Halloween.

Some friends and I decided to do our costumes as a group this year. At a Lnyx game in late August we were discussing the classic movie Revenge of the Nerds and decided to go as the jock fraternity, the Alpha Betas. So with are red t-shirts and white AB lettering (compliments of Ms. Skeelo) 6 of us hit The Liquor Store to see Maestro Fresh Wes who was performing that night (the only reason we would go to a university bar in the market these days.)

Technically Maestro performed but it left a lot to be desired. He only played his three big songs and because The Liquor Store is a university bar well over half of the people there had absolutely no clue who the hell he was. He was pulling the girls in the skimpiest costumes on stage and they looked creeped out more than anything. Then he started talking about how great the "613" is. Sorry but Ottawa is nowhere near street enough to go by its area code. So I'm glad I saw Maestro, even if for three songs, but I still felt ripped off after $15 cover.

The best costume Male Division had to go to the guy wearing a Michael Vick football uniform, full with pads and black face paint, walking around with a stuffed dog on a leash.

The best costume Female Division was the girl who dressed as Marie Antoinette. She went to a lot of effort, including the pale white makeup and really made it look great.

The Red Sox Again.

- With Boston completing the sweep of the Rockies last night it may be time to admit the Sox may turn into the old hated Yankees (minus the fat, unemployed and brain dead Yankee fans). In other words they will spend top dollar to get guys while at the same time developing top young guys in their organization. Like it or not but the Sox are going to be good for a hell of a long time. Their starting rotation alone next year will have Beckett, Lester, Buchholz and DiceK, all guys in their early to mid 20's.

- Congrats to Mike Lowell for winning series MVP honors. Not bad for a guy Boston only took to get Josh Beckett. Lowell is a pro's pro and just busts his ass every day and never complains. Which is why Boston fans want to see this guy resigned over the winter.

- But they will only resign Lowell if they don't land ARod. Good of Alex to have Scott Boras announce he has opted out of his Yankees contract (which you new damn well he was doing since the first day of spring training) during game four of the World Series. No ego involved there. Nothing like trying to steal the spotlight and keep yourself in the headlines. ARod may be the biggest talent in the game but he's also gotta have the biggest ego too.

As I've said all year I think there are only going to be three teams who really have a chance to sign him. In order of where I think they stand, they are Anaheim, Boston and the Cubs. I think ARod will ultimately end up with the Angels because of the combination of money the Angels owner will throw at him and the laid back, low pressure environment in SoCal. Boston is every bit as pressure packed as NY and Chicago just isn't good enough for him to go to.

World Series Preview.

Now and then you get a football game they call a "trap game". Like the Colts or Pats going up against the hopeless Rams or Dolphins and you think they may somehow lose. The World Series is kind of a "trap" series for the Red Sox because nobody thinks they can lose. It's not so much that people think the Sox are unbeatable as they just think the Rockies run of 21 of 22 and seven straight in the playoffs is about to run out and they are not that good.

After beating a Phillies team with a great lineup, one probably better than the Sox, and then beating a DBacks team with deep pitching and defense, the Rockies are definitely for real. Jeff Francis is the best ace you have never heard of (unless you are Canadian) and the middle of their lineup is brutally tough to face. The big problem for Francis is that he has to go against legend in the making Josh Beckett in Games 1 and 5. I say they split those two games. But Schilling is still Schilling and the Sox staff is deeper. Schill will win twice. Dice K will get ripped in the mountain air so that gives Colorado another win - there only other win. And yes, I am very jealous that Diamond Joe gets to rip it up in LoDo during games 3&4 in Denver.

Red Sox in 6 which means the Sox get to clinch in Fenway this time.

Sticking With The Colts

- New England may end up being the best team in the NFL but like I said earlier in the season, I am sticking with Indy until New England beats them. The Colts killed Jacksonville last night and the Jags are far better than any team the Pats have played (sorry Cowboys fans). I think the Colts defense can slow down the Pats and I still think the Colts can score on the New England D.

- I think the Red Sox are better on paper than the Rockies but there is no way I think they should be a 2-1 favorite. This series will be a close one.

- As a Sports Illustrated subscriber for the past 20 years I am really not all that upset about Rick Reilly leaving to go to ESPN. He really hasn't written anything more than a one page column for years and those have become little more than human interest stories. Not that I don't like the columns but he's hardly the main reason people still read the magazine.

- Al Gore winning the Nobel Prize is going to be viewed 30 years from now the same way the guy who won the Nobel Prize in the 30's for finding the cure to cancer is now.

Scratch That Thought.

I'm quite happy to say my last post was dead wrong. Bring on the Rockies.

The Sox Are Done.

The evening of October 16, 2004 may have been the single best night ever for me as a wannabe sports prognosticator. The Yankees had just destroyed the Sox at Fenway to take a 3-0 series lead. I fearlessly predicted that the Sox would come back to win the series and exactly how it would happen, including Damon's home runs, excluding the bloody sock.

Why was I so confident? Because that Sox team had a looseness and a swagger to them that this year's team does not. Despite having the best record int he AL all season, not once did I have the Sox as the favorite to get to the World Series. I have watched them all year and there just seems to be something missing there despite the best record in the league. I mean something besides the fact that J.D. Drew is a gutless jag and Coco Crisp is an automatic out in big late inning situations. Which is why they are not coming back this year. Beckett may get them through Game 5 tonight but I don't think they can beat Carmona in Game 6 and Dice K sure as hell won't pitch well in Game 7 if it gets that far.

Manny's Record Got Me To Thinking

- Manny Ramirez hit his 23rd career post season home run Saturday night setting an all time record. This got me to thinking about some of the all time sports that can never be broken (Manny' definitely can be broken due to the Wild Card being added). There records like 511 wins by Cy Young that are obviously untouchable but there are others that are unbreakable and stunning at the same time. Like how did Wilt score 100 points in one game? Or Gretzky's 200 point seasons. But the record that seems the best combination of unbreakable and stunning to me is how in the hell A.C. Green managed to play in the NBA for 16 years, most of them in LA for god's sake, and maintain his virginity. Unfathomable. A record like that will never be touched by a pro athlete again.

- George Steinbrenner stepping down as head of the Yanks will make things a lot less colorful in Yankeeville and baseball in general. Here's hoping his son is an interfering tyrant as well.

- And here's hoping Big Stein's sons first decision is keeping Joe Torre on as manager. I say that as a Red Sox fan because Torre is no longer an effective manager for the Yanks. They are going to have a younger roster next year, especially their starting pitching. Torre can manage veterans but not develop young players. If I was a Yankee fan i would want him gone.

- Watching and cursing out Eric Gagne the other night actually made me sad. I was watching the game with mixtape and we just looked at each other and said this game is over when he cam out of the bullpen. I got a text message from Reetch saying the same thing. Three years ago this guy was absolutely unhittable and now Terry Francona can't give him the ball with a 10 run lead without giving every Sox fan alive a heart attack. Very sad.

Two Words For You Roger: Go Away!

- So the guy nobody ever dares mention as a probable steroid user is unsure whether he is going to retire. You know,for good this time. Two other words for you Roger - Fuck Off. You are pretty mediocre right now and only an idiot would pay you $1 million per start. As much as I would love to see you come back one more year to get lit up my disgust for your ego outweighs it.

- Does anybody really think the Patriots won't kill the Cowboys this weekend? The Pats are going to win by at least two touchdowns. And I can't think of anything else less interesting than comparing and contrasting Terrell Owens and Randy Moss, two guys who deserve to have the crap kicked out of them by former teammates more than any two other recent athletes I can think of right now.

- Heroes has picked up right where it left off last year, which means it has been great so far and the story lines seem endless at this point. But it's a little disappointing to see Hayden Panettiere in FHM and being tarted up a bit in promos now that she has turned 18. I think she's a really cute kid and it would suck to see her go the Lindsay Lohan route.

- So Al Gore has won the Nobel Prize along with the UN. Well done. And with the $1 million cash that goes with it he can pay for the fuel on his environmentally friendly private jet and pay the biggest hydro bill in the state of Tennessee at his mansion.

- A big congrats to John Tory who succeeded in making Dalton McGuinty look as unbeatable in Ontario as Ralph Klein in Alberta. It takes a special talent to be that incompetent but apparently John has it. Mike Harris must be shaking his head and laughing at Wednesday night's debacle.

LCS Preview.

I am back from 3 days in Atlanta (which is still as big a hole now as it was 6 years ago) and 1 day in DC for business so I am ready to preview the League Championship series after going 3-1 in the division series.

AL

Boston Red Sox vs. Cleveland Indians

Thus will be a fantastic series. Both teams are loaded at the top of the rotation and have great defense. Josh Beckett is turning into Curt Schilling as far as clutch playoff performers go and Schilling is still Schilling. But Cleveland 1-2 starters C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona are just as good so I think they cancel each other out in a seven game series. Cleveland's should do well against Boston's other starters and win a game. But Manny looks like the old Manny and that's bad news for the Indians. On paper the Indians should win this but weird shit happens at Fenway and game 7 is at Fenway.

Sox in 7

NL

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Colorado Rockies


This series won't be as good because the teams are nowhere as good as Boston and Cleveland but they are really evenly matched against each other. I think it will be low scoring because the Dbacks have better pitching than the Rockies but their offense is brutal. The Rockies will have a lot of momentum going into this series having won 17 of 18 so I think that will get them as far as game 7. It's no secret that Denver is my favorite town in North America so I would love to see them get to a World Series (but then I would want them stomped by my Sox) but I don't see it.

DBacks in 7.

Kenny Lofton's Diet.

- What the hell does Kenny Lofton eat every day? I really want to know so I can get on the same diet. The guy is 58 years old and has played for all 30 big league teams yet he still kicks ass in the clutch. Yesterday he had three hit and four RBI's in a 12-3 thrashing of the Yankees.

- The Yanks pitching gives up 12 runs but somehow this will still be portrayed as ARod's fault. The only thing better than the Yanks missing the playoffs is watching them get beat in the first round every year. Watching Clemens get lit up in Game 3 is going to be great.

- At least Chase Utley got a couple of hits in the Phils loss yesterday. In Game 1 he had the worst day at the plate I have ever seen. He went 0-4 with 4 whiffs on 13 pitches.

- Alfonso Soriano is a disgrace in the outfield. On Eric Byrnes triple last night he jumped up against the wall only to have the ball bounce off the wall about waist high two feet to his left. It was just awful to watch.

- Bet on the Angels tying things up today because they are going to torch DiceK.

NHL Preview.

There are no great teams in the NHL anymore just very good ones. With that in mind my preview will outline my picks for where each team will finish in their conference and whether they rank from really good to really bad. And their will be some random comments where I feel like it.

Eastern Conference

1. New York Rangers 110 points

Very Good. Chris Gomez was a great pickup but Chris Drury is going to put them in the Cup Final

2. Pittsburgh Penguins 108 points

Very Good. Easily the most exciting team in the league. A weak defense will cost them in the playoffs.

3. Ottawa Senators 106 points

Very Good. I don't see much drop off from last year but I don't see that much improvement either. The Rangers and Pens will both be improved enough to ensure the Sens don't go back to the Finals.

4. Florida Panthers 102 points

Good. The Panthers get to beat on a terrible division all year.

5. Buffalo Sabres 98 points

Good. Still have enough to be good and this conference sucks.

6. New Jersey 92 points

Average. Marty Brodeur is the only thing keeping them in the playoffs. This team is finally going to fall back to the pack.

7. Carolina Hurricanes 92 points

Average. They can't be as bad as last year can they?

8. Toronto Maple Leafs 91 points

Average. Jason Blake will add enough offense to get them back to the playoffs. Where they will get swept in the 1st round.

9. Montreal Canadiens 90 points

Average. Won't score enough goals.

10. New York Islanders 85 points

Average.

11. Philadelphia Flyers 80 points

Bad. Will rebound and Daniel Briere should have a big year but they are still a year away from the playoffs.

12. Boston Bruins 80 points

Bad. Does anyone in Boston even care?

13. Tampa Bay Lightning 78 points

Bad. Have three great scorers and awful defense and goaltending.

14. Washington Capitals 70 points.

Really Bad. At least Ovechkin is fun to watch.

15. Atlanta Thrashers 65 points.

Really Bad.

Western Conference

1. San Jose Sharks 115 points

Really Good. Should have a great regular season and flame out in the playoffs again. Too much underachieving lately to make me think otherwise. And what the hell did they bring in Roenick for? The guy is a proven loser.

2. Anaheim Ducks 112 points

Really Good. Even if Scott Neidermayer doesn't come back they are still loaded.

3. Detroit Red Wings 110 points

Really Good. Will also flame out in the playoffs.

4. Minnesota Wild 108 points

Really Good. Fast and fun to watch.

5. Vancouver Canucks 105 points

Good. Roberto Luongo is now the best goalie in the league but will need help from the Bobbsy twins in the playoffs.

6. Colorado Avalanche 102 points

Good. Young guys like Paul Stastny plus Ryan Smyth alongside Joe Sakic puts them back in the playoffs.

7. Calgary Flames 98 points

Good. Does anybody really think Mike Keenan won't fuck this up? There is no way Kipper and Iginla will put up with him all year.

8. Chicago Blackhawks 95 points

Good. This team is going to surprise everyone and Havlat will have a huge year.

9. Dallas Stars 92 points

Average. Very boring.

10. Nashville Predators 90 points

Average. Too much turmoil and overachieved last year.

11. St. Louis Blues 85 points

Average. Starting to show some signs of life.

12. Columbus Blue Jackets 74 points

Really Bad. Not a chance in this conference

13. Los Angeles Kings 69 points

Really Bad.

14. Edmonton Oilers 68 points

Really Bad. When you can't get anyone to play in your city you know you are in deep shit.

15. Phoenix Coyotes 58 points

Absolutely Terrible. Gretzky must wonder why he ever got involved with this team. They are going to be completely hopeless this year.

Stanley Cup: Anaheim over the Rangers
MVP: Sid the Kid
Vezina: Luongo
Scoring Leader: Crosby

Wild Card Playoff Preview

If there is anything in sports better than October baseball I am not sure what it is. So here goes with my fearless 1st round predictions. And remember - I don't do this for a living so you shouldn't place any wagers based on my input.

AL

Boston Red Sox vs. Anaheim Angels (I refuse to call them by their extended name)

A few weeks ago I picked the Angels as my favorite in the AL because I thought they were going to finish with the best record and have to face Boston in a 7 game series. But since they are facing the Sox in a 5 gamer I think the Sox have the advantage because they can shorten the rotation and throw Beckett twice at them and Schilling once. The big problem for the Angels is the health of Vlady Guerrero. Without him at 100% they won't score enough runs. There small ball style will also be hampered because spark plug Chone Figgins seems tired and has slumped down the stretch. Boston slugger Manny Ramirez is hurt as well but David Ortiz and Mike Lowell will provide enough offense to get by. The only big problem for the Sox is that DiceK is going to get torched, but he only has to pitch once.

Sox in 4

Cleveland Indians vs. New York Yankees

This is the easiest series of the four to pick. Cleveland has the two best pitchers in the series in C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona. They also have 5 players who hit 20+ homers and can score runs with the Yanks. The Tribe also has the better bullpen and are better defensively. ARod may have a big series but it will not be enough because the Yanks pitching just isn't good enough. And this one won't be an upset no matter how many people are on the NY bandwagon every October.

Indians in 4

NL

Arizona Diamondbacks vs. Chicago Cubs

The NL is a bit tougher to call for me. The Cubs have the worst record of any playoff team but that was because they started out 22-31 and went 63-46 after that. They have a deep offense and an ace in Carlos Zambrano who will go twice in a short series. Their biggest problem will be closer Ryan Dempster who I've never been sold on as a pressure player. The DBacks are young and exciting but their offense is anemic. I really think they are going to have problems scoring at the end of tight games. But if they are leading after 8 innings they have the NL's best closer (sorry Trevor Hoffman) in Jose Valverde. This should be the best series this round.

Cubs in 5 and Ms. Skeelo will be in Chicago this weekend to experience Chicago going nuts. Words can't even describe my jealousy.

Philadelphia Phillies vs. Colorado Rockies

The Rockies are red hot having won 14 of 15 to grab the Wild Card and have a balanced lineup led by Todd Helton and probable MVP Matt Holliday. But they also have a thin bullpen and a so-so rotation after ace Jeff Francis. The Phillies have a stacked lineup with three MVP candidates in Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins and Chase Utley but their starting rotation is a question mark once you get past Game 1 starter Cole Hamels. I think the difference here will be the Rockies momentum carry them on. I like the Rockies based on my gut more than anything else.

Rockies in 5

The Colts Are Still The Favorite.

- I really don't care how good the Pats have looked to this point in the season but they are not the best team in the league until they beat somebody. They are 4-0 but their opponents are a combined 4-12. The beat the hopeless Jets and Bills, and the completely dysfunctional Chargers and Bengals. Until they beat the Colts later in the season they are #2 for me.

- It would be easy to say that Donovan McNabb is done as a good QB. But I think that would be wrong. His offensive line gave up 12 sacks Sunday night. That can't be all McNabb's fault. He can still play on a good team, he's just not that mobile anymore.

- That was a great ending to the Padres-Rockies game last night in the bottom of the 11th. Too bad I fell asleep after the 10th. And Matt Holliday still hasn't touched the plate. I half to think the umpire got caught up in the moment and just plain blew the call.

- A new TV season is upon us and I have watched a few new shows. The first two episodes of Chuck have been great and I think the show will be a hit. It's from the creator of The O.C., Josh Schwartz, and it may seem a bit familiar. That's because Chuck is basically Seth Cohen all over again accept a few years older and a computer nerd instead of a comic book nerd. Which isn't a bad thing because the character is great. And the main love interest, CIA agent Sarah, played by the crazy hot Yvonne Strzechowski, looks a hell of a lot like Olivia Wilde who had a run on Season 2 of OC. The characters on this show are strong and with US security secrets in the lead characters head there are plenty of great potential story lines.

I also watched Bionic Woman, which I thought was really good though I'm not sure I will stick with it. The shows premise, a normal woman nearly dies but is saved by being made bionic, doesn't really appeal to me that much. But if you liked Alias you will probably like this one.

- New shows are back too and Heroes has been every bit as good as last year so far. None of the actors will ever admit it but what makes this show great is the writing. It's amazing to me that they can continually write story lines involving so many characters and keep them all entertaining and inter-related. No other show on TV comes close to that right now.

- It's hard not to think Barry Bonds is not done. I really don't see an AL team making him their DH because he's just to big a pain in the ass.

- Am I the only one having a hard time caring about the Ontario Election? I see virtually no difference between John Tory and Dalton McGuinty. It's essentially mushy middle vs. mushy middle. No self respecting conservative can say they really believe in Tory's watered down "where can I spend money next" platform. And the religious school funding was a colossal mistake. If there is a Libertarian in my riding I'm voting for him.