Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for October 18, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
- Monday Night Football: The Miami Dolphins are now 0-5 after losing to the Jets 24-6. The Dolphins were outscored by the Florida Panthers hockey team who beat Tampa Bay 7-4.
- Another critical day in the NBA talks. If there's no progress, will games be canceled through Christmas?
- The Texas Rangers are favored to win their first-ever championship when the World Series begins tomorrow night in St. Louis.
- Those wacky L.A. McCourts have reached a settlement. She gets a bunch of cash, and he gets the Dodgers. Whether or not he gets to keep them is another story.
2. Selective Justice
If an NFL player wears his socks funny, he gets fined. Jump around the end zone too much, ditto. But if a coach (Detroit's Jim Schwartz) acts like an idiot and challenges another (49ers' Jim Harbaugh) to a fight on television? The league takes a pass. And you wonder why the players have a problem with the league office playing judge and jury?
3. Dan Wheldon
I want to share this email I received about the death of racecar driver Dan Wheldon Sunday in Las Vegas. It comes from Top 5 subscriber R.A. who worked with Dan and was in attendance during the tragic race.
"Just wanted you to know that Dan Wheldon was one of my closest friends in racing. He was an unbelievably great guy, and had an enormous future in broadcasting. I've never been around something where there was such an enormous collective sense of grief. Old tough racing guys crying. You would have been a great admirer of Dan's whether you liked racing or not, as he always had time for the press."
Let's try to keep that in mind as the finger pointing begins over the safety of the track in Las Vegas.
4. Bottoms Up
Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester has pleaded "guilty." He did drink beer in the clubhouse during games, but he says that it had nothing to do with the team's September collapse. He called it a "9th inning rally beer" and accused people of going on a "witch hunt" to find reasons why the Red Sox lost. Fair enough, but how about trying to rally your team while actually sitting on your team's bench?
5. Voodoo Economics
Speaking of ballpark beer, how can the same things not cost the same? A beer at an NFL game costs more than a MLB game. According to Business Insider a small draft beer averages $5.81 at a baseball game, but $7.13 in the NFL. The least expensive NFL beer is in Cleveland, just $5.00 a pop. The same thing at a St. Louis Rams game costs a whopping $9.00. It must cost a fortune to ship those Budweisers to the stadium from around the corner.
Happy Birthday: The great Martina Navratilova. 55.
Bonus Birthday: Mindy, actress Pam Dawber from Mork & Mindy. 60.
Today in Sports: Records that will never be broken. Connie Mack retired after 53 years as manager, 50 of them with the Philadelphia As . 3,731 wins, 3,948 losses. (Both numbers are safe.) 1950.
Bonus Event: A whale of a story. Moby Dick is published. 1851.
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