TGIF everyone, here's my Top 5 for November 6, 2009 from
www.LenBermanSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
The Yankees championship parade is this morning up the Canyon of
Heroes on lower Broadway.
It turns out on his way home from the clinching, manager Joe Girardi
stopped to help a woman who got into a car accident after 2 in the
morning. Pretty cool.
George Steinbrenner released a statement (probably written by his PR
flak Howard Rubenstein) saying in part that the World Series win
belongs to the fans. Awesome. That means the fans should get a piece
of the World Series share distributed to the winning team. It's
probably in the mail.
Knick fans will be drooling tonight when LeBron James of Cleveland
plays at the Garden. They won't be drooling over their 1 and 4 Knicks.
2. I Love a Parade
This is the first championship parade I haven't hosted on TV since
1986. That includes 4 Yankees parades, and 1 each for the Mets,
Rangers, Giants and Devils. I have to admit the parades are fun. Sheer
joy for all involved. Except when some of the no-name politicians,
that nobody wants to hear from, grab the microphone at City Hall. The
dopiest all time parade was for the New Jersey Devils in 1995. After
the Rangers glorious parade the year before, the Devils not to be
outdone, staged a "parade in the parking lot." They drove convertibles
with the players around in circles in the Meadowlands Arena parking
lot. I was on the scene and Matt Lauer was in our studio. He kept
asking me on the air "who's that?" as the lead car kept coming into
view. I had to say, "Matt...it's still Ken Daneyko."
3. Give it a Rest Already
The good thing about the World Series being over is we don't have to
hear about "3 days rest" anymore. What a joke. I was doing some
research for my future kids book coming out next year, "The 25
Greatest Baseball Players of All Time," and you wouldn't believe New
York Giants pitcher Christy Mathewson. In the 1905 World Series
against the Philadelphia A's he pitched a 4-hit shutout in game 1. And
then on just 2 days rest he pitched another complete game 4-hit
shutout in game 3. And for an encore, he pitched a 5-hit complete game
shutout in the 5th and clinching game. And for that game, he did it on
ONE day rest. 3 complete game shutouts in 6 days. So next time
somebody brings up "only 3 days rest." Tell him to put a sock in it.
4. Friday Mailbag
As you can imagine the Yankee championship didn't play that great out
of town. From subscriber D.R. an Indians fan: "It's not that the
Yankees bought a title, it's that they are the only team that can
spend this way, make mistakes, blow millions, and then do it again
next year, and the year after that, and the year after that until they
finally assemble a decent team. When other franchises make
multi-million dollar mistakes, they pay for it with years of
mediocrity (see Texas, Chicago, Detroit, Seattle).
And a message from D.M. in Pittsburgh:
Congratulation$ Yankee$
Be$t Regard$,
Pirate Fan$
Add subscriber B.P. to the list of those who don't like the Jets
throwback jerseys. He writes: " Almost everyone in the stands was
wearing 'Jet Green.' Too bad no one on the field was. As you know,
this is the second home game in which the Jets made the fans wonder
why they were sporting colors that the organization could care less
about. Charging exorbitant PSL fees, doubling ticket prices, focusing
on fashion instead of winning: all brought to us by Gang Greed."
As for all the Americans doing well in the New York City Marathon,
S.A. writes: "I think your comment about the number of Americans
finishing well at the NYC is a bit misleading. While the citizenship
of the winner and many of the others may have been American, where
were they born, where did they do most of their training, etc.? I
think that's the issue."
Editor's Note: Fair point, kinda like saying "American Martina
Navratilova won 18 Grand Slam titles."
And from A.H. when Le Moyne stunned Syracuse in a college basketball
exhibition game. "As my brother, (a proud Le Moyne grad), used to tell
me...you can't spell sucks without SU!"
Editor's Note: Hey, I'm an SU alum. And that's still funny!
5. Business as Usual
Cable customers in Northern Virginia lost their signal for a good
portion of the Yankees clinching game against the Phillies. Since they
are Redskins and Nationals fans, they are used to such abuse.
Happy Birthday: Mr. Khloe Kardashian, newlywed Lakers forward Lamar
Odom. 30.
Bonus Birthday: The Flying Nun. Sally Field. 63.
Today in Sports: Dee-fense, dee-fense. Rutgers beats Princeton 6-4 in
the first intercollegiate football game. 1869.
Bonus Event: That guy on the $5 bill, Abe Lincoln, is elected
President. 1860.