Happy Wednesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for October 12, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- Detroit beat Texas 5-2 in game 3, so the Rangers lead in the American League Championship Series is cut to 2-1.
- Today's playoff schedule. Game 4, Texas at Detroit. 4:19pm Eastern. FOX.Game 3, Milwaukee at St. Louis (series is tied at one). 8:05pm. TBS.
- Reports have Theo Epstein about to leave the Red Sox to become the General Manager of the Chicago Cubs.
- A Boston Globe article says that drinking beer wasn't the only thing Red Sox pitchers were doing in the clubhouse on their off days in September. They were also eating fried chicken and playing video games. Might have been nice if they were in the dugout actually watching games and cheering on their collapsing teammates.
2. Curses He was the boy wonder who ended the Curse of the Bambino in Boston, and now Theo Epstein is expected to head to the Chicago Cubs. Ending the Curse of the Billy Goat may be a bigger task, if not impossible. You know all the details. No World Series win since 1908. The Steve Bartman foul ball for which he received too much blame. I always felt if Moises Alou didn't react the way he did in left, nobody would know who Bartman is. Anyway, Epstein deserves a good chunk of the blame for the Red Sox collapse this year. Will he have the open check book in Chicago? Can lightning strike twice? No matter what, it'll be fun to watch.
3. A Game of Numerals They've awarded Super Bowl XLIX (that's 49 for the Roman numerically impaired) in 2015 to Glendale, Arizona. The L game (that's 50) is the following season. They could award it to L.A. because that's where the first Super Bowl was played, although it wasn't called the Super Bowl until numeral III. Then again L.A. doesn't have a pro football team. I'm guessing the prospect of hosting an L of a game might be the momentum to get a stadium built and a team situated there.
4. Grand Slam Single It's always nice to hear from Mets fans. When Nelson Cruz of Texas was credited with being the first to end a postseason game with a grand slam homer, lots of you carped, "not so fast Bunky." In game 5 of the 1999 NLCS, Robin Ventura hit a grand slam homer in the bottom of the 15th inning to beat Atlanta. But his teammates mobbed him at second base, and he never completed his tour of the bases. So it's the famous "grand slam single." As subscriber I.T. writes, "Another great moment in New York Mets history! We can't even get historic home runs right!"
The final score of that game is listed at, wink wink, 4-3. But we all know better. 5. Pre-Game Show The "Booty Lounge" bus has gotten the boot. The bus is a mobile strip club in Detroit where fans, before the game, can fork over 10 bucks and climb on board (the bus, get your mind out of the gutter). Tips are extra. But the city is frowning on the practice and before Monday's game police gave the bus the heave ho. The lawyer for the bus claims there's no ordinance against mobile entertainment clubs. It seems it's been a fixture at Lions tailgating parties since 2005. So that's what tailgating really means.
Happy Birthday: Here's one for ski fans. Olympic gold medalist Bode Miller. 34.Bonus Birthday: Actor Hugh Jackman. 43.
Today in Sports: In game 4 of the World Series, the Chicago Cubs blew an 8-0 lead and lost to the Philadelphia A's 10-8. It's the biggest comeback (or fold) in World Series history. 1929.Bonus Event: Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Blah Blah Blah. 1492.
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