It's Monday. Here's what's happening....
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Today is October 4th, the 276th day of 2010. There are 89 days left in the year.
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Chara mobbed on arrival in Prague.
'Canes understand significance of SKA matchup.
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St. Clair goal in OT lifts Force over Green Bay.
Wilson's 35 saves not enough as Steel fall to Youngtown.
Muskegon Lumberjacks fall to Indiana in USHL opener that draws 4,045 spectators.
Musketeers off to roaring start.
Musketeers owner wants more excitement around team.
Stempede blanked by Sioux City in opener.
Storm drop another shootout.
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This is World Space Week.
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Saskatchewan, now 10-4 on the year and 2 points behind first place Calgary in the West, hosts the Argonauts in Regina on Saturday, October 9th at 4:00pm EDT.
Visit the teams' official website at riderville.com.
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This is Improve YourOoffice Day.
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Here's the Week 4 NFL Schedule(All times Eastern):
Baltimore Ravens 17 at Pittsburgh Steelers 14
At Green Bay Packers 28, Detroit Lions 26
At New Orleans Saints 16, Carolina Panthers 14
At Atlanta Falcons 16, San Francisco 49ers 14
New York Jets 38 at Buffalo Bills 14
Denver Broncos 26 at Tennessee Titans 20
At St. Louis Rams 20, Seattle Seahawks 3
At Cleveland Browns 23, Cincinnati Bengals 20
At Jacksonville Jaguars 31, Indianapolis Colts 28
Houston Texans 31 at Oakland Raiders 24
At San Diego Chargers 41, Arizona Cardinals 10
Washington Redskins 17 at Philadelphia Eagles 12
At New York Giants 17, Chicago Bears 3
Monday October 4 8:30 p.m. New England Patriots at Miami Dolphins
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This is Energy Management Is A Family Affair - Improve Your Home Month.
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The 2-2 Oregon State Beavers take their 1-0 Conference record on the road this coming Saturday to face the Arizona Wildcats. Start time has yet to be determined.
Here's the 2010 Oregon State Beavers' football schedule.
And here's the 2010 football roster.
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This is Fair Trade Month. (Linky Link)
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Eskimos hang on to beat Ti-Cats.
Visit the league's official website at cfl.ca.
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This is Financial Planning Month.
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Jimmy spells out a word. (You try and pronounce it. I did and I sprained my brain.)
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This is German-American Heritage Month.
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KANSAS CITY -- The Rays are the American League East champions.
And they didn't have to rely on the Red Sox to beat the Yankees, as they took a 3-2 win in 12 innings over the Royals on Sunday afternoon at Kauffman Stadium with 20,936 watching.
Read the rest here.
Notes: The Rays host Texas in game one of the ALDS on Wednesday. First pitch is scheduled for 1:37pm EDT.
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This is Global Diversity Awareness Month.
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In the American League East,Tampa Bay finished first, 1 game ahead of the Yankees(Wild Card winner), 7 in front of Boston, 11 ahead of Toronto and 30 in front of Baltimore.
In the American League Central, Minnesota won the division, finishing 6 ahead of the White Sox, 13 ahead of Detroit, 25 in front of Cleveland and 27 in front of Kansas City.
In the American League West, Texas won the division, finishing 9 games in front of Oakland, 10 in front of the Angels and 29 in front of Seattle.
In the National League East, Philadelphia won the division, finishing 6 games ahead of Atlanta(Wild Card winner), 17 ahead of Florida, 18 in front of the Mets and 28 in front of Washington.
In the National League Central, Cincinnati won the division, with St. Louis finishing 5 games back, Milwaukee ended up 14 games behind, Houston finished 15 behind, the Cubs 16 and Pittsburgh was 34 game behind at the end.
In the National League West, San Francisco won the division, San Diego was 2 games behind, Colorado finished 9 behind, the Dodgers finished 12 behind and Arizona ended up 27 games off the pace..
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This is Go Hog Wild - Eat Country Ham Month.
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After all, that day falls in the middle of the World Series.
The Fall Classic remains a lofty goal for the Giants, but they can legitimately dream about it. Because the postseason became a reality for them Sunday.
The Giants outlasted the San Diego Padres, 3-0, to win the National League West championship before a raucous sellout crowd at AT&T Park.
Read the rest here.
Notes: The Giants begin the best-of-five NLDS on Thursday against Atlanta. First pitch is set for 9:37pm EDT.
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This is Halloween Safety Month.
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Today in Elvis History:
1960 - Shooting for the Elvis Presley film "Flaming Star" wrapped up.
1968 - Elvis Presley recorded "Stay Away" and "Goin' Home."
2005 - Sony BMG Strategic Marketing Group released "History". The three CD set contained 80 Elvis Presley chart hits.
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October is Head Start Awareness Month.
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Today in Beatles History:
1974 - "Walls And Bridges" was released by John Lennon.
1998 - Julian Lennon performed at a concert for the International Association Against Drugs.
2001 - Paul McCartney read original poetry at the 21st Poetry Olympics.
2001 - An undated draft of a letter written by John Lennon to Paul and Linda McCartney failed to sell at auction. The angry letter was written after the Beatles' 1970 split. The minimum price was set at $96,000, but, the top bid only reached $77,000.
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October is Health Literacy Month.
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Today in Sports History:
1893 - The first professional football contract was signed by Grant Dibert for the Pittsburgh AC.
1895 - The first U.S. Open golf tournament took place in Newport, RI. Horace Rawlins, 19 years old, won the tournament.
1959 - The first World Series to be played west of St. Louis began in Los Angeles, CA.
1981 - Bruce Jenner and Harry Belafonte debuted in their first dramatic roles in NBC-TV's "Grambling's White Tiger".
1987 - NFL owners used replacement personnel to play games despite the player's strike.
2001 - Barry Bonds (San Francisco Giants) hit his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire's major league record. Bonds also moved past Reggie Jackson on the all-time list with his 564th career home run.
2001 - Rickey Henderson (San Diego Padres) scored his 2,246th career run to break Ty Cobb's major league record.
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This is International Augmentative & Alternative Communication Awareness Month.
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From http://www.nascar.com/
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Greg Biffle and Jimmie Johnson got exactly what they needed Sunday at Kansas Speedway -- Biffle by leaving the field in his dust and Johnson by persevering.
Biffle ran away and hid from the rest of the field in winning the Price Chopper 400 -- the third race in the Chase -- by 7.638 seconds in front of Johnson, who rallied from his 21st starting position to claim the runner-up spot.
Johnson, seeking his fifth consecutive Cup title, didn't leave the 1.5-mile race track with the trophy, but he heads to next Sunday's race at his "home" track (Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.) with the series points lead.
Biffle entered the race 140 points behind Denny Hamlin, who finished 12th Sunday and lost the points lead to Johnson. With his second win of the year, his second win at Kansas and the 16th victory of his career, Biffle heads for California eighth in the standings and 85 points down to Johnson with seven races left in the Chase.
Johnson leads Hamlin by eight points.
Kevin Harvick finished third, followed by Tony Stewart, who led a race-high 76 laps before his car faded slightly in the closing stages. Jeff Gordon won an intense battle with Carl Edwards for the fifth spot, and Matt Kenseth came home seventh, as Chase drivers claimed the top seven positions.
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October is International Starman Month.
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From http://www.indycar.com
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Already securing the bonus point for winning the PEAK Performance Pole Award, Dario Franchitti had two other goals in the Cafes do Brasil Indy 300 to earn the IZOD IndyCar Series championship for a record-tying third time.
One was achieved on Lap 118 of 200 when he clinched two points for leading the most laps, and he was on pace to win the race. That would seal the deal no matter where Power finished.
That all became moot when Power's No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car brushed the Turn 4 wall on Lap 135 while running fourth, which bent the right-rear wishbone. The crew wheeled the car behind the wall and made the change in 5 minutes, 6 seconds.
Ater testing the patch for a few laps under caution, he brought the car into the pit and climbed out of the cockpit.
Power, who posted five victories in his first full season with Team Penske, suffered his first DNF of the season in the biggest race of his career.
“The championship is won over 17 races, not one," Power said. “Obviously, I’m very disappointed with the outcome. I really wanted to win this championship. It was at a point in the race where I felt I really had to push because Dario had led the most laps and was leading the race.
“I was trying to get around (Ryan) Hunter-Reay and I got up a little too high and brushed the wall and bent the suspension. The Verizon team had a great season and we have a lot to be proud of. This has been the best season of my career in motorsport and I've learned so much. We'll be coming back to win this thing next year.”
Added team owner Roger Penske: "It was a tough ending to a good season for Team Penske. Will and the Verizon team did a great job all year. Our congratulations go out to Dario and Chip (Ganassi) for winning the championship. We will be back strong next year."
Franchitti, who entered the race 11 points arrears, earned the title by five points with an eighth-place finish. Five points over the course of seven months and 17 races?
"I'm just going to let it sink in, enjoy it. But I'm very proud of the achievement," said Franchitti, who matched Sam Hornish Jr. with three titles and winning in consecutive seasons. "I do believe the competition level in the series is going up. For whatever reason, we at Team Target both Scott (Dixon) and myself maybe didn't have the speed advantage we had last year. In some cases, we have to work harder to finish in the top five at races.
"So to come away with a championship after a season like that is very satisfying. And we look back to Iowa and think to that gear box (18th place), that took a lot of points away, and from then on it was a real struggle. But nobody on the Target team gave up. We did our best every single week.
"We find ourselves here again tonight. It was pretty cool. Great to be out there enjoying that feeling and that moment with my family, my friends, my teammates, it doesn't get any better than that."
Franchitti, who won the race in 2009 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to clinch the championship over teammate Scott Dixon and Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe, similarly overcame a points deficit entering the season finale.
It was the fifth consecutive year that the championship was decided in the final race, and the fifth time in the past six years that the Indianapolis 500 winner also won the series championship.
Dixon, who started on the front row, held off Andretti Autosport teammates Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan to win the race (the difference between the two was 0.0111 of a second). Briscoe finished fourth and Helio Castroneves was fifth.
“After I crossed the line, I said it wasn’t a win but it sure felt like one,” said Patrick, who matched her season-best finish and moved up one position to 10th in the standings (all four Andretti Autosport cars were in the top 10 of the standings). “This was a great way to end the season. We have had our high points and low points and the GoDaddy crew pulled it together for a strong end to the year. Hopefully we can continue to improve the car to be better for next year.”
There were 18 lead changes – an event record and second to the season-high 23 at Chicagoland Speedway.
Vitor Meira finished a season oval-best sixth, advancing 15 positions in the No. 14 ABC Supply Co. car for A.J. Foyt Racing, and Marco Andretti was seventh in the No. 26 Team Venom Energy for Andretti Autosport. Dan Wheldon, driving the No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing car, and Graham Rahal in the No. 02 Quick Trim entry for Newman/Haas Racing also were in the top 10. Alex Lloyd clinched the Rookie of the Year award – a first for Dale Coyne Racing -- with a 12th-place finish.
Dixon's third victory of the season helped the two-time series champion hurdle Castroneves for third in the championship standings.
“It’s a big deal trying to get to third,” he said. “With so many yellows, it turned into a fuel race and we had a few rough restarts. This was a huge night for us, but more importantly for Dario for taking another championship. We definitely had a rough year and a lot of missed opportunities, but everyone is very excited about the outcome.”
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Coming up:
Tonight ---
Nothin' doin'
Tuesday --
Nothin' Doin'
Wednesday --
Baseball: Game One, ALDS - Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays 1:37pm EDT
Baseball: Game One, NLDS - Cincinnati Reds at Philadelphia Phillies 5:07pm EDT
Baseball: Game One, ALDS - New York Yankees at Minnesota Twins 8:37pm EDT
Thursday --
Baseball: Game One, ALDS - Texas Rangers at Tampa Bay Rays 2:37pm EDT
Baseball: Game One, NLDS - Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants 9:37pm EDT
Friday --
Baseball: Game Two, NLDS - Cincinnati Reds at Philadelphia Phillies 6:07pm EDT
Baseball: Game Two, NLDS - Atlanta Braves at San Francisco Giants 9:37pm EDT
Saturday --
SEJHL Hockey: Tampa Bay Juniors at Florida Eelks 3:30pm EDT
Nascar Nationwide Series: CampingWorld.com 300 at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, California 4:00pm EDT
Baseball: Game Three, ALDS - Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers 5:07pm EDT
CFL Football: Toronto Argonauts at Saskatchewan Roughriders 9:00pm EDT
MJHL Hockey: Tampa Bay Juniors vs Walpole Express at New Hampshire Showcase 9:15pm EDT
Baseball: Game Three, ALDS - Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees 9:37pm EDT
College Football: Oregon State Beavers at Arizona Wildcats TBA
Sunday --
NFL Football: Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Cincinnati Bengals 1:00pm EDT
Nascar Sprint Cup Series: Pepsi Max 400 at Auto Club Speedway, Fontana, California 3:00pm EDT
SEJHL Hockey: Florida Eels at Tampa Bay Juniors 6:35pm EDT
NHL Hockey: Atlanta Thrashers at Tampa Bay Lightning 7:30pm EDT (Regular Season Opener)
MJHL Hockey: Tampa Bay Juniors vs Cranston Reds at New Hampshire Showcase 8:55pm EDT
Baseball: Game Three, NLDS - Philadelphia Phillies at Cincinnati Reds TBA
Baseball: Game Three, NLDS - San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves TBA
Baseball: Game Four, ALDS - Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees TBA (If necessary)
Baseball: Game Four, ALDS - Tampa Bay Rays at Texas Rangers TBA (If necessary)
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That's it for today. See you again tomorrow.
