Happy Monday everyone, here's my Top 5 for October 24, 2011 from Len Berman at www.ThatsSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
- Texas shut out St. Louis 4-0 last night to even the World Series two games apiece.
- Game 5 is tonight in Texas 8:05pm Eastern. FOX.
- In the NFL, Green Bay remains undefeated (7-0) while Miami (beaten by Tim Tebow and Denver), Indianapolis (annihilated by New Orleans 62-7) and St. Louis all remain winless.
- Quarterback Carson Palmer made his debut for the Raiders and completed 11 passes. Unfortunately three of them were to the Kansas City Chiefs who won 28-0.
- Joe Torre plans to look into reports of Red Sox pitchers drinking beer in the clubhouse and the practice could get banned everywhere. A former Yankee manager investigating the Red Sox may be hard to swallow in Boston.
- New Zealand's famed All Blacks beat France 8-7 to win their first Rugby World Cup 8-7 since 1987. Amaze your friends and neighbors by telling them it was the lowest scoring final in World Cup history, yet still higher than Cleveland's 6-3 sin over Seattle yesterday.
2. A Place in History
When I wrote my kids book The 25 Greatest Baseball Players of All Time, I knew I had a problem. I couldn't figure it out by myself so I enlisted a "blue ribbon panel" to do the dirty work. As a result Alex Rodriguez made the cut while Sandy Koufax and Roberto Clemente didn't. But hey, blame them. I also knew that maybe these would be the top 25 players for now, but what about 25 years from now? When I appeared at a book festival in St. Louis last year I told the audience that if the book were written in the future, Albert Pujols would probably make it. I guess you could accuse me of sucking up to the crowd. On the other hand, after joining Babe Ruth and Reggie Jackson as the only players to hit three homers in a World Series game, get me rewrite.
3. Delayed Exuberance
On the same night that there was a blown call at first base in the World Series, instant replay was used to decide the Michigan State/Wisconsin football game. I'm not in favor of using replay on the bases in baseball, but if that call had actually decided the outcome of a World Series game I'm thinking I could be swayed. And I begrudgingly accept what happened at Michigan State. The Spartans knocked Wisconsin from the unbeaten ranks with a Hail Mary pass, 37-31. At first, the play was ruled short of the end zone. It took replay to decide it. So instead of a stadium going nuts after the final play, they had to wait until the referee announced the decision. I guess I'd rather see a spontaneous celebration than one manufactured after watching TV monitors. But we do have the technology, so we might as well use it to get things right even if some of the charm of sports gets lost in the process.
4. That's Entertainment
I was trying to think if any interviewee ever left before my interview was over. I couldn't think of one, although I've been turned down for interviews tons of times. Most famously baseball players are "too busy" to talk before the game. I'm still trying to figure out too busy doing what? But that was quite a radio dustup when Darrelle Revis of the Jets hung up on WFAN's Mike Francesa. A Jets P.R. man told Revis to vamoose when Francesa kept badgering Revis about a no-call on his 100-yard interception return against Miami. Did Francesa go on too long on the issue? Yup. Was the P.R. man wrong? Yup. Should Revis have hung up? Nope. Did it make for great radio? Absolutely. The Jets continue to lead the league in noise-making off the field.
5. Phone Home
So let's get this straight. Pittsburgh's Troy Polamalu, a player with a history of head injuries, gets knocked out of the game and calls his wife from the sidelines on a cell phone to calm her down and say he's OK. Phones aren't allowed on the sidelines, so he's fined $10 thousand. But NFL coaches are allowed to chase after each other after the "handshake," acting like idiots, with immunity. Got it.
Happy Birthday: Former Giants Hall of Fame quarterback Y.A. Tittle. 85.
Bonus Birthday: Actor Kevin Kline. 64.
Today in Sports: "Foreigners" won the World Series for the first time, the Toronto Blue Jays. 1992.
Bonus Event: More foreigners. They established the United Nations. 1945.
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