Love for the Pennant Race

As some of you know, I’m mainly a baseball guy (I love football, but baseball is definitely my favorite sport). I absolutely LOVE this part of the year. The pennant races couldn’t be tighter and the college football and NFL seasons are beginning.

How great have the pennant races been? The Yankees and the Red Sox are battling it out, ½ game separating the two and they are not even the big national story right now. The run the Indians have been on has been incredible and the White Sox have been letting them back in the race. As late as 8 days ago, when I was in Chicago, most listeners and radio hosts agreed that the Sox had the division rapped up as they were 7 ½ up. Little did they know, the Indians would not lose that week and come into US Cellular only 3 ½ back. Both of the games they players so far have been great to watch, thank the Lord for the baseball package. The Indians got a 4 run lead in game one, but the White Sox battled back and took the lead going into the eight. Aaron Boone got the big hit with two outs in the top of the 8th on a 99 mph pitch to give game one to Indians. 2 ½ game lead for the Sox. Game two was equally as exciting. Aaron Boone started the scoring by hitting one off the reservation early in the game. But the White Sox would not be denied. They came back from 2-0, 3-2, and 5-3 defecits to tie the game each time, even taking the lead into the top of the ninth. Once again the Indians would not wilt and tied up the game in the top of the ninth at 6. At that point, the Indians had all the momentum in the world and once the game got to the tenth, I thought the Indians would close it out. But then, out of nowhere, Joe Crede hit a game-winning home-run. At no point was I ever considering that as an option. Just a role player stepping up at the right time. 3 ½ game lead for the Sox. One more game today, 3 more next week at the Jake. I can’t wait. My prediction is that Indians will catch the Sox by winning tonight and sweeping at the Jake. They just have too much heart.

The Yankees and the Red Sox are also having a great race. The Yankees have been behind all year and at one point or another everyone has counted them out. They are winning with pitchers like Chien-Ming Wang and Aaron Small. Randy Johnson has been struggling and Mike Mussina has been hurt. But the Yankees are only ½ game back of the Red Sox and 0 games back in the loss column (they have a game at Baltimore on Thursday night while the Red Sox will be off). This Yankee team is a lot different from past Yankee teams. This team has been battling uphill all year. They have not been the favorite since the season started, and they have needed role guys like John Olerud to carry them for stretches. Jason Giambi has somehow woken up and A-Rod has proved to be the MVP (people could argue this, but Ortiz does not play the field and their offensive numbers are very comparable) in the AL. This Yankee team is making it very hard for Yankee haters to hate them. The Bubba Crosby home run to win it on Monday night was awesome. Another role guy stepping in and making something happen. On the other hand the Red Sox have been struggling of late, but David Ortiz is pretty much single handedly carrying them right now. He has been an absolute mammoth the last couple of weeks. The series in Fenway to end the season will be nothing short of sensational. My prediction is the Yankees will somehow find a way to win the East. The Red Sox will make the playoffs as a wild card and the White Sox will be home.

Both Wild Card races have been awesome as well. For a while both leagues had 4+ teams competing for the spots. In the AL, the Indians and Yankees have been so hot that they have left teams like the A’s, Angels, and Twins in the dust. The NL has been a different story. No one talks about the wild card race in the NL, but the Astros, Marlins, and Phillies have been battling hard. They have left the Mets and Nationals in the dust. After the All-Star break, the Astros had the lead. About a month ago, the Phillies took it over and got up by as much as 2 ½ games. Then the Astros swept them and took the lead back. At the same time the Marlins inched to within half a game and eventually took the lead from Astros. Then the Astros played the Marlins and they split a great four game series. Now the Astros are back on top holding onto a 2 game lead. I think the see-saw battle is done and the Astros will hold on.

As a Ranger fan, I don’t want to comment on the AL West because with any sort of pitching they would be in the playoffs.

The other great thing about these races, is the teams in the races (except for the White Sox) pretty much win every day.

I have a proposition. The Angels are selling their playoff tickets entirely online. I don’t know if they are the only ones doing that, but I have a feeling they are not. I think that is absolutely terrible. There should have one day of sales that are purely walk-ups at the box office. If that means people have to camp out to get tickets, then so be it, at least the really dedicated fans will be able to get tickets instead of a ton of scalpers who just want to make a profit. And if scalpers do camp out to get tickets then at least they’ll have to put in some work to make a profit. After the first day, if there are still tickets available they should be distributed to ticketmaster and online sales.

I’m going to change subjects and quickly move on to a little football. I bought into the Vince Young hype during the Michigan game. He was amazing and that was one of the best games I have ever seen. In the NFL, the Rams are terrible. They will not make the playoffs this year or anytime soon in the future. They are old and getting older, slow on defense, give up a ton of points, and can’t score like they could in the past. Everyone talks about them like they are some high-powered offense that needs to overcome a defensive deficiency. I see it more like a 6-10 team who may only win 4 games because their defense stinks and their offense is not better than average.

College Football Belated Intro

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Hey y'all I'm joining the crowd on an invite from Jason C. And thought I'd send out an intro/breakdown on a few topics I'd like to rant on.

First off, I just moved from NYC out here to Vegas and am trying to get used to seeing Yankee games at 4pm, but there are some nice benefits (ie. US Open matchs st 7pm, etc.). Knowing my strengths I plan to focus on college football and (general sports) handicapping.

Second off, I grew up in Houston, Texas, born and bred a Texas Longhorn, Astros, Rockets fan, so keep that in mind, not to mention the Houston Texans who I interned for in college. Hopefully, you will find that I do try to stay as objective as possible while touching on other major sporting events.

So... On to topic numero uno TEXAS VS. OHIO STATE. The biggest noncoference college football game in the last ten years. Let's look at the line, tOSU(The Ohio State University) is favored by 1 point over Texas as of Friday morning. As any line goes the home team normally gets 3 points. Being that I am here in Vegas I have seen the line move several times during the last few days, predominantly in Texas' direction. Alright, so on to the breakdown down....

1)In the Trenches- Texas o-line probably dominates vs the OSU D-line due to the fact that the Texas line is mostly ranked #1 in the nation, with 3 NFL millionaires waiting for next April. The OSU d-line is secondary behind Texas. The OSU O-line is is good but did not prove enough against Miami of Ohio t oshow that they are the real deal.

2) Backs v. LB s- In any other week Texas would be wayyyyy behind in this battle but it looks like the Horn backs will be in good shape. Texas is bringing 3 strong backs Selvin Young(Jr.), Jamaal Charles(Fr) and Henry Melton (Fr) who hopefullry will work as running back by committee. However, the OSU linebackers are the best int he nation and I see them as stopping UT on the field.

3) Seconardy- I think this one is a those up. Both teams are about he same.

4) The big difference from a Texas standpoint is special-teams. If OSU wins the special team battle then OSU wins the game. So we shall see OSU takes ST and they handle the game, this will be the big game diffence.

Growing up as a Texas fan and passive bettor I know that I will never bet on UT due to conflicting interests. I simply follow Texas for sport and any other games I follow out curiosity for the lines and out of love for college football.

Hopefully, my next post will be more succent.

EDIT: So my next thought we will see you'll soon!!!!

Later,
Bravo

Random Thoughts

I have not had the opportunity to write in a little while, and I’m very excited to write this column. I will probably be all over the place so stick with me.

First off, I would like to say, after reading all of the August columns, I really enjoyed the Reflections column from August 29th. I’m not a Mets fan, and I pretty much hate all teams from NY, but just remembering 9/11/01 once again and reading about the Mets wearing hats of the services that helped the city and Mike Piazza hitting the winning home run brought tears to my eyes. And I don’t cry. Ever. It just doesn’t happen.

One of the greatest things about our country is our ability to come together and help each other. That’s what we do and as much as performers and the media wants to say that white people hate black people, that simply isn’t true (I know I’m way over exaggerating what happened, but I’ve been very upset by the way our government has been portrayed in all of this). Since I wrote my last sentence, I feel like I briefly need to explain my point. Before I do that, I really wish the worst to those people that were looting. They are the scum of the earth. I was in Hawaii this week for an amazing vacation (back to that later in the column), and I saw a little kid (circa 8 years old) with a sign that said, “I survived Hurricane Katrina, please give me money” and people were actually giving this kid money. No way in the world did that kid survive the hurricane and somehow make it to Hawaii. It didn’t work time wise. Earlier that morning we were watching how the Superdome was filled with homeless and starving people. Needless to say I ripped the sign out of the kids hand and gave him a quick talking to. No joke, within 30 seconds the kids dad showed up out of nowhere and started giving me shit. To my surprise some people were monitoring the situation (no one I knew and I was later told that I was about to get pummeled because everyone thought I was being insensitive) and just pummeled the dad for putting his kid up to their mischievous activity. I watched a cop just turn around like he wasn’t there. To me that says, you want to fuck with the U. S., go ahead, eventually we’ll get you back, even if you’re one of us.

In a quick defense of the government: it’s not possible to always be stocked with supplies for all “possible” natural disasters. The possibility is always there. Always. Hurricanes go through Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana all the time. There can be an earthquake in California at any time. Terrorists can attack at will. The list is endless. If the government were to be stocked with supplies at all times just for precautionary measures, the public would be enraged about how much tax money and man-power we were wasting just for precautions. New Orleans has been hit by so many hurricanes, that most of the residents don’t even evacuate any more. Some do, but some have gone through so many, they don’t even find it necessary to leave. And that’s what happened. They were told to evacuate and didn’t do it. The mayor of New Orleans has been complaining the most out of anybody, but how does he have any right? It was his job to evacuate the city and he didn’t get it done. He should be the first to blame. Regardless of that, once the government got the supplies they needed they moved. It was impossible to do it any faster. Does the government like black people? I don’t know, I’m not the government, but I know that taxpayers who elect the government like black people. The media and entertainment are so anti-government and have been for a long time, that they can sway public opinion for a limited time, but in the end, this country is still great because it’s opinions aren’t swayed purely by the media. If they were, Bush would not be the president. Sorry for the political rant. I hate talking politics, I just feel the government needs some defending.

Quick thought on Hawaii: How great would it be just to own a boat, fish for food, and sail the Hawaii islands, the Caribbean, and the Pacific Ocean for 2-5 years. I couldn’t imagine having a better time. There is one obvious problem, and I think it would be a major drawback for any one of us: the inability to watch sports on the daily and timely basis we currently can. But one day, not long from now, there will be a satellite in space that will transmit everywhere and then I could be in Heaven on a boat in the Pacific Ocean.

I went to the Dodgers game yesterday and Jeff Kent hit a 2 run bomb in the bottom of the tenth. There is almost nothing as good as a walk-off home run by the home team. I don’t like the Dodgers and the stadium was barely half-full but the pageantry involved with a game winning home run is remarkable.

USC has the best offense in college football history. It’s amazing. Everyone has been talking about how the Trojans are too confident and will lose a game just because of that. This team will NOT lose. For someone to beat the Trojans they are going to have to score 38+ points and the defense is simply too good to allow that. The toughest games are at Oregon and at Notre Dame and the UCLA game at home worries me a bit, but it still won’t happen.

This weekend I’ll be making stops at US Cellular Field, Busch Stadium, Miller Park, and Wrigley. I can’t wait. Four baseball games in 4 days with a bunch of friends. I’m like a little kid in front of a cotton candy machine right now.

The last thing I want to touch on today is the word “potential.” I feel that a lot of people completely forget that the word “potential” means the ability of someone to become great or something great to come to fruition. It does not mean that it will happen. I bring this up because everyone always talks about how great a player will be or how awesome a defense will be because they picked up a certain player, coach, or changed it’s scheme. And for every fan, “potential” is great. The belief in it allows a person to go into a season believing that your favorite team has a chance to win it all and allows you to be excited during the offseason. But rarely does “potential” ever max out. Those Chiefs and Vikings defenses that have so much potential, the Lions offense with all of its potential, may all achieve their “potential”, but chances are that higher that none of them will achieve that “potential”. That’s the beauty of sports: you don’t know what’s going to happen until it actually happens. That’s why we write these columns, argue among each other, and on the radio.

Sorry I was all over the place, just random thoughts and I could have written a lot more about each one of them, I just wanted to put all of them on the table.