Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for October 20, 2009 from
www.LenBermanSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
The Angels live. They beat the Yankees 5-4 in 11 innings in game 3.
The Yankees lead the series two games to one.
The Phillies take a stranglehold on the Dodgers with their dramatic
5-4 win. They lead 3 games to 1.
Today's schedule: Game 4 Yankees @ Angels 7:57 ET FOX
The surprising Denver Broncos are now 6-0 after winning in San Diego
last night, 34-23.
Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, vows to clean up the
drug and gang violence that led to 21 deaths this past weekend. The
pressure is on after Rio won the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Rubbing salt. StubHub offered Mets playoff tickets yesterday so
their fans can "be there as the Mets chase immortality." StubHub
called it an "email glitch" and "regrets the error."
2. Not so Average Joes
It was a rough night for a couple of Joe's. Yankee manager Joe
Girardi is being questioned for "micro-managing." In retrospect, he
used one reliever too many in last night's loss to the Angels. Dodger
manager Joe Torre made the safe call. He had his closer on the mound
in the bottom of the 9th. The Dodgers were one out away from evening
the series when Jimmy Rollins hit a game winning two run double. As a
result of all this, hold off on that Joe Torre return to Yankee
Stadium for the World Series.... if there is a World Series at Yankee
Stadium.
3. Inflation
I went to game 2 Yankees/Angels the other night. I was a guest in a
suite. I thought back to the first Yankee postseason game I ever
attended. Quite different. I took the subway (round trip 30-cents) to
game 2 of the 1961 World Series, bought a $2.10 bleacher ticket, and
just walked in. A bleacher seat the other night went for $25.00. Tolls
and parking ran $40. The share each Yankee got for winning the 1961
World Series was $7,389. This year $7,389 almost bought you 3 regular
season seats for one game, right behind home plate.
4. For God's Sake
Ya gotta love it. When The Knicks played Maccabi Tel Aviv the other
night, Maccabi coach Pini Gershon got two technical fouls so he was
"outta there." But he didn't want to leave the bench. A rabbi came
onto the court to plead his case with the refs. The rabbi explained
that kids were watching and it was important to teach peace and
forgiveness. Oy. The refs didn't buy it. Good thing Tel Aviv doesn't
have a hockey team. There would be no need for a penalty box.
5. Broadcast 101
The other day while discussing an ointment players use to keep warm,
former Yankee pitcher David Wells said the smell in the TBS studio
wasn't the ointment. He joked on the air that "he had farted." In all
my years, that's one phrase I never used on the air. Hey, if I had,
maybe I'd still be on TV?
Happy Birthday: Mets World Champion and current broadcaster Keith
Hernandez. 56.
Bonus Birthday: My hero, Mickey Mantle, would have been 78 today.
Today in Sports: The Cincinnati Reds pulled off their shocking World
Series sweep of the powerful Oakland A's. 1990.
Bonus Event: Brilliant move! The New York Nets sell Julius Erving to
Philadelphia. (The Nets haven't won a title since.) 1976.