TGIF everyone, here's my Top 5 for October 1, 2010 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
* LeBron James and his manager say race played a factor in James' negative media publicity this summer. Yeah, about as much as race played a part in Michael Jordan being considered the greatest basketball player of all time.
* The San Francisco Giants need one win this weekend to clinch the NL West. Atlanta is closing in on the Wild Card. The Yankees and Tampa Bay are tied for first in the AL East.
* Are you kidding? They broke out cigars during the Reds celebration, their first in 15 years. People watching on TV complained that they violated the state's smoking ban.
* If it's not bad enough that the San Diego Padres may be out, the Chargers will be blacked out locally for the second time this season.
* The Ryder Cup got underway in Wales and quickly got suspended by rain.
2. Game Time
Game 3 of the World Series, Saturday October 30th in the American League city, will start at 6:57pm Eastern time. It's the earliest starting time of a World Series game in 23 years. Of course they'll be using American League rules that night, so it'll still end late. Just wondering why they can't move that Saturday game to late afternoon? Maybe they'd actually gain some younger fans.
3. Sorry, Wrong Number
Chad Ochocinco, the Bengals wide receiver, has his own honey nut cereal. A portion of the proceeds goes to a children's charity. They've printed a phone number of the charity on the cereal box, and you guessed it, they screwed up the number and it goes to a phone sex line instead. They gave it as an 800 number, instead of 888. It's not Ochocinco's fault, but you would think if a guy has legally changed his name to a number, his people could at least get their ochos straight.
4. Friday eMailbag
The attendance problems in Tampa for football and baseball drew lots of attention. J.D. says it's easy to figure out. "1) Country is in a deep recession and tickets cost too much 2) fans are sick and tired of millionaire athletes who don't care about them, their community or anything else but themselves."
D.P. has a solution to poor attendance to the games in Tampa. "Don't schedule events during the Early Bird Special."
When I mentioned a woman got arrested for smoking in an open car in 1904, M.M. emailed "Today, Mayor Bloomberg would arrest her for smoking in public."
And from J.S. "Did you see the item on Facebook that said there are now 3 man-made objects on earth that can be seen from space?"
*The Great Wall of China
*The Pyramids in Egypt
*The George Steinbrenner plaque at Yankee Stadium
5. Spanning The World
This week's Spanning the World Highlight is, you go to a baseball game and cricket breaks out. The Marlins, with the defensive play, or lack thereof. In football, splitting the uprights twice gets you 6 points. In baseball, it's just a double error.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Happy Birthday: Former slugger Mark McGwire. 47*
Bonus Birthday: Sound of Music's Julie Andrews. 75.
Today In Sports: Who threw the very first pitch of the very first World Series? Cy Young of Boston against Pittsburgh. 1903.
Bonus Event: Heeere's Johnny. The great Johnny Carson debuts as host of the Tonight Show. 1962.
A special welcome to all of the new subscribers who signed up after my appearance yesterday on the Howard Stern Show. I hope you enjoy the Top 5.
I'll be at Books and Greetings tomorrow at 11AM in Northvale New Jersey to sign copies of my new kids book, The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time.