Happy Tuesday everyone, here's my Top 5 for October 27, 2009 from
www.LenBermanSports.com.
1. Quick Hits
The Yankees and Phillies will work out today at Yankee Stadium. The
World Series gets underway tomorrow night in the Bronx.
The mess continues in Washington (Calm down Fox News viewers, this
is a sports story.) The last place Redskins lose to Philadelphia on
Monday Night Football, 27-17.
The 64th NBA season tips off tonight with 4 games on the schedule. A
sign of the times. Nearly half the teams won't compete with a full
roster of 15. Even NBA teams have to count their nickels.
The young production assistant involved in the Steve Phillips affair
has also been fired by ESPN.
There goes the neighborhood. President Obama played golf with a
woman in his foursome on Sunday for the first time as President.
2. President's Ball
I got a tweet from a Democratic Yankee fan. He crowed that the
Yankees won their last 8 World Championships during the Kennedy,
Carter and Clinton administrations. (All Democrats.) Under Republicans
Ford, Reagan and the Bushes, the Yanks won squat. So we did some
digging. Here are the poll numbers. Of the Yankees 26 World
Championships, 19 came with Democrats in the White House. 7 with
Republicans (Coolidge, Hoover and Eisenhower.) So I guess this guy
thinks with Obama in the White House another Yankee championship is in
the bag. Discuss among yourselves.
3. IFL
I guess some day the NFL will give way to the IFL (International
Football League.) Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league wants to
play multiple games in England and he's even talking about a franchise
in London. The key to all this is expanding the season from 16 to 18
games. The reasoning is, teams don't want to lose home games to play
across the pond, so give them an extra home game and they won't
complain as much. Sounds like faulty reasoning. Extending the season
also increases injury concerns. Maybe the league should concentrate
less on Europe, and more on Los Angeles. They need to be truly a
National Football League first.
4. Sir Charles
Now we're talking. Charles Barkley wants to be a general manager of
an NBA team. He says some GMs have done a bad job in the draft. He
adds that some executives worry only about keeping their jobs and some
organizations aren't concerned with winning. (Yes he singled out the
Knicks.) Wow, really? Does that only apply to basketball? In fact why
screw around with GM. Just make Charles "Commissioner of All of Sport"
and let the fun begin.
5. Food for Thought
Why was Jets Quarterback Mark Sanchez so sorry? So what if the
cameras caught him eating a hot dog on the bench during the game? If
he was caught eating one of those God-awful looking black tacos they
keep advertising on TV, then he'd have some explaining to do. The only
question I have for Sanchez is, "you want fries with that?"
Happy Birthday: Kiner's Korner. Hall of Famer Ralph Kiner. 87.
Bonus Birthday: The Donald's second. Marla Maples. 46.
Today in Sports (Elsewhere in matrimonial news): The 10 month
marriage of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe ends in divorce. 1954.
Bonus Event: No Spitting! The New York subway system officially
opens. 1904.