Mid-season blues

The New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings played a horrible Monday Night game tonight. Usually, the Thursday night games are bad, but this one was worse. Somebody had to win this one and the Giants did to wrap up week 7. The real story of this week was injuries. It's that time of the season when bodies are sore, legs are weak and minds are tired. Guys - both superstars and no-namers, went down all over the place yesterday. Sam Bradford, Reggie Wayne, Brian Cushing, and possibly Doug Martin are all out for the season. Jay Cutler, Nick Foles, Jermichael Finley, Lance Briggs, and Arian Foster also went out and I am sure I am missing some other names. This shows how violent this sport is despite all the rule changes and softening of the blows. It does pain me to watch these guys get hurt. But thats the reality of the NFL.

As for the games, Colts welcomed Peyton Manning back to town in what was the game of the week. Despite all the chatter from their blabbering owner Jim Irsay leading up to the game, the Colts welcomed Manning with class and treated him well at the game. But Andrew Luck showed why Manning is in Denver and not in Indy anymore. Luck is the real deal. His maturity and skill-set is better than most 10-year vets and he looks as close to being the next Peyton Manning as anybody ever has. Plus, he is more athletic and can make some things happen with his legs. Out of all the young-uns, Luck and Russel Wilson look like the most complete talent. It was a real impressive win for the young Colts. They are 5-2 and have already beaten the Seahawks, Niners, and now the Broncos. I have no idea how and why they lost to the Dolphins and the Chargers. The only bad thing for Luck and the Colts was the bad pass he threw to Reggie Wayne, who was wide-open, but had to bend down and twist trying to catch the ball and ended up with a season-ending injury untouched. I am sure Luck is beating himself up over that today pass. But this Colts team is going places both this season and in the future.

The Kansas City Chiefs are the only unbeaten team in the league. I can't wait for the Chiefs-Broncos division games. This used to be THE rivalry back in the John Elway days. The rivalry is back now. In the NFC, the Niners are hitting their groove and look like a true contender finally. The Seahawks will be there at the end too and thats the other division rivalry that has super bowl implications written all over it. The NFL season is rolling into shape, but let's hope injuries don't derail the flow of some of these teams. It wouldn't hurt to see a new team or two contend as well. Teams like the Patriots don't look as dominant as they used to and thats a good thing. Speaking of New England, the World Series is here and fittingly, it features two of the most baseball crazy cities in the country - St. Louis and Boston. This series might go 7 and Boston takes it. I want Saint Louis to win, but I don't think a NL team can do a lot of damage at Fenway park.

Theo, the "curse slayer"

Theo Epstein is apparently going to the Chicago Cubs. Can you imagine this guy's potential legacy if he wins a championship in the north side of Chicago? Can he kill the Cubs' curse after doing all of that in Boston? He would be the first official curse slayer in the history of sports. He went in as a kid to run the Redsox with his moneyball philosophy and won 2 championship. He became the proverbial "he doesn't have to ever pay again for a drink in that city" guy in Boston. But it's amazing how much of a pressure-cooker Boston is and how short people's memory are. After the historic collapse in September, I don't want to say people wanted him fired, but he had a bunch of problems on his hands. To be fair to the Bostonians, may be it was more a function of the collapse than people forgetting the 2 championships Theo brought home. Whatever it was, Theo has decided to move on. I can see why he would want to go to Chicago because the opportunity to do this at another storied franchise like the Chicago Cubs is unique. Also, even if he wins more championships in Boston, the payoff will not be what it was in 2004. So it's time for Theo to try something new and fresh. I am sure both teams will be fine as Boston will probably try to retain his deputies and continue with the program. The Cubs on the other hand can use Theo and his program. It may not guarantee them a championship, but I am sure Theo will take them closer to one.

On the field, the baseball playoffs have been interesting, but probably not the most watched. With the North Eastern teams like Boston, New York and Philly eliminated, I am sure the TV ratings are not pretty. But some games have been thrilling. Too bad the DBacks couldn't win on the road, but it took the Brewers 10 innings to eliminate them in game 5. Ryan Braun and Prince Fielder were just too much for the DBacks the entire series. I would like the young Brewers to march on and win it all, but I don't know if I can handle their stupid "beast mode" after every big play. There have been many stupid sports celebrations, but this might be the worst! It's interesting how more and more of the MLB playoffs have moved to cable, much like what happened with the NBA a few years back. NFL seems to be marginalizing all other sports on TV. A Milwaukee-Detroit World Series would be MLB's worst nightmare from a TV ratings perspective and we might just get it. Detroit did lose game 4 today in 11 innings and is now trailing 3-1 to the Rangers. Nelson Cruz is killing them. He has homered in 2 11-Th innings in this series. What are the odds of 2 games going 11 innings in a 7-game series and featuring the same guy homering in both 11-Th innings? Bud Selig would say "only in baseball" and he might even be right, but I am not sure if anybody except Bud is watching these games.

The best news for MLB might be the NBA lockout. NBA seems to be committed to it's self-destructive ways and the league just canceled the first 2 weeks of the regular season. It took more than a decade for the league to recover some of it's lost popularity after the previous lockout and Jordan's retirement, and another lockout is the worst thing they could do at this stage. Thanks to LeBron's talents the last few years at Cleveland and then his stupidity surrounding his "taking his talents to south beach", NBA regained some of it's viewership. The playoffs last year was especially interesting because people had a set of villains - Miami Heat, to root against and they watched the show on TV. Now, the NBA decides to throw it all away by pissing off it's customers. Mainstream America, for the most part, hates NBA and it's players for whatever reason. Some of it is justified, but some of it is just perception and prejudice. But the point is, NBA cannot afford to anger and distance them further. NFL possibly can get away with it, but NBA can't. NBA's owners seem to be oblivious to this and are hell-bent on getting a good financial deal. They should be committed to getting a good deal, but I wish they had the common sense to be committed to not losing even a single game as well. That's apparently too much to ask and now, nobody cares that the NBA is locked out. Hopefully, some of us will care if and when they start playing again.

All this means more time for NFL and college football. There are a couple of states in the union doing great right now - Wisconsin and Michigan. Detroit is especially having a whale of a time in sports. The Detroit Tigers are in the ALCS, the Lions are 5-0 after many years of abject failure and even the Michigan Wolverines are 6-0 and are ranked pretty high. Same story in Wisconsin. The Brewers are in the NLCS, Packers are the only other undefeated team in the NFL with a 5-0 record and the Wisconsin Badgers are 5-0 and ranked 4-Th in the nation. Life is good in the mid-west. Both the Lions and the Packers are in the same division and they don't play their first game until Thanksgiving. I can't wait for that game. Should be a great one after years of bad Detroit football on turkey day. We may be looking at 2 undefeated teams that day or may be 2 teams with a combined 1 or 2 losses. There are other markets seeing a football revival as well. It always feels good to see small market Buffalo do well. Bay Area is enjoying a good season too as both the Raiders and the Niners are looking good after many years. Just like the Packers and the Lions, the Raiders and the Chargers don't play until late in the season and I expect those 2 games to be great and meaningful too. Who would have thought the game of week 6 would be Niners (4-1) at the Lions (5-0). Acid test for both maturing teams, but I expect the Lions to win at home. In college, ASU is going to Oregon for a matchup of ranked teams. Nobody beats Oregon at home. ASU's only hope might be that Oregon's RB LaMichael James might miss this game with an injury. It's a challenging game for the Devils with or without James. Lets see how they handle the pressure.

600 is the new 300

When it comes to our age, people these days say things like "30 is the new 20" and "60 is the new 10" etc. Some of this is just idle chatter, but some of it does make sense due to changes in our lifestyles, priorities, development in health sciences, and workout habits. This is a good thing. The story is the same with home runs. 600 home runs these days doesn't get you the respect and attention it got 30 years back. This is not a good thing and Jim Thome has the rampant use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs (PEDs) in baseball over the last 2 decades to thank for it. Thome just hit his 600-Th home run and nobody seem to care. Thome has stayed relatively clean in the eyes of people, but who are we to judge? These guys are all considered guilty until proven innocent because of the extent of the use of PEDs and the spate of shocking revelations over the past several years. It is what it is and I don't blame the fans or the writers for the way they are forced to think on this issue. It's baseball's fault that they never instituted any drug testing for decades.

Writers may take their time debating whether or not Thome belongs in the hall and delay his induction. MLB is exclusively to blame for this predicament. They knew there was a big problem for years and still had their blinders on for a decade or two. Is this fair to Thome? Of course not, assuming he is clean. But he only has his league's management and to some extent, his player's union to blame. Haven't we all been in that situation? Where our managers and our company's executives mismanage everything and end up adversely affecting our careers, earning potential, and the company's bottom-line and future. It's the same with MLB, NFL or the NBA. Baseball's executives and the player's union mishandled the PED issue and underestimated it's importance to the average fan and now, everybody is paying the price. Thome has to deal with the fact that 600 is the new 300. Thome is past his prime and also has a low-key personality and that contributes to his relative anonymity as well. But his feat would have definitely been celebrated way more if not for the specter of PEDs hanging over every baseball feat these days.

On the field, the Diamondbacks are leading the NL West ahead of the World champions Giants and I think the young team has a great shot at holding onto that prime spot through the season. They are different from the Pittsburgh Pirates who have declined rapidly towards the depths of the NL Central standing. The Brewers are on a roll and dominating that division right now. In the AL, the Central is tight as always with the Tigers owning a small lead. The Yankees and the RedSox are all tied up, but both will be in the playoffs - one of them as the wildcard. This is normal for those 2 teams. Few years back, this is when Bob Costas would typically start complaining about how bad an idea the wild card is. That train has long left the station and we don't hear Costas anymore on that topic, but his point is still valid. Yankees and RedSox should be involved in a heated pennant chase right now, but instead, they are humoring us with a mildly amusing and marginally relevant fight for the division. What we get in return for this diluted pennant chase is a whole bunch of teams fighting for the 2 wild card spots every year and a potential Yankees-RedSox ALCS contest. That would be Christmas, New Year and election day all rolled into one for the East Coast media.