Sorry, had to channel Harry Caray there....
The Chicago White Sox are going to the World Series for the first time since 1959. They will host games 1 and 2 and, if necessary, games 6 and 7, and await the winner of the National League Championship Series between Houston and St. Louis. The White Sox defeated the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim 6-3, winning the American League Championship Series 4 games to 1.
Now, that goat curse better up and die soon...60 years and counting for those guys (sorry Barb!). But in the meantime…
CONGRATULATIONS to the Chicago White Sox!

Since the end of the baseball season is upon us…
In opening a franchise in Washington, DC, I hope the intent of the owners of the Billy Goat Tavern (“No fries! Cheeps! No Pepsi! Coke!”) is not to afflict other cities with the Curse of the Billy Goat. The attitude of the owning family doesn’t seem to bear that out:

“They say nobody in Washington D.C. is from Washington D.C.,” Bill Sianis said. Besides, he said, there are a lot of people from Illinois who work on Capitol Hill and have been asking when the Billy Goat was coming to town.
“They all want something that feels like home,” he said.

Good. Maybe when the Cubs finally do win that World Series, they can share the joy all Cubs Fans will revel in with their fellow baseball brethren!

Two days ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks revealed the new name of their ballpark, formerly known as Bank One Ballpark, or “The BOB”...it’s now known as Chase Field:

“The new name is great,” said Diamondbacks president Rich Dozer. “Its simplicity helps us maintain the spirit of classic American baseball in one of the most technically advanced, convenient and fan-friendly baseball fields in the country.”

All well and good. I actually like (ahem!) Chase Field, and the D-Backs even helped me recover my interest in baseball. But I bet it irks JPMorgan Chase to no end that they don’t sponsor Major League Baseball, Minor League Baseball, and Little League Baseball all at the same time...that honor goes to Bank of America!

I swear, the NCAA (which for many years stood for No Chance Ann Arbor in my lexicon) is becoming as inept an organization as the UN!
They asked 33 schools to change their names from Native American-related to something else, all at the altar of political correctness and the whims of the US Commission of Civil Rights, on pain of losing the privilege to host post-season national championship events.
Fourteen of them have given up their identities. One school, Florida State, successfully appealed the NCAA’s mandate. Gee I wonder why? Does it have something to do with the fact that the Seminals Seminoles bring in a ton of dough when their football team plays in the postseason? Yeah, even though I don’t like FSU, I will stand up for them in this case!
And what is wrong with the nicknames of: Indians, Braves, Chippewas, Fighting Sioux, Illini, Utes, Aztecs, Warriors, or Choctaws? In nearly all of these cases, those Native Americans who are associated with the names have given their approval to the schools to use the name!
If enough schools don’t get together to fight this PC bulls**t, you know which schools the NCAA will go after next...yep, the ones with the nickname Crusaders!

He’s done it! Lance Armstrong has won his seventh consecutive Tour de France...in a manner which wasn’t exactly expected. Race organizers called it early due to rain, as Lance was heading into Paris.
I guess the French didn’t want to submit themselves to watching Lance cross the finish line again at the head of the pack! Nevertheless...Lance retires from professional cycling AS A CHAMPION of the highest caliber...beating cancer to boot!
Now I also read that the junior Senator from Massachussetts was in the area taking in the race. I wonder where?

YAY! The Hockey Lockout is Officially OVER, as the NHL owners met and unanimously approved the new six-year Collective Bargaining Agreement between the league and the players. Who won this? THE OWNERS, that’s who, because they got a salary cap in place, where players will get 54% of total revenues.
In addition, there will be some rules changes, as well as the new logo (pictured here) to help bring back fans:
• NO MORE TIES: Enough of this “kissing your sister” routine. There will be a shootout at the end of regulation during regular season games. Hockey purists will likely cringe, but I believe this sport had to make this major change in order to survive. Leave the draw bulls**t to soccer!
• SMALLER GOALIE PADS AND TRAP ZONE AREA: Let’s face it, guys like Patrick Roy, Dominik Hasek, and Curtis Joseph were damn good, buy Roy (especially) had some pads that were a wee bit oversized, and a lot of teams bitched to the league about it. In addition, goalies could play anywhere behind the goal line to gain control of the puck. Now they will be restricted to a trapezoidal area defined by lines that begin 6 feet from either goal post, and extend diagonally to points 28 feet apart at the endboards. If they play the puck outside that area, they will be hit with a delay-of-game penalty (2-minute minor).  Now we’ll see how the current crop of goalies perform.
• LARGER ATTACK ZONES: The Blue Lines have been moved to 75 feet from the end boards, this increases the size of the attack zone. The goal line has been moved back 2 feet, to 11 feet.
And that’s just for starters. More rules changes are located at NHL.com. Now the ‘Yotes will have to learn how to win games, that’s for sure! I can finally await the arrival into town of my beloved Detroit Red Wings!

Who’s Tiger Woo? Just ask Peoples Hernandez from Shaft:

Peoples Hernandez: You play golf?
[Walter Wade Jr. nods]
Peoples Hernandez: Golf is phat...Tiger Woo, Tiger Woo, I like him.

So do I...as do millions of Sports Fans! Yes, we’re talking about Tiger Woods! He wins the British Open at its definitive course at St. Andrews. And he’s well on his way to blow away Jack Nicklaus‘ record of 18 major victories. And Tiger isn’t even 30 yet!
Yes, this is it for the Golden Bear though. He’s handed the torch of Golf to a magnificent man in Tiger Woods...and he’s not even 30 yet!

Please Lance, do this for the US of A! Kick France’s Ass for us!
And while you’re at it, could you also straighten out your squeeze?
Follow Lance’s progress in the Tour de France at the official web site.

I tell ya, I say Donald Rumsfeld should go into the Talk Show circuit once he gets done serving our country as Secretary of Defense...he’d make a KILLING! He showed up at the Daytona International Speedway last night and got a Standing O to give those magic words to the NASCAR drivers at the Pepsi 400. And NO, it was NOT Yeeeeee-HAWWWWWWWWWW!
By the way, Tony Stewart won the race.

Looks like the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee (or to be exact, the BOCOG) has chosen its final slogan for the 2008 Summer Olympic Games:

“One World, One Dream.”

A small error in their slogan...what it really means is: “One World, One NIGHTMARE.” The world seems to forget we’re dealing with DFC‘s who are running the show in China.

How would you like to go to a race which has only six cars? I sure as hell wouldn’t!
130,000 fans turned up at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to watch this year’s United States Grand Prix, only to find 14 of the 20 cars pull off the track after the warmup lap to protest a ruling by Formula 1’s sponsoring organization, the FIA, which is based in FRANCE; no other explanation is needed. The FIA refused a request by Michelin to bring in a new set of tires for all teams because it was found the tires used were unsafe for the final turn on the road course.
And the fans got pissed! BIG TIME! They threw water bottles on the track, booed the remaining drivers, and also chanted things like Formula 1 Sucks! and of course the term more commonly used for bad referee calls here in the US...BULLS**T! BULLS**T! Not to mention a lot of them demanded their money back and it got so unruly, the Cops had to be called in to maintain calm!
At least the teams which pulled out of the USGP issued a press release explaining their actions in the interest of safety, which I believe the Americans will appreciate because while we love our auto racing to be fast and furious, we also want it to be as SAFE as possible. But the FIA won’t. We’ll see how long it takes them to recover from this little episode.

Guess who’s in the news again...yep! Sen. John McCain (RINO-AZ) introduces legislation to bring all drug testing for professional athletes under the banner of a single agency:

“It’s obvious that a vital component of this whole business is who does the testing,” McCain said after the morning hearing. “U.S.A.D.A. seems to me to be a likely candidate for that, but I’m not dictating that nor do I think Congress should.”

This’ll piss the Unions off for sure...especially the MLBPA!

This is one fan you’re talking to that is pissed off that there is no NHL Hockey this season, and the entire season was cancelled yesterday. I was looking forward to seeing my beloved Detroit Red Wings come in to town and play the Phoenix Coyotes and for a lot cheaper than if I had gone to see them at “the Joe” (the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit). Not this year.
From what I understand, the players were receiving 75% of the revenues the teams were generating. That’s BS! I don’t think the other leagues give that much to their players...but the other leagues are also in a much better financial situation than the NHL is. In terms of popularity, the NHL is fourth of the four major professional sports leagues. They also have the added burden of revenues for Canadian teams being generated in Canadian Dollars while having to pay their players in American Dollars.
Hell, even Major League Baseball managed to regenerate some interest in its fan base (even me!). It took them ten years...but both sides thankfully saw the light the last time they got close to a major league labor action.
Who do I side with? THE OWNERS. What the players want is pure greed, and I won’t pay for that. Let them go off to Eurabia and play hockey there. What the Fans will pay for is LABOR PEACE and the quicker the players realize they’ve bitten off more than they can chew, then the quicker NHL Hockey can return.

Until then...hey! There’s Arena Football here in town!

Baseball is finally returning to the Washington, DC area for the first time in 33 years...it also happens to be the last time a Major League Baseball team changed cities. It just so happens that the team involved was the Washington Senators who moved to Texas to become the Rangers.
The franchise which just ended its 35-year tenure in Montreal failed for a number of reasons. One reason was the exchange rate of the Canadian dollar, which affected their revenues vis-a-vis other MLB teams. Another reason was the loss of fan support after the 1994 strike, when the Expos were well on their way to a World Series! And they were robbed! Just like the Cleveland Indians....
Anyway, it’s my hope that the new owners of the DC franchise will revive the hallowed name of the WASHINGTON SENATORS next season at RFK Stadium. But baseball fans everywhere will just have to adjust the beloved slogan of “First in War, First in Peace....”

A 24-game road loss streak finally ENDS at Soldier Field as the Detroit Lions defeat the Chicago Bears 20-16. At last...respectability comes back to Ford Field when they have their home opener next week against the Houston Texans. Good Job Mooch!
Yes my friends, I can write about other things too. I don’t think I can get into the Arizona Cardinals though, they’re not much to write back east about; they lost to the St. Louis Rams 17-10.