24th Edition - 10/9/06

• MLB: The Final Four

The Mets made it look easy. Then again, so did the A's, Tigers and Cardinals. No series went to 5 games.
The Cardinals were facing the greatest collapse in the history of baseball, but once they got into the playoffs, they remembered how it was done. A suicide squeeze (love the play and the name) gave the Cardinals a four-run cushion and a 6-2 victory over the Padres.
The Tigers finished the season 19-31, and gave away the central division on the last day of the regular season. But they took out the Yankees in just four games.

The bottom line is, just get to the playoffs. You never know what can happen.

Looking ahead, the Mets will be tangling with the Cardinals. Carpenter pitched in last night's game against the Padres, so he won't be available for Game 1, which hopefully leads the Mets into the driver's seat.

By the way, rumor is that Joe Torre will be fired from the Yankees, and Lou Piniella will be his replacement. Even if Torre is available, I want Joe Girardi to manage the Cubs.

• NFL: Where the Bears would be ranked No. 1 in the AP and Coaches Poll

If you watch football, you were smacked over the head with Terrell Owens commentary, before, during and after the Cowboys vs. Eagles game. And none of it was that interesting or enlightening. The game however turned out to be great. The Eagles defense blitzed almost every play, just killing Bledsoe. And then he threw a INT in the closing seconds which was returned for the TD.
Bledsoe and Favre are at the same stage in their career--making too many bad decisions. The difference is, Favre is hurting a bad team, Bledsoe is killing a potential Super Bowl contender.

The Bears stepped all over the Bills 41-7, with the Bills TD coming in the final minutes of the game after Cedric Benson fumbled on the Bears 20-yard-line. So keep in mind, even though the Bears have outscore opponents 156-36 this season, they have been shutout 7-0 the last 3:00.

The Best
QB
Donovan McNabb: 354 yards, 2TD
Damon Huard: 288 yards, 2TD
RB
Frank Gore: 134 yards
Duece McAllister: 123 yards, 1TD
WR
Hank Baskett: 112 yards, 1TD
Joey Galloway: 110 yards, 1TD

• The Land of Make Believe (a recap of fantasy)

*If the Baltimore Ravens beat the Denver Broncos, I win my office pool for the week.
*I am currently in the lead of my College Pick'em tournament, where we pick all Top 25 games on Saturday.
1. Chuck Long's Arm (me): 65
2. Taste It (mike d): 63
There are 12 total teams
*I won my fantasy football game mainly because Antonio Gates out-dueled Willy Parker last night. Season record 3-2.

• The Picks: Revisited

NCAA
j : 3-0 (Season 10-4-1)
billy z: 2-1 (Season 9-4-2)

NFL
j: 1-1-1 (Season 9-4-2)
mike d: 0-1-2 (Season 7-6-2)

• Stuff

SNL
It just was not good. My fiance kept turning to me saying, "Why don't they just pay one guy to figure out how to end skits. That would be his only job." Couldn't agree more.
Funny SNL's for 2006/07: 0-2 (Dane Cook; Jaime Pressly)

Movies
"The Departed" was number one at the box office. (good job folks)
"Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning," which was terrible, made $19 million. (bad job folks)