Now that John is recording podcasts with Bruce Feldman, he no longer has time to write blogs so he lets me continue to write. I think he figured that since I lived in the Bay Area, I could give an accurate account of #OrangeOctober. I either followed most games on my phone or on radio. Plus, I’m a bitter Mess fan.
(For those wondering, I did the drop today)
IT’S ALL HAPPENING!
1. BUM-ING ANOTHER WORLD SERIES TITLE
Ha, Kershaw probably gets a Tesla for the Cy Young.
Behind the left arm of NLCS and World Series MVP, Madison Bumgarner, the San Francisco Giants won their third title in five years and the talk of a Gianasty has begun in the Bay Area.
It was probably the best game of the series, as everything hung in the balance the last 5 innings. Would the Giants add an insurance run? Would the Royals solve Madison? (A leadoff single meant maybe but then the Royals ground game was grounded and nothing seemed to materialize until the 9th).
Bumgarner pitched 21 innings in the WS and allowed 1 run. His fellow starting pitchers of Jake Peavy, Tim Hudson and Ryan (Vogey) Vogelsong went a combined 16.1 innings and allowed 18 runs in 5 other starts.
Two things about the Gordon hit with 2 outs in the 9th:
1. Posey and Bum thought the ball would be caught. Watch Posey, he ran to the mound to celebrate.
2. Gordon went too slow out of the box thinking the ball would either be caught or drop in for a base hit. I don’t think he ever turned the jets on. I still would have had him make a wide turn at third and force a throw. Perez wasn’t hitting Bum.
Now I have to listen to more Giants crap for the next year.
2. ANOTHER WEEK, ANOTHER REFERENDUM
What all the Patricia Ryan’s in Tallahassee will be wearing tomorrow.
A week after The Pick or Illegal Blocking or Touching a FSU player (btw, touching a FSU female student with force isn’t illegal at FSU) ruined ND’s undefeated season, we have another week of ref controversy.
First, THE Ohio State wins a game because replay broke and they couldn’t wait. Then, Auburn uses two players with the same number at the same time. Then, Utah wins using the Pick play. (If you’re a ND fan, all that’s left is a touchdown called back b/c of a blade of grass moving).
Plus, we have Mike Pereira opining that a higher power is deciding key SEC replays.
People think that if we do away with conference refs things will be fixed, but I’d like to say I doubt it. Look at college basketball: they did away with conference refs and yet the same refs are always doing ACC, AAC, Big East, etc. games and rarely will you see Karl Hess do a Pac-12 or Mountain West game. Based on schedule and familiararity, refs don’t leave the comfort of their area.
In college football, the same will happen. The home team is responsible for the refs and the conference assigns them. Is the SEC going to have a west coast crew come do Bama-LSU to show fairness when they have 7 crews of guys they know and trust? I doubt it.
3. PLAYOFF MADNESS
On Tuesday, the initial College Football Playoff Rankings came out and within seconds OUTRAGE!!! hit message boards and social media. Yes, three SEC West teams are in the top 4 (4 in the top 6), but how many fans realize they all play each other in the next month? No one had any idea had the committee would act, but I’m still puzzled on Ty’s selection to the group. The man was a volunteer golf coach a year ago, it’s not like he’s doing anything football-related (he didn’t do anything football related at ND either).
The big test for the group comes next Tuesday when Auburn or Ole Miss has two losses. Does Auburn stay above 1 loss teams because they lost to the #1 and #3 teams? Does Ole Miss drop far enough?
Then on Nov. 8 there are at least 4 games featuring CFP teams: ND vs. ASU, Bama vs. LSU, Oregon vs. Utah and Kansas State vs. TCU. Depending on the outcomes, then the real outrage begins.
As far as ND goes, I thought 10 was too low, but they haven’t beat anyone ranked in the top 25 and since MSU beat Nebraska they are going to be ahead of the Irish no matter how bad MSU looked against Oregon. Now the Irish need to win and to win big over Navy, ASU, Northwestern and USC.
4. TIME TO FISH FOR ANOTHER COACH
One game into the Derek Fisher era and one blowout. Knicks fans will defend Phil and say the previous group destroyed the cap space which limited what he could do. I’ll say the Knicks stunk in the preseason and we should have let Melo walk and started all over. Melo will never work in this system because he’s too selfish of a player. Look how long he’s been in NY and what marquee free agent has wanted to join the Knicks in that time frame? None. JR Smith should have never been give a contract extension but ownership thought JR turned a corner.
What member of the Jackson family coaching tree had success? Sometimes it’s ok to disrespect the family.
5. NAMING RIGHTS
You named me what?
At this time next week if all goes according to plan, my wife and I will be into our second go-round with an infant. She barely sleeps now and my toddler wakes me up at 5:15 every day so lack of sleep won’t be a problem. Naming the second kid has been more of the issue.
Our first kid just happens to share his name with a WS MVP (We’re trendsetters who aren’t Giants fans). So when we found out about kid #2 (We went on Maury, home tests are so passe) the name search began. People guessed we would stick with a President theme so that got thrown out, then we would throw out names and look at how popular they were because heaven forbid we not be seen as copycats.
We asked our kid and he suggested Treestump because of a funny episode of the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Anything ND related was vetoed and we couldn’t do Shea because almost every Mets fan does Shea. I suggested Mookie, also vetoed.
When our little girl is born next week, she’ll have a name (no, John, it’s not Oscar) and then in 18 years she’ll change it if she wants.
BTW, first kid we were ready weeks in advance. Second kid, we’re barely ready to go to hospital.
AROUND THE WEB:
– Another major announcement from Apple CEO Tim Cook today “iGay”
– This guy is running for mayor of Oakland. If I will have time next week, I’ll explain how the Oakland election works. If you like the way the media votes on football teams, you’ll love this.
– Based on protests around here regarding Happy Meals and Plastic Bag, I am shocked these people couldn’t get more signatures.