Irish Trojan in Tennessee

Headline of the day

By Brendan Loy

From ESPN.com:

Heh.

Shark sighting!

By Brendan Loy

As I mentioned earlier, my parents are in town this weekend, and tonight my dad and I went to a Tennessee Smokies game. I had totally forgotten that Notre Dame's Jeff Samardzija is a Smokie (er, a Smoky?), but he is, and there he was, standing in the dugout right in front of us:

I couldn't resist saying something, so I walked up to the edge of the dugout and yelled "Hey, Jeff!" a couple of times until he heard me and looked over. I then said, "Go Irish!" He responded with a sort of half-smile and quasi-acknowledgment that suggested he gets that all the time from Notre Dame fans who feel so passionately about the Irish that they figure it's perfectly reasonable to treat famous ND alums like long-lost buddies and thus randomly say "Go Irish" at them. Heh.

Alas, Samardzija wasn't pitching tonight, but it was cool to see him anyway. He's got a blog, by the way.

Anyway, the Smokies won the game, 8-3, and we had a good time. Here are a few more pictures:

Refuse to lose

By Brendan Loy

The Jed Report makes an entertaining analogy.

Meanwhile, Hillary herself pens an op-ed explaining her RFK remarks, and outlining her case for why she's still in the race. It's basically a repetition of the same bogus arguments that she's been using all along (popular vote, swing states, etc.), plus a newly explicit playing of the gender card ("as the first female candidate in this position, I believe I have a responsibility to finish this race") and a veritably Nixonian line about how "my parents did not raise me to be a quitter." Notably, the op-ed barely mentions Michigan and Florida, and doesn't specifically use them as an independent rationale for continuing her campaign. Is she backing away from the precipice?

In any event, I think it's telling that she feels the need to defend herself in this fashion. It's never a good sign, methinks, when you're reduced to penning newspaper columns explaining why you haven't dropped out of the race yet. It's even worse when you're saying things like: "I am not unaware of the challenges or the odds of my securing the nomination - but this race remains extraordinarily close." Yeah, it's close, but so is a basketball game where one team is up by 4 and has the ball with 1.2 seconds left. It's close, but it's over. And it sounds like Hillary might be starting to realize that.

Boston's Jon Lester throws no-no

By Brendan Loy

Another no-hitter at Fenway. w00t!

Baseball and beer

By Brendan Loy

Kristy and I are at the Rockies-Cardinals game at Coors Field. We -- and our beers -- have a great view from the first row of Section L306 in right field. Go Rockies! (They lead 2-1, and I'm wearing my Rocky Top shirt.)

UPDATE: We had a great time, but alas, the Rockies lost, 6-5.

Pope attempts miracle in New York

By David K.

Will the third time be the charm for the power of the Pontiff? Pope Benedict XVI will attempt to purify the most unholy ground in all of America tomorrow when he says mass at Yankee Stadium. Two previous Popes, John Paul II in 1979 and Paul VI in 1965, have said masses in Yankee Stadium, but sadly neither was able to dispel the evil aura surrounding the field. Perhaps Benedict will have more luck, and come Monday, George Steinbrenner will announce his bold plans for an MLB revenue sharing agreement, or Alex Rodriguez will donate half his monolithic salary to build new ballparks across America. Despite his holy powers, I think the Pope will fail and the Yankees will continue their diabolical ways, but hey, a guy can dream can't he??

Baseball steroid bombshell looms

By Brendan Loy

George Mitchell's report on steroids in baseball will be released this afternoon at a 2pm EST press conference, and it is expected to name names -- "somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 to 70 players," including "potential Hall of Famers," according to sources. "One baseball official familiar with the findings called the report 'painstaking' in detail and said that it runs 300-400 pages and may include some documentary evidence (as did the Dowd report, baseball's 1989 investigation of gambling allegations involving Pete Rose)." Bud Selig will hold a press conference of his own at 4:30pm EST. More here, here and here.

P.S. An anonymous commenter has posted a list of the players allegedly named. The same list appears in several places on the Interwebs. However, I have yet to see any information about the sourcing of this "leaked" list, except that it's apparently going around via e-mail, so I'd take it with a major grain of salt at this point. For all we know, some random fan might have just made this up off the top of his head.

UPDATE: Deadspin has posted the list, saying, "In the last hour, we have been forwarded a list of players mentioned in the Mitchell Report by about 25 different people. Is this list substantiated? No. Is it from an MLB official? No. Do we have any reason to believe it's anything but random bunk? No. But it's what's making the rounds today, and we're less than three hours away, and if the list is wrong, we'll know real soon. But, if you're curious, here's the list of players supposedly mentioned in the report, according to just about every email we've received. It could very likely be one of those Web urban legends that somehow got around, like when everyone thought Scott Baio was dead. It probably is, actually."

But at least one name from the list seems to be confirmed: Roger Clemens. Ouch. This is leading to accusations of Boston Bias. Really?

Anyway, the Washington Post's website will carry the press conference live.

Tejada to Astros; Rowand to Giants

By JLR

I'll probably have a post later on today (unless Brendan or someone else beats me to it) about the Mitchell Report and Bud Selig's response to it, but for right now, let me just mention the two biggest deals of the last couple of days. 

Detroit-Florida switcheroo

By JLR

In a trade that makes Detroit a force to be reckoned with, the Tigers have traded six minor-league prospects to the Marlins for Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis.

I only have two words for this trade: oh, crap.  Detroit is going to be AWESOME next season.

The Tigers have managed this off-season (and it's only December) to acquire some great names, Cabrera and Willis to name two.  Cabrera will be in a lineup with Polanco, Sheffield, Ordonez, Guillen, Renteria, Granderson, and Pudge Rodriguez.  Tell me that this team doesn't have hitting power.  And the pitching, though not of the same caliber as the hitting, should earn Detriot a spot in the postseason, if not the World Series.  Willis, whose 10-15 record with the struggling Fish is less likely to repeat itself.  Not to mention he will be joined in the rotation by Justin Verlander, Kenny Rogers, Jeremy Bonderman and Nate Robertson.  Sure, some of those guys have seen better days, especially Rogers, but backed up by a great defense--and getting signals from Pudge--I think Detroit will probably be the team to beat next year... At least, as of December 5th.  More trades, injuries, and free agent signings will definitely have an effect on this prediction.

And by the way, if you hadn't heard, the Posada re-signing is official--he'll be a Yankee for the next four seasons and make more than $50 mil in the process.

Trojans beat OU; Kansas, Memphis next

By Brendan Loy

 

USC, having rejoined the Top 25 this week after routing Southern Illinois on Sunday, defended their #22 ranking with a 66-55 win over Oklahoma at the Galen Center yesterday. Freshmen Devon Jefferson and O.J. Mayo, pictured above, led the way with 23 and 18 points, respectively. Up next for the Trojans: a home date with #4-ranked Kansas on Sunday, followed by a trip to #3-ranked Memphis on Tuesday.

Hunter of Angels

By JLR

Torii Hunter, long the only jewel in the struggling Twins' offensive lineup, has jumped ship to Anaheim (I refuse to call them the "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim"--Aside from being geographically incorrect, it's a mouthful to say, and quite annoying).

What does this mean?  Now Vlad Guerrero will have another bat to back up his own, and the Angels will have a fourth spectacular outfielder.  This may lead to platooning a DH, or it might lead to a trade (in the article, there's talk about sending Gary Matthews, Jr. to Baltimore for Miguel Tejada--I just hope that Peter Angelos tries get more from the Angels than just Matthews--not that Matthews is bad, but that Angelos sucks the sweat off a dead man's balls when it comes to owning and operating a baseball team, so they need all the help they can get).

Also, defensively-strong utility player (though he mostly plays 2B) for the Padres, Geoff Blum, adds his glove to the field in Houston, which lost Craig Biggio to retirement this year.

Happy Thanksgiving, all, and remember: just because it's cold out doesn't mean that baseball is over.  Baseball is never over.  Just remember that while you watch Green Bay and Dallas slaughter Detroit and New York today.

Rollins, A-Rod MVPs

By JLR

The National League named Jimmy Rollins (SS-PHI) the NL MVP for 2007, following the American League's naming of Alex Rodriguez (3B-NYY) their MVP on Monday.

The off-season continues...

By JLR

So here are some of the more noteworthy updates from around the MLB (yes, this is still the same person with posts about baseball, but for personal reasons, I've changed my posting name ... Brendan, if there's an issue, please call me!)

For starters, neither A-Rod nor Steriod Barry have been signed yet, though the Yankees are supposedly talking to Rodriguez again (which, from a PR standpoint, makes both the team and the player look bad).  The rumor is that if the deal goes through, he'll make about $275 mil over the next 10 seasons.

But the big news of the day ...

Information Superhighway Robbery: MLB + DRM = WTF

By Brendan Loy

Unbelievable:

Allan Wood (a baseball megafan who has written a book about Babe Ruth) purchased over $280 worth of digital downloads of baseball games from Major League Baseball, who have just turned off their [Digital Rights Management] server, leaving him with no way to watch his videos. MLB's position is that since these videos were "one time sales," and that means that Wood and everyone else who gave money to MLB is out of luck -- they'll never be able to watch their videos again.

MLB shut down the DRM server because they've changed suppliers, and now they expect suckers to buy downloads of games in the new DRM format. Anyone who does this needs their head examined -- using DRM itself is contemptible enough, but using DRM this way is just plain criminal.

Techdirt says "it's really amazing how far Major League Baseball goes towards pissing off its fans." More broadly, Wired says this is "a perfect example of why DRM is bad. Those who imagined the worse case scenario to be DRM systems failing or disappearing were wrong. The truth is far nastier: DRM will be disabled by content providers any time they please, destroying your media collections whenever the pleasure takes them."

It would be like if Steve Jobs woke up tomorrow and decided that all downloaded music from the iTunes Music Store would no longer work. Which, as a technical matter, he could do, and you wouldn't be able to do anything about it, unless you'd previously burned those songs onto a CD, so that you could rip them back onto your hard drive as DRM-free MP3s -- which would be a "circumvention" and thus a violation of the DMCA, by the way. God bless America.

Of course, as a legal matter, Jobs might be contractually obligated not to do that... and so, IMHO, is MLB contractually obligated not to do what it's doing, unless I'm misreading (or misunderstanding the significance of) this line from the FAQ that was in place at the time of the original downloads, according to the Joy of Sox:

7. Do I have to obtain a license every time I want to watch the downloaded video?

No. When you first try to play the video, a license will be distributed to you and stored by the player. Unless manually deleted, the license will exist forever and will be used when you try to watch the downloaded video on that machine. If you watch the video on a different machine, another license will be required.

I haven't looked this up on Westlaw or Lexis, but I'm pretty sure "forever" means something different from "until we feel like changing our minds."

Prediction: MLB will back down on this, because if they don't, they will face a class-action lawsuit, and they will lose.

(Hat tip: Kat Palmore.)

NOTE: Nothing in this post constitutes legal advice. I am not your lawyer -- I am not anybody's lawyer, yet -- and you are not my client. If you are considering whether to sue MLB, you should get a lawyer, and not rely on anything I've said here. (Thank you, CLE ethics class. Heh.)

UPDATE: As expected, MLB has backed down. But Wood is not satisfied, because they have already reneged on a 20-hour-old promise to be "pro-active" and contact those customers who were screwed over by their actions. Instead, only those customers who discover the problem themselves will be told how to fix it. Wood writes, "This problem was caused solely by MLB, and it's up to MLB to solve it -- by taking the lead and contacting the customers who are currently being defrauded. They should have the decency -- and good business sense -- to publicly announce that a huge problem exists and that they are working to solve it." But they're not doing that. Also:

These new downloads will still have DRM protection, so customers will have to go to MLB.com for a license, as they always have. I asked if, since MLB allows customers to receive a license at only three separate computers, that as people upgrade or replace their machines over time, they eventually could be left with no way to play the files on their fourth computer, the MLB rep said "Yes, that's a problem."

And MLB has no proposed solution to it.

Torre to LA?

By JLR

Will Joe Torre go to the Dodgers?  (And equally important, will he bring those Yankee Free Agents like A-Rod, Posada, and Rivera with him ... and Don Mattingly, too?)

Update: It's official: Torre will take the position vacated by Grady Little (may Red Sox Nation curse his name forever).  Now to see what Yankees staff he brings with him to LA. 

In other news: Joe Girardi has taken the number 27 because the Yankees have won 26 World Series, and he wants to be manager during #27.  Dumb.  His former number with New York, 25, is currently being worn by Jason Giambi (though he war #52 when he was a coach with New York in 2005)

Free tacos: the day after

By Brendan Loy

Jacoby Ellsbury, the Red Sox rookie whose stolen base in Game 2 of the World Series triggered Taco Bell's "Steal a Base, Steal a Taco" promotion -- or, as I like to call it, "Free Tacos for Brendan's Birthday" -- got a free taco himself yesterday, with a side order of fan adoration.

The promotion was such a success in Boston that it snarled traffic in some areas; one Taco Bell drive-thru in Quincy had to be shut down by police because the long line was disrupting traffic on nearby streets. (Heh.) There was also a pretty long line at the Taco Bell that I went to in Denver, and according to the Rocky Mountain News, local Taco Bell locations gave away an average of 200 to 500 tacos.

I'm just glad I was able to take part in this transcendent cultural phenomenon. Someday, when my daughter asks me, "Daddy, where were you when Taco Bell gave out free tacos?," I'll be able to tell her that I was in Denver, at the Taco Bell on the 16th Street Mall, and yes, I got a free taco, and yes, it was yummy. Ah yes, many years from now, we'll be recalling the events of 10/30/07, and I'll be able to prove that I was there.   

;)

Actually, though, this article suggests that Free Taco Day wasn't such a big deal outside of Boston and Denver... which makes sense, as Taco Bell really didn't promote it very much -- there weren't even signs in front of the restaurants announcing "free tacos today!" -- outside of Fox's on-air shilling during the World Series. And the Series got dismal ratings nationwide... but the ratings were, of course, much higher in Boston and Denver. So I daresay more people in those cities were aware of their opportunity get free tacos.

P.S. On the other hand, Taco Bell spokesman Will Bortz said "we have seen a huge response in New York and New Jersey," as well as South Carolina, Oregon and California. "A lot of people are jumping to get their tacos," he asserted. "Who doesn't like a free taco?" Or free publicity, for that matter, eh Will? Heh.

Baseball's not over. What are you talking about?

By JLR

Here's what's going on as of today in baseball.  If you thought that baseball was going away until spring, you were wrong.  :-) 

Have no fear, I'll be keeping you all updated throughout the "off" season.

Soxtober pics

By Brendan Loy

I've posted my photos of last night's Red Sox celebration on Flickr. Some are regular digital photos, some are cell-phone pics, and some are screen grabs from my video of the end of the game. (By the way, I just posted a brighter version of the video. The original version was kinda too dark to see what was going on.)

You can also view the photos in slideshow form if you like. Here's one of 'em:

Getting to watch the Red Sox win the World Series in a bar packed wall-to-wall with Boston fans -- in the heart of enemy territory, downtown Denver, no less -- more than made up for something I've always regretted: when the Sox won the 2004 World Series, I was watching in the rather uninteresting environment of my couch at Fischer Grad Residences, with just one other person (a classmate who wasn't even really a Sox fan), while a bunch of my 1L classmates, who had a paper due the next day and thus had been at the library all evening, were (unbeknownst to me until the next day) gathered in the Law Lounge watching together, and then got to witness Rob from Boston, a lifelong die-hard Sox fan who never thought he'd see them actually win the Series, go completely nuts, jumping up on tables and running out into the night screaming his head off. I always regretted that I missed that. But last night was even better.

GO SAWX!!!

Fresh off the rumor mill

By JLR

With A-Rod probably leaving the Bronx and Torre already gone, the B*stards have reportedly offered Joe Girardi the job as manager.

So they fired the always-playoff-ready Torre to replace him with a guy whose only job as manager left the Marlins just shy of the Wild Card?  I may not like Torre as a Yankee, but as a manager, he's solid; I doubt that the Yankees can do much better than him.  I might end up eating my words, but replacing Torre with Girardi doesn't seem right.

(You know what else doesn't seem right?  The fact that the guys I grew up watching play the game are now old and are employed as either commentators or coaches!)

Red Sox Nation's Denver branch celebrates another world championship

By Brendan Loy

Here is the reaction at the Pour House Pub -- a well-known Red Sox bar on Denver's "LoDo" strip, as noted here and here and here -- to the final out of the World Series, as the Boston Red Sox won Game 4 over the local Colorado Rockies to win their second world championship in four years, again in a 4-0 sweep:

The first half of the six-minute clip shows the immediate reaction to the end of the game; the second half of the clip shows the crowd, a few minutes later, singing "Sweet Caroline" -- and then, at the 5:45 mark, breaking out into the obligatory chant of "Yankees suck!" Heh.

GO SAWX!!!

UPDATE: The video clip above is a brighter version, as the earlier one I uploaded was pretty dark and it was kinda hard to see what was going on. The darker version is after the jump, if anyone prefers it.

3-0

By Brendan Loy

The Red Sox have taken a 3-0 series lead over the Rockies. Kristy was there to see it. I'm so jealous! She got her money's worth -- it was a 4 hour, 19 minute game, the longest in World Series history.

The first pitch of Game 4 is scheduled for 6:29 PM MDT. My flight to Denver is scheduled to land at 7:50 PM MDT. After getting my luggage and such, I anticipate hurrying to a local bar to watch the final innings of -- if things continue the way they're going -- a Red Sox sweep.

GO SAWX!!

P.S. I'll admit, though, sorta kinda hoping the Rockies win Game 4, just so there'll be a Game 5 while I'm in town (which I would then whole-heartedly root for the Red Sox to win, of course). If that happens, Denver will be the first city ever to host a World Series game and Monday Night Football on the same night. And I'd be there for it. That'd be cool. But again, in the big picture, GO SOX. :)

Thanks, Jacoby

By Brendan Loy

Thanks to Jacoby Ellsbury's stolen base tonight, Taco Bell will be giving away free tacos on my birthday. Heh.

Anyway, it's 2-1 Sox in the sixth.

Meanwhile, Boston College is staging a late rally after trailing Virginia Tech 10-0 for most of the game. It's 10-7 Hokies with 36 seconds left, and the Eagles are deep in Tech territory.

UPDATE: Touchdown Boston College!! Holy crap!! I think Matt Ryan just won the Heisman... and BC has broken the #2 curse! (Dammit.)

UPDATE 2: ...aaaaand Matt Ryan barfs on live TV.

UPDATE 3: "Ryan for Heismann!" Heh.

Okay, back to the World Series...

UPDATE 4: JACK BAUER IS ON HIS OWN!!!!!

UPDATE 5: Sox win!! 2-1, final. It's a 2-0 series lead for Boston, heading out to Denver.

The rout is on

By Brendan Loy

The Red Sox lead the Rockies 10-1 in the bottom of the fifth. Jeez, couldn't we have saved Josh Beckett for a night when we weren't going to score a zillion runs?

Anyway, it looks like Colorado's incredible 21-of-22 streak is about to end. (Knock on wood.) Now the question will be whether the Rockies can catch their breath and make this a series, or if they'll become demoralized and fold. Obviously I want the Red Sox to win the series, but I hope the Rockies win at least one game, because I want there to be a Game 5 -- Monday is my one full day and night in Denver. (My flight out is scheduled to land during Game 4, probably in the fourth inning or thereabouts.)

UPDATE: Sox 13, Rox 1, final.

America's Panderer; Truthiness; and Hillary's non-promise

By Brendan Loy

Rudy Giuliani, alleged Yankees fan, is rooting for the Red Sox to win the World Series.

P.S. In other Election 2008 news, Stephen Colbert is in a statistical tie for fourth place in the Democratic presidential race:

In the Democratic primary, Colbert takes 2.3 percent of the vote -- good for fifth place behind Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (40 percent), Sen. Barack Obama (19 percent), former Sen. John Edwards (12 percent) and Sen. Joe Biden (2.7 percent). Colbert finished ahead of Gov. Bill Richardson (2.1 percent), Rep. Dennis Kucinich (2.1 percent) and former Sen. Mike Gravel (less than 1 percent).

The poll has a 5 percent margin of error, so it's meaningless to talk about Colbert's 2.3 percent being "behind" Biden's 2.7 or "ahead" of Richardson's 2.1. As I said: he's tied for fourth -- with everyone else not named Clinton, Obama or Edwards. (He's tied with me, at 0.0 percent, for instance.) The headline, really, ought to be simply: Colbert gets measurable support. (Hat tip: E&P, via InstaPundit.)

And in more serious election news, Hillary Clinton says she "would consider giving up some of the executive powers President Bush and Vice President Cheney have assumed since taking office." At least, that's what the Associated Press says she said -- and the AP headline turns that into "Clinton Says She'd Give Up Some Powers," which is clearly quite different than saying she "would consider" doing so. And even "would consider" might not be quite right. From the original Guardian article about their interview with Mrs. Clinton:

Ms Clinton said the accumulation of executive power [under Bush and Cheney] had put America into "new territory" because Mr Bush and the vice president had taken the view that what were previously extraordinary powers were now inherent powers that belonged to the White House.

"I think I'm going to have to review everything they've done, because I've been on the receiving end of that," she said. Ms Clinton stated it was "absolutely" conceivable that, as president, she would give up executive powers in the name of constitutional principle.

"That has to be part of the review I undertake when I get to the White House, and I intend to do that," she said.

So, what she actually said was that she'll "review everything they've done," as "part of the review I undertake" (which is functionally equivalent to saying she'll set up a committee to study the issue), and that it's "conceivable" that she would give up some executive powers. And somehow the AP headline-writer translated that into "Clinton Says She'd Give Up Some Powers." Hmm. Wishful thinking much? (Hat tip, again: InstaPundit, who declares himself "somewhat skeptical" that Hillary will follow through on her, uh, non-promise.)

By the way, the Guardian article, if you're wondering, is headlined, "Clinton vows review of executive power." That is actually accurate.

Rockies blame hackers, declare do-over

By Brendan Loy

Mulligan!

The Colorado Rockies say tickets for the World Series will again be sold online starting Tuesday at noon after an attack brought down the Web site on Monday.

Rockies Spokesperson Jay Alves said on Monday night that ColoradoRockies.com was the victim of an "external malicious attack" that caused a system-wide outage with Paciolan. ...

"We absolutely have backup plans in place that, should something go wrong tomorrow, we will immediately go to those plans," said Alves.

Alves would not elaborate on what those plans were.

I'm guessing they involve heading for the hills to get away from the angry mob.

Again, check out RoxandSox for the latest.

The Rockies are good at baseball and very, very bad at public relations

By Brendan Loy

I've just finished watching a live Internet feed of the Colorado Rockies' "press conference" about today's World Series ticket fiasco, and I have an announcement to make: ladies and gentlemen, the Rockies organization is -- officially -- completely and utterly inept.

Technical glitches can happen to anyone. But their response has been absolutely abysmal. This is a group of people with no ability to handle a crisis. None. My analogy to FEMA earlier wasn't that far off. It's a total nightmare from a P.R. standpoint. From head-smackingly stupid excuses (they had "no idea that so many people" would want tickets) to an utter failure to keep the public informed in any meaningful way (thus exacerbating a situation that has already caused a huge amount of fan anger), they've mismanaged this problem so badly that you'd really think they work for the Bush Administration or something.

But it just got even worse, as the Rockies committed the cardinal sin: pissing off the media. They summoned the entire local press corps to a 5:00 PM MDT press conference (at the top of the local news broadcasts) ... then kept the reporters waiting for an hour and 15 minutes with no explanation or information whatsoever (on the live Internet feed, you could hear all the reporters talking via cell phone to their bosses, saying they had no idea what was going on) ... and then, when Rockies vice president for communications Jay Alves finally emerged at 6:15 PM, he spoke for less than 90 seconds, provided absolutely no meaningful information, took about a question-and-a-half, snapped at a reporter for no apparent reason, and walked away. Unbelievable.

Here's an audio clip. Listen to the explosion of barely controlled outrage around the 1:05 mark, when the reporters realize he's leaving them in the lurch after making them wait for a time period about 50 times longer than the length of the press conference.

Alves's performance guarantees, if it wasn't inevitable already, that the Rockies will get absolutely horrible press in every newspaper and on every TV station in Denver tonight and tomorrow. And he's the P.R. guy.

It was a terrible day for the Rockies already, but that sorry excuse for a press conference just made it far worse, because now it's personal for the press corps just like it's personal for the fans. By keeping the reporters waiting that long, without explanation, for a totally pointless non-event, and then refusing to even make a half-assed attempt at answering their questions, he's made every single one of them feel disrespected and annoyed, and I guarantee you their pique will come across in the stories they write and the reports they file. (I used to be a journalist. Trust me on this.)

Rockies ticket sale goes kaboom

By Brendan Loy

Did the Colorado Rockies put the Notre Dame athletic department in charge of their World Series ticket sales? What a fiasco:

An overwhelming demand for World Series tickets at Coors Field led to an overload of Web site servers Monday, forcing the team to suspend sales just after noon [MDT] and regroup before reopening the sales system.

The Colorado Rockies put as many as 60,000 tickets up for sale, but only online. The company that runs the servers hosting the online ticket sales program reported a problem late Monday morning with the system and said "only a few tickets had been sold."

The company, Paciolan, Inc. which runs evenue.net, said it didn't know exactly what the problem was and that it was working to fix the issue.

"Several hundred" tickets were sold before the system was shut down, said Rockies spokesman Jay Alves. He added that nearly the entire allotment of tickets for the three possible home games in Denver were still available.

Alves reported that about 8.5 million people tried to access the sales Web servers in the opening 90 minutes.

The team said it would announce when online sales would resume, possibly later Monday afternoon.

At some point, you'd think people would stop being surprised by -- and start being prepared for -- extremely heavy traffic for web events like this.

UPDATE: According to the Denver Post, Rockies spokesman Jay Alves "said the servers were overwhelemed this morning and officials had no idea that so many people would try the website."

Seriously?!?

Forget the Notre Dame athletic department. With that sort of lack of imagination and inability to anticipate head-smackingly obvious inevitabilities, this Rockies braintrust has a bright future at FEMA!

Alvie, you're doing a heckuva job!

Bring on the Rockies!

By Brendan Loy

The Red Sox win the pennant! The Red Sox win the pennant!

It's Boston against Colorado in the World Series... and I'll be in Denver -- where hopefully it won't be snowing -- the night of Game 4 and (if necessary) Game 5. YES!! GO SAWX!!!

P.S. Make it a Bud Light! Heh.

Do or die

By Brendan Loy

GO SOX!!!

Liveblog here.

P.S. Some people are watching, and liveblogging, the GOP debate instead. I'll stick to baseball.

UPDATE: ARRRGH!!! Stupid double plays!!!

UPDATE 2: It's the bottom of the sixth, and the Red Sox are clinging to a tenuous 3-2 lead. They led 3-0, and it could have been much more than that, but they couldn't take advantage of all their early hits. I don't have a terribly good feeling about how this will end, but I'm trying to keep the faith here. So, again I say, GO SOX!!!

... NOTE: I had a bunch of updates here, as the Sox dodged a bullet in the seventh, then took a big lead in the eighth and ninth... but then I accidentally deleted all those updates. D'oh! ...

FINAL UPDATE: The Red Sox win the pennant!!!! On a fantastic catch by defensive replacement Coco Crisp!! YEEEEEAAAHHH!!!!!!!!

Dammit, I somehow deleted a bunch of my updates... trying to retrieve them now...

Game 7

By Brendan Loy

Tomorrow night. Fenway Park. 8:00 PM. Matsuzaka vs. Westbrook. Winner goes to the World Series. Loser goes home.

LET'S GO SOX!!!

(Tonight's final was 12-2.)

Football & baseball update

By Brendan Loy

Washington and Oregon are tied 24-24 in the third quarter. The Huskies trailed 24-17 at halftime but scored first in the second frame, so maybe their second-half woes are finally behind them? We shall see. A win here would be huge for the bowl eligibility hopes of Washington (2-4), which has Arizona and Stanford next on its schedule. The Huskies play 13 games, so they need a 7-6 record to make a bowl game. [UPDATE: While I was writing this post, Oregon scored a TD to take a 31-24 lead with 3:38 left in the third.]

An Oregon loss would mean that Cal and Oregon, who have been the presumptive Pac-10 favorites since USC lost to Stanford, would both have 2 losses in conference, while the Trojans have just one, and Arizona State and UCLA -- yes, UCLA, which got pummelled by Utah and handed Notre Dame its only win of the season -- are both unbeaten in conference play. And with all but one game between and among the Trojans, Ducks, Bears and Devils still to come, it looks more and more like the Pac-10 standings will end up looking a bit like the SEC East. But of course, if that happens, it'll mean the Pac-10 is "overrated," whereas in the SEC, it means the conference is "really competitive."

[UPDATE 2: Um, yeah, so, nevermind. Oregon 55, Washington 34, final. Another second-half Husky collapse -- specifically, a fourth-quarter collapse. It was tied at 31-31 with 1:12 left in the third.]

Speaking of the SEC, Auburn just took a 14-7 lead over LSU. And in the Big Ten, Michigan leads Illinois 17-14 at halftime. GO ILLINI!! BREAK THE SKUNKBEAR/BUCKEYE HEGEMONY!!

Meanwhile, in baseball, the Red Sox appear well on their way (knock on wood!) to erasing their 3-1 deficit against the Indians, tying the series at 3-3 and forcing a decisive Game 7 at Fenway Park tomorrow night. Admittedly, it's only the third inning of Game 6 right now... but it's already 10-1 Boston, thanks in part to a first-inning grand slam by J.D. Drew:

Nice.

Columnist says Yanks disrespected Torre

By Brendan Loy

SI's Tom Verducci on Joe Torre and the Yankees:

[H]ere is how Levine & Co. treated the Hall of Fame bound manager: they offered to cut his pay by 23 percent -- so insulting that the players' association has rules against such a huge cut for its members -- to bring him back only for one year (which keeps their sniping of a lame-duck manager in play) and to throw in "performance bonuses" (which are unprecedented even for the least accomplished managers) based on a postseason model any baseball observer with the least bit of sense understands is more random than controllable.

One year? Goodness, Charlie Manuel, Joe Maddon and Ozzie Guillen were given multiyear contract extensions! No manager of Torre's resume or dignity would have accepted those conditions and Levine, who wanted Torre out for years, knew it. It was not the money; Torre doesn't need it. It was knowing that your employers don't want you, knowing that if another season began 21-29, as this season did, the snipers and leakers would be firing away with impunity. How could he ask respect from his players when his bosses did not respect him? ...

If the Yankees wanted to fire Torre, they should have just fired him after the ALDS, laying responsibility on him for a "failure" to get to the World Series seven straight years. It was the way of George. It was certainly their right. You could argue Torre didn't deserve it, but you had to respect the dictatorial right of Steinbrenner, even as the Yankees cling to this "World-Series-or-bust" mentality that has long been rendered obsolete in this revenue-sharing age. Instead, under Levine, they took the cowardly way out and think they are slick enough that you won't notice.

Meanwhile, Red Sox manager Terry Francona called Torre to leave him a supportive message yesterday. Francona was also asked a bunch of questions about Torre at his pregame press conference before Game 5 of the ALCS last night. He finally had to gently change the subject:

"I hope that however it came down - and nobody knows but Joe and whoever he was dealing with - I hope Joe is happy," Francona said. "I think he deserves the respect, and I think you're going to hear people in baseball, every area of baseball, say probably very, very kind, respectful things about Joe the next couple days and they're all deserved."

Overall, of the seven questions asked of Francona during his pregame news conference, three were about Torre, and he finally deflected the last one as best he could.

"This is sort of a big day for us," Francona said. "We need to try to win this game tonight or I might be getting phone calls. Joe might be calling me."

Heh.

USF vs. Rutgers, Sox vs. Indians

By Brendan Loy

South Florida and Rutgers are about to kick off another huge Thursday-night ESPN game. GameCast here.

As I said before, I expect Rutgers to pull the upset. And as a Trojan fan, I suppose I should root for the Scarlet Knights, since USC needs unbeaten teams to lose. But I just can't bring myself to root against the Bulls, not yet, not when I suspect USC will end up losing at least one more game, and South Florida -- as the resident underdog/Cinderella story -- would be my second choice among the current BCS Top 20, excluding USC. So, screw it. GO BULLS!!

Meanwhile, the Boston Red Sox and Cleveland Indians will shortly begin Game 5 of the ALCS. Can Josh Beckett get the series back to Boston, or will C.C. Sabathia outduel him this time? GO SAWX!!!

I daresay I'll be doing a fair amount of channel-flipping over the next few hours. :)

UPDATE: Dude! That punter can throw!

UPDATE 2: Okay, so I'm having trouble really jumping on the USF bandwagon here. I was on the Rutgers bandwagon last year, and darn it, I like them. I dunno. I'm not sure who I'm rooting for. I'm just enjoying watching the game. It's 20-17 Knights in the 3rd.

Meanwhile, the Red Sox lead the Indians 2-1 in the 5th. Go Sox!

UPDATE 3: Down goes Frazier South Florida! Rutgers wins an entertaining game, 30-27. The Bulls' BCS title dreams are dead.

Sorry, Jenn:

Aaaand I'm back to rooting for Rutgers to win the Big East. R-U! RAH RAH!

I feel ashamed for ever rooting against them. It was just my general love for Cinderella stories, and my desire to see BCS chaos, that caused me to flirt with USF -- but I never stopped loving you, State University of New Jersey! :)

Meanwhile, the Red Sox lead 7-1 in the 8th.

P.S. Er, when I say "rooting for Rutgers to win the Big East," that assumes UConn won't be a contender. Of course I would root for the Huskies above everyone else in that conference. But, notwithstanding their current 5-1 record, I'm assuming they will not be a serious threat to win the Big East.

P.P.S. If Ohio State loses to Michigan State on Saturday, would it be the first time in college-football history that both the #1 and #2 teams in the AP poll have lost for two consecutive weeks? Make it happen, Spartans!!

FINAL UPDATE: SOX WIN! Eight innings and a win for Beckett, one inning and a save for Papelbon. Nice. Back to Fenway, baby! See you Saturday night!!

Joe says no

By Brendan Loy

In the always punchy words of the New York Post, "Joe Torre fired The Boss."

The New York Yankees offered their manager of 12 years a one-year contract today, and Torre rejected it -- a shocking twist in the "Will Torre be fired?" speculation that has dominated baseball (well, aside from that whole playoffs thing) since the Indians eliminated the Yankees last week. So now Joe is officially gone, and the Yankees are looking for a new manager... who will know that he was George Steinbrenner's second choice.

The contract that Torre was offered would have been a pay cut -- sort of. He made $7 million this year; under the offered deal, he would have made $5 million, but with the potential for as much as $3 million in bonuses ($1 million per playoff round). So if the Yankees had been successful, he actually could have come away with as much as $8 million.

I wonder what Torre's motivation for rejecting the contract was? Did he consider the its one-year term an insult? Did he not like the bonus-based scheme? Or, the most delicious possibility of all for us Yankee-haters: was he planning this all along, rope-a-doping The Boss into making Torre an offer he don't refuse -- and then refusing it, just to embarrass the old man? Hahahaha... Joe Torre, now that you aren't a Yankee anymore, I can say this without shame: you are awesome.

Fun times on the horizon

By Brendan Loy

Plans are still somewhat up in the air, but it's looking increasingly likely that I'll be visiting Denver again from October 28-30. It will be essentially a business trip, and it'll suck to be away from Becky on my birthday, but on the bright side, I'll be in Denver on the evenings when Game 4 and, if necessary, Game 5 of the World Series are being played there. Of course, I hope I'll be rooting against the Rockies, but if the Indians do manage to close out the ALCS against the Red Sox, then I'll be root, root, rooting for the home team. Either way, although I don't expect to go to any games, it'll be fun to be in town while they're going on. Kristy and V live right downtown, less than a mile from Coors Field and in the midst of a central strip with tons of bars and such.

Then, next month, Becky and I will be going to a pair of Tennessee basketball games: the men's home opener against Temple on November 9, and the Lady Vols' showdown with Texas on November 18. There will be bigger games during the SEC season, of course, but we wanted to make it out to Thompson-Boling Arena before the baby comes. Anyway, the tickets came in the mail yesterday and today, and I've added the games to my countdown sidebar at left (along with my birthday -- dunno why I wasn't counting down to that before!).

Speaking of games, Jay and I may be going to a UT football game before the season is out -- probably either South Carolina on October 27 or Arkansas on November 10. But that's still up in the air as well.

More immediately, next Thursday, Becky and I are going to the WDVX Birthday Party at the Bijou Theater. So that should be fun. And on Tuesday, we start taking a birthing/baby class, where we get to learn all about, uh, birthing and babies and stuff.

So yeah. Lots of stuff to look forward to!

P.S. Breaking news: Shannon got a puppy! AWW!

UPDATE: Speaking of the Rockies, and of the SHA girls, Kristy was at Coors Field when Colorado won the pennant Monday night. She sent me a cell-phone photo earlier today:

Cool.

Red Sox on brink of elimination

By Brendan Loy

The Cleveland Indians are up 3 games to 1 on the Boston Red Sox. Damn. Looks like the Sox are going to have to try and pull out some of that Pete Carroll Second-Half Magic 2004 Comeback Magic.

Or, they could just start Josh Beckett in Game 5 and then head back to Fenway for Games 6 and 7. Yeah, that might work too.

Uh, but yeah. Backs against the wall, Thursday night. (No game tomorrow.) GO SAWX!!

P.S. Cleveland's magic number to win the World Series is 5. HA!

Sox down, Rockies on verge

By Brendan Loy

The Red Sox have just fallen behind 2 games to 1 in the American League Championship Series against the Indians. D'oh.

Meanwhile, the Colorado Rockies are trying to sweep the Arizona Diamonbacks tonight in Denver and advance to their first-ever World Series. The Rockies have won nine straight games and 20 of 21 -- the latter a feat "which has been done a handful of times in the 100-plus years of baseball history, but never like this, never with each of the wins so crucial, never with [six] (and counting) in the playoffs." Ironically, Colorado's only loss in the last 21 games was Arizona's playoff-clinching win. Now the D-Backs face elimination at the hands of the apparently unstoppable Rockies.

UPDATE: Make that 21 of 22. The Rockies are going to the World Series!

MLB balks at Dodd's Fenway pitch

By Joe Loy

Yes, it's a swing and a miss for Chris  :).

Here's how eastern Connecticut's Journal Inquirer called the play  (emphases added :)

Major League Baseball has put a stop to U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd's raffle of two tickets to see the Boston Red Sox play the Cleveland Indians for the American League Championship.

Dodd, a candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination and self-professed lifelong Red Sox fan, last week offered a chance at the coveted playoff tickets to supporters of his long-shot bid for the White House.

There were a couple of critical catches.

The first was that the winner had to sit in the seats next to Dodd's.

The other was that entrants had to either make a campaign contribution of $20.04, a number that represented the last time the Red Sox won the World Series three years ago, or recruit two dozen friends who would sign up on the Dodd campaign Web site.

The tickets were for Game 6 of the playoff series, and, if that didn't happen because the Sox eliminated the Indians, the winner could go to Game 2 of the World Series.

Should the Sox lose the playoffs, Dodd was promising the winner free airfare to Iowa or New Hampshire to join him on the campaign trail.

But Dodd spokeswoman Colleen Flanagan said Friday that Major League Baseball had "scuttled" the plan...

Here's a Boston Globe take.  / The "Contribute" page linked from Chris's campaign website states:

"NOTE: The Chris Dodd Fenway Tickets contest is no longer active. Thank you."

:)

The Yankees Lose! The Yankees Lose!

By JLR

Forgive me whilst I gloat over this. 

Next Round--Indians and Red Sox // Rockies and Diamondbacks.

Let's go Sawx!

Bronx B*stards' owner: Maybe we need a new manager

By JLR

If I'm George Steinbrenner and have more money than God, and I use it every year to buy the best team that I possibly can, and they can't win their division or make it past the first round of the playoffs... it must be the manager's fault.

Right, George.  Blame Torre because your bought team can't win the championship every year.

Oh, and Go Sox!  Spank that Rally Monkey!

Coming up: 100 years since the Cubs won a World Series

By JLR

The Arizona Diamondbacks have become the first team to advance to their Championship Series, completing their sweep of the Chicago Cubs.  Since Arizona finished with the best record in the National League this season, they know that they will face the winner of the Phillies/Rockies series at home in Phoenix on Thursday and Friday.

My heart goes out to Cubs fans, who will have to again say "Maybe next year," which will  be the 100th anniversary of the start of The Curse of the Billy Goat.

With Boston, Cleveland, and Colorado all up 2-0 in their respective series, the first round of this year's playoffs might go quickly.  Go Sox!  Spank the Rally Monkey!

Update: WTF?  The lights are off in Colorado!  The dumb thing?  Only the lights went out!  The scoreboard and smaller scoreboards around the field are still on!

~~The lights went out here because of a computer error!  There was no power outage at all.

Baseball playoff update

By Brendan Loy

The Cubs are in deep trouble as they head home to Chicago. The Rockies, on the other hand, are on the verge as they come home to Denver. Back in the AL, the Yankees are down 1-0 even as the Red Sox are up 1-0.

Rockies vs. Diamondbacks in the NLCS, Indians vs. Red Sox in the ALCS? That's how it looks so far, but it could all very easily change, especially in the AL.

Go Sox!

Josh Beckett

By Brendan Loy

is awesome.

Playoff update

By JLR

For those of you who haven't heard (either you've been living under a rock or have been clouded in a sea of purple Rox fans)... Here are the Division Series updates as of this morning.  All games are on TBS; all times are Eastern (what's the point of posting if I can't show my own east-coast bias?).

01 (game 2 Friday at BOS, 8:30)

0 0  (game 1 today at CLE, 6:30)

1 0 (game 2 today at PHI, 3:00)

0 1 (game 2 today at ARI, 10:00)

It's playoff time!

By JLR

It took a while (especially given the 13-inning one-game playoff for the NL Wildcard), but the 2007 MLB playoffs are set:

vs

vs

vs

vs

Update: Phillies logo fixed, I hope.

Kill the Rally Monkey

By JLR

Kill the Rally Monkey.

*Signed*: Red Sox Nation

PS: And go Indians--kill the Bronx Bastards!