Is this a Great Game or What?

After months and months of waiting, we have finally come back to the start of the best time of the year for sports fans. Its a period of time every year starting from the start of Football season to the end of football season, culminating with the Super Bowl in early February. During this wonderful time, we see the start of football season, both college and pro, the start of basketball season, both college and pro, and the end of a 7 month long baseball season. Baseball's postseason is by far the best of all the four major sports. Every pitch means so much, coaching really shows up, and runs are at a premium. Not to mention that stadiums get uber crazy. Usually there are a few meaningful games come the last weekend of the regular season, but for the most part, the playoff spots are already filled or just a mere formality. Again, I emphasize, usually.

This year.... not so much. Coming into the last weekend, there were about 9 teams still alive for playoff spots, mostly all of them residing in the National League. I've never really been a baseball buff in the past, mainly because I would get bored during the doldrums of summer, when it seems that the season will never end. Again, this year was different. I've become more of a fan now than ever before. I never thought in a million years, I would be glued to the TV, watching a Padres/Brewers game on ESPN, hanging on every at bat. The end of this season has been the by far the craziest I've ever seen. Let me take a moment and try to break it down the best I can from my perspective. This season has seen everything. From a complete and utterly unfathomable collapse, to some teams left for dead showing everyone that they are very much alive.

In an earlier post, I said "That thud you hear is Rick Ankiel." I must apologize. I was very wrong on that one. That thud you hear is the New York Mets. If you realize what has happened to this team in the last month, you have to stand in amazement. Leading the NL East by a seemingly insurmountable 7 games in mid September, the Mets slowly dribbled it down their leg. With every loss to teams that had nothing to play for, the Mets showed us new ways to lose baseball games. They built 5+ run leads, only to have a Guillermo Mota led bullpen blow up in front of their eyes. They lost to teams that were eliminated from playoff contention in spring training. They had people who were brought in to prevent these kind of things from happening, namely Billy Wagner, blow lead after lead in uncharacteristic fashion after being solid all year. As much as I like this team and the players on it, I couldn't help but smile at the magnitude of that collapse. With the loss on the last day of season to the Florida Marlins, in which stallwart Tom Glavine gave up 7 earned runs in 1/3 of an inning, the boys from Flushing completed their fall and lost the division to their rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies. Twins fans know this situation all too well. This sounds like the Detroit Tigers team losing a 13 game lead last year to the benefit of our favorite club. The only difference was, those Tigers still made the playoffs, these Mets will not.


The Phillies, along with the Colorado Rockies, were the aforementioned teams left for dead earlier this season. These two clubs, although alot alike, went about their comebacks in different ways. The Phils kept coming all year. They weathered many key injuries and somehow kept their head above water, until their steady pace caught up with the tanking Mets. They are one of the most exciting teams to watch in the league. From the top of the order to the bottom, these Phils have people that will make you sit on the edge of your seat every time they step to the plate. Whether its Jimmy Rollins leading off with his unique combination of speed and power, or Ryan Howard abusing baseballs into the upper deck on a regular basis, these Phils always keep things interesting. Not to mention that Chase Utley may be one of the purest hitters that there is in the league. This team has style, and swagger, and damn, are they easy to like...

The Rockies however, chose a different route to a possible postseason appearance. They just chose to win almost every game since mid September. The Rockies took 13 of their last 14 games including a franchise-record 11 straight, finishing like gang busters to force a one-game playoff for the NL wild card with the (yawn) San Diego Padres. These aren't your cool older brother's Colorado Rockies either. These Rockies do it with both hitting AND pitching. With players that most people have never heard of, they have surprised everyone by winning in the rarefied air of Colorado. Although, you may have no clue who these players are yet, it won't be long until you do. Led not the Killer "B"s, of Houston Astros fame, but the Killer "H"s of Todd Helton, Brad Hawpe, and the possible MVP of the league Matt Holliday, these Rockies can really do damage to any pitching staff. They all can hit for average. They all can hit for power. Its really, really scary actually.

The best thing about these teams, and the reason that you can feel really good rooting for them, is that they were both built through the Minor Leagues, not some flash in the pan, big free agent signing. No one would come to Colorado to pitch, causing them to vastly overpay for very sub par pitchers like Denny Naegle and Mike Hampton. When that didn't work, they just developed their own pitchers. No one wanted to pitch in Philly either, so they developed one of the best young left handers in the league in Cole Hamels. Even their Murderer's Row lineups were built through the Minor Leagues, proving to Twins fans that maybe there is hope after all.

The greatest thing of all though, is that if the Rockies win their one game playoff on Monday, these two teams will play each other in a first round best-of-five series. I'm already smiling about that prospect.

Baseball's postseason this year has so many stories to watch. So many players to watch. With every new series, there will be more intriguing things to watch then the series before it. You need to tune in. Trust me, you won't regret it.

I'd like you to meet my new love. Major League Baseball.

Bring in the Horns

From now on I will blame any and every Vikings loss on this song. No matter if they deserved to lose or not.

I bet Troy Hudson had something to do with this.

How to Save a Life... and Then Kill a Career

Okay, that may be a bit over the top. Okay, so its a lot over the top.

Its almost never heard of. Babe Ruth was the only one who did it sucessfully. Go from Pitcher to Position Player. The story itself is just plain amazing. Major League Baseball's best pitching prospect. The world at his finger tips. Then suddenly, to the bewilderment of everyone, he loses it. And not only does he lose it, but he loses it in the playoffs, on national television, when his Cardinal teammates are counting on him the most. In one brutal series of events, he goes from King to Goat, including a major league record for wild pitches in one inning with 5. And these pitches aren't just wild, they would make Yao Ming duck for cover. Then he seemingly falls off the face of the earth, only to emerge again with one main difference, hes holding a bat instead of holding a ball. Hes become an outfielder, and a damn good one at that. He makes his way back through the Cardinals farm system, and because of a couple unfortunate injuries, lands on the big stage once again. That in itself has got to be the story of the year. But it gets better. First game back, he hits a home run in front of a ruckus home crowd. Now thats the stuff that dreams are made of.

Unless you have been living in a cave for the past 3 months, you know this is the story of Rick Ankiel, The St. Louis Cardinals newest right fielder. This guy has all the tools. A powerful bat. A rocket arm(he was a pitcher, for shit's sake). He can probably run well. And he could probably name all the capitol cities of the US. This guy is that good. Some people went so far as to call him, "The Natural", referencing the popular 1984 Robert Redford movie. And who could argue? Through his first 22 games in the Big Leagues(the 2nd time), Ankiel had been abusing opposing pitchers to the tune of a .358 average, 9 Home runs, 29 RBI, and 22 Runs. That is the definition of abuse. Not to mention that he had provided the Cardinals with the "pep" in their step that they had so desperately needed to propel them back into the race in the National League Central.

Storybook.

But, as we've learned before, all good things must come to an end. Some people cant just leave well enough alone. There will always be people out there, for whatever reason, that want to drudge up old things and try to bring people down. Especially with a story like this. I'm sure people were lining up from all over the country to rain on this parade. Well, someone finally did. The story broke sometime early last week. Sometime before 2005, when the league banned the drug, Ankiel had taken HGH, human growth hormone. Now, while not against the rules at the time, MLB can now suspend you based on evidence that you took it. Pretty weak rule if you ask me, but its how it is. Within the span of a couple days, this was all over the news. With names being thrown out left and right, it seemed that everybody who ever picked up a bat had cheated. The news reporters lined up to grill Ankiel with questions about his past. And unlike, Mark Mcgwire, he was here to talk about the past. Whether he had something to hide, or whether he was just shook up by everyone under the sun now calling him a CHEATER, this controversy has had a serious effect on his play. And its a pretty blatant effect too.

That "THUD" you hear is Rick Ankiel.

Since the day when he sliced and diced the Pirates for 2 Home runs, 7 Rbi, and 4 Runs scored, he has gone 2-22 with no Rbi and two runs scored. He also has 8 strikeouts in that span. Coincidence? I think its pretty damn obvious. Now the best story in baseball this year has become one of its worst. We haven't seen a collapse like this since the statue of Saddam fell. With Ankiel, so to went the Cardinals. From 1/2 game back a week ago, to where they stand now 4 1/2 games back.

Its kind of sad really. When you think about how much negative stuff is out there... Then you find a great feel good story for everyone to sink their teeth into... And boom. No mas. I, for one, am getting really sick of it. Memo to MLB, this steroids witch hunt needs to stop. What are they going to accomplish by digging up dirt from the past? All they would do is hurt their sport. Bring about more negative connotations about the nature of baseball in the Major Leagues. I've got news for ya... The fans, they don't give a shit! Its the media that is bringing down your sport. Baseball has drawn more fans this year than ever before, beating the record set last year, and the year before that. People love baseball. Your sport is great right now. Keep it that way. Yes, plenty of people took steroids in the past. We get it. We also get that people scuffed and vasolined balls. We get that people corked bats. We get that people used HGH. We Just DON'T CARE.
Just hit home runs, steal bases, throw some balls around a bit and Smile and things will be all good.

As for Rick Ankiel, who knows what will become of him.. He obviously has the talent to be a fixture in the league for a long time, but will this pass quietly or have we really seen the beginning of the end? What we do know, thanks to the media, is that he may not be so "Natural" anymore.

HUH???

Terry Ryan is done, as GM. This is strange. Why now? Why at all? Is he saying? There are so many questions. More later.

In Theaters Tomorrow… Sept. 14th

There are many films releasing this week… too many to talk about. First stricken from the list is Mr. Woodcock… you made one good decision Stifler, stop making films. Second stricken from the list is Across The Universe… a Beatles themed transatlantic love story starring a chick named Evan just doesn’t fly in my world. Third off the list is Moving McAllister… there is a reason Jon Heder films are only getting limited releases lately, and its not Mila Kunis. Fourth off the list is Dragon Wars… Love the concept and all (dragons are freakin’ sweet) but this film just screams shitty. That leaves me with 4 films to talk about.

Eastern Promises looks super good and has a stellar cast, an insanely f-ed up and brilliant director and a script written by an Oscar nominated screenwriter. Viggo Mortensen plays a Russian mobster living in London who is torn between following orders and saving an innocent nurse (Naomi Watts) who has stumbled upon a crime underworld while looking for a child surviving parent. Watts finds out that the mother who was murdered while giving birth was part of a prostitution ring set up by Mortenson’s crime family and a larger brotherhood of eastern European crime families. I know that doesn’t sound original or great but David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortenson came together for A History of Violence and Cronenberg’s other work includes Spider, The Fly and Videodrone. The man spends a lot of time putting together extremely elaborate metaphors for what is so messed up about man.

The Hunting Party is an extremely interesting and mostly true story of a handful of journalists who find the most wanted man in Bosnia after the war had been over for about 4 years… I wish it was as simple as sending a handful of journalists to Pakistan to rout out Bin Laden. Anyway, Richard Gere plays a senior member of the press showing a new guy around Bosnia with Photographer Terrence Howard. The trio takes it upon themselves to hunt down the most dangerous man in the land and in turn he seeks them out thinking they were a CIA hit squad posing as journalists. The film jumps between genres including dark comedy, drama and action. The chick from National Treasure and James Brolin also appear in the film.

In The Valley Of Elah is only out in limited release but I figured I’d mention it because Oscar season is approaching. Paul Haggis wrote a directed the film. Yeah, the same Paul Haggis that was the first ever to write two back-to-back Best picture winners (Million Dollar Baby, Crash). The film is about a father and career officer (Tommy Lee Jones) who is searching for his soldier son who has gone AWOL upon return from Iraq. He enlists the help of a sexy police detective (Charlize Theron) and his wife (Susan Sarandon). We’re 4 for 4 on Oscar winners so far, everybody knows that Oscar likes to stick with the ones he loves. (Unless you’re Marisa Tomei)

The Brave One looks a lot like last weeks Death Sentence, but with Jodie Foster instead of Kevin Bacon. (Foster was in Sommersby with Maury Chaykin, who of course was in that goddamn Where The Truth Lies… seriously who wasn’t in that damn film?) Foster is a radio host who is attacked while with her husband by three bastard-faced bastards. Her husband dies and she is traumatized by the events. She buys a gun in hopes of finding the men that killed her husband. She witnesses the murder of a clerk in a convenience store and kills the man who committed the crime. She continues the vigilante murders and soon enough a cop (Terrence Howard, again) is after the person behind the biggest story in the New York press. Can Jodie Foster kill three Bastard-faced Bastards before Terrence Howard catchers? I say it’s a five-way shootout at the end. You guess which two survive with shoulder wounds.

Honestly, I have no Idea how to draw up the box office after 3:10 To Yuma only made 14 million dollars and it biggest competition will also be its biggest pre-flop Oscar competition. #1 The Hunting Party (not my first choice though) #2 3:10 to Yuma #3 Mr. Woodcock (because too many kids will see a film because the word cock is in the title) #4 Halloween #5 The Brave One (because Jodi Foster has more pull than Viggo Mortenson)

2-0 (soon to be 3-0)

To be honest I don't know how the Cyclones are going to score on Saturday. This is what they have to look forward to this weekend. Zero first downs, and no positive yards till the middle of the 3rd quarter. This could be interesting.

Out of nowhere The Hawkeye Compulsion up and moved. It looks good so far. P.S. I hate you...

According to the Sporting News the Clones rank 106th in the nation in Offense, with only 13.5 points per game.

Go tell the Des Moines Register what you think ISU's chances are.

Here are some more pictures from last Saturday.

THANK YOU CHICAGO

With my past experience with the White Sox, I don't think I could be as happy for another team as I am right now. If you haven't heard the White Sox just extended Ozzie Guillen through 2012. This means we can expect them to fall apart year after year, until at least 2013, which is wonderful. Even though the Twins are DONE this season, life as a Twins fan is good.