faceoff set for 3:00p.m. EDT. The games can be heard locally on 620 WDAE and seen on Sun Sports, except for the October 24th game, which airs on WTOG, the first of six games on 'TOG this season.
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I understand the Small-Field League had a bunch of games yesterday.
Miami capped last week with a 31-27 Monday Night win over the Jets, who fed off that "momentum," for a 16-13 overtime loss to Buffalo(Say what?), as Mark Sanchez(You remember, the savior of the green-and-white) threw for 119 yards and 5 interceptions. Minnesota remained unbeaten with a come-from-behind 33-31 win over Baltimore(Favre does it again and the Ravens missed a last-second field goal). New Orleans blasted the Giants 48-27(The Saints are 5-0 and look pretty good). And Pittsburgh stopped Cleveland 27-14(My Grandma-remember her?-could stop Cleveland).
Green Bay blanked Detroit 26-0(Those brats taste pretty good now, don't they?). Carolina beat Tampa Bay 28-21(Bucs are 0-6 after failing to stop the run in what was their best performance so far this season). Kansas City squeaked by Washington 14-6(Chiefs first win of season, Skins are in deep sewage). And Jacksonville edged St. Louis 23-20 in overtime(Do the people in L.A. really want this team back?).
Oakland beat Philadelphia 13-9(Miracles do happen, you know and say, didn't that pidgeon look great on kick coverage for the Raiders?). Arizona beat Seattle 24-3(The one-sided score was a bit of a surprise). New England won in the snow over Tennessee 59-0(Tom Brady threw 5 touchdown passes in the second quarter). Atlanta slipped past Chicago in the Sunday Night game 21-14 and the week concludes with Denver at San Diego in the Monday Night game(I'll be watching baseball).
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Still trying to recover from the flu, I watched three whole NFL games yesterday. I think that's a modern Meissner record, not soon to be equaled.
I'd still rather watch the Saskatchewan Roughriders!
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Let's see, what can I get into next?
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Oregon State Beavers were off this past weekend. They play at USC this coming Saturday, looking for a big win that would vault them into Pac-10 title contention. Kickoff is set for 8:00pm EDT Saturday. TV coverage is on ABC, radio on KPAM and the Beaver Sports Network.
Beavers host UCLA in their homecoming game on the 31st.
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I spent last Wednesday evening/early Thursday in the emergency room. The main benefit there, was that I got to watch the United Football League game between the Florida Tuskers and the Las Vegas Locomotives. The football is okay(The Tuskers won 29-15 and it wasn't that close), but the officials red uniforms(Hey Kool-Aid man!) are horrid. It was appropriate I was in the hospital, because those red shirts made me sick.
Don't confuse this league with anything approaching the NFL. But, if you take it for what it is(a developement league for the NFL), you just might be surprised.
http://www.ufl-football.com.
BTW: What's tougher? A Florida Tusker, or an Arkansas Razorback?
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Speaking of me, hospitals and doctors, no one is able (still) to find out what's wrong with me. I'm ready to start looking at it like a shade-tree mechanic does car repairs: Just start exchanging parts until the car starts working good again.
I just want the pain to go away.
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The Portland Winterhawks are 8-5 in the early Western Hockey League season, after dropping a heart-breaker in Calgary last night, 6-5, with the Hitmen winning on a late goal. The Hawks are 1-2 on their Eastern Swing, with games at Medicine Hat, Lethbridge and Kootenay coming up.
While 8-5 might not be an overly impressive record normally, it is when you consider Portland won 20 games or less in each of the past three seasons.
They are much-improved and should not only contend for a playoff spot this season, but the U.S. Division title as well.
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My old team, the Tri-City Storm, is 2-1-1 to start the USHL season. They played just once this past weekend, losing to Fargo 6-5 on a goal 27 seconds into overtime. From what I'm hearing, lots of things continue to improve, except for attendance. Through three home games, the Storm have drawn 5,246, an average of 1,748 per game, down 345 a game from last season. Apparently, only the hard core fans (a/k/a message board mouth flappers) think the entire city should be turning out, simply because of all the changes made since the sale of the team and arena. But, once you've had as big of a disconnect in your community like the Storm did in the previous two/three seasons, it takes a L-O-N-G time to rebuild the trust and acceptance. Winning consistantly on home ice will help, of course, but it will take a LOT of hard work from the staff to get the fans back out in numbers anywhere near what they used to be. Here's hoping they "Git-r-done!"
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My lovely bride Kim has the next three days off work(Take that PTO now or lose it, ya know). I don't know what she has in store, but it'll be fun to have some family time together, without the pressures of work. We're looking forward to it.
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Have as much fun as you possibly can gang!
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