Why don’t more people HATE the St. Louis Cardinals?

    For any of you that have been here before, you probably realize where I am coming from on this issue.  I’m a Cubs fan, let’s get that out there up front, so that is where my hatred of the Cards started, but the more I think about it on an objective basis I can’t understand why the hell more people don’t hate the St. Louis Cardinals.  Let’s be honest, hating other sports teams is just as much a part of Americana as cheering for your own.  This usually stems from a couple things.  One possibility is of course the rivalry.  ESPN makes sure that we know how much hate is involved in the Red Sox-Yankees feud, we here about the Dodgers-Giants and recently the Cubs-Cardinals have been getting more national attention.  As sports fans we are programmed to understand why fans of one of these teams hates everything about their rivals.  Another type of hatred is a lot less common.  This is of course the hatred of one team by the majority of the rest of the league.  The best example of this is probably the New York Yankees.  Most teams and fans are just envious of the financial resources at the Yankees’ disposal, but there is a lot more that plays into it too.  It is this type of hatred that got me wondering why anyone not a Cardinals fan wouldn’t seriously dislike them.

The Tigers need to stop this lying

Let me first say that I don’t think Kenny Rogers’ pine tar on the hand was the key to his pitching. The Cardinals clearly couldn’t hit the man either way. The Cardinals had one hit on Rogers with the substance on the hand, and one the next seven. Rogers was rolling regardless.

But, uh, I have to think that it was pine tar on his hand and not a clump of dirt, as he happens to claim. I mean, there’s the picture, linked from Espn.com. Oh, and that shot on the left? From the ALCS against the A’s, not two shots from last night. So this was not a clump of dirt, as Kenny claimed after the game. But, the Tigers just couldn’t get their story straight…

Ah, Sweet Lou, welcome to HELL

    I guess I should start by saying that I wasn’t really in favor of this whole Lou Piniella thing.  I wasn’t really sure that Joe Girardi was the right answer either, and in fact I’m certain that I’m not the most qualified person in the world to be making a decision like this, but then again I’m not sure Jim Hendry is either.  We do have him to thank for the last 4 wonderful years with latest ESPN genius-analyst, Dusty Baker.  Now that I’ve got that out in the open, I’ve resolved myself to get behind Sweet Lou in all his base throwing, dirt kicking, grumpy ass wonderfulness.  So its time to put our magical, yet rarely seen by Cub’s fans, optimism hats and take a look at what might be ahead for our intrepid Cubbies next season. 

Beware the Neifarious One (def. flagrantly wicked or impious)

No I didn’t spell that incorrectly, I am talking about the one and only Neifi Perez. For those that couldn’t catch the Tigers’ Game 1 win over the Athletics, perhaps the biggest story was how Sean Casey went all Nomar on himself and strained his calf/Achilles coming out of the batters box. I haven’t heard the definitive word on the seriousness of the injury, Casey was to undergo an MRI at some point today, but at the very least he is ruled out of the lineup for Game 2. Jim Leyland announced that Carlos Guillen would move over to 1st base and Neifi Perez would move into the starting lineup at shortstop. Yeah, THAT Neifi Perez.

I’m glad Joe Torre is getting fired…

Not because I think it is a good move, not because it is a bad move. Not because I give a damn about the Yankees, but because I have no idea how good of a manager Joe Torre is. My gut feeling is that Joe Torre isn’t a spectacular head coach, but uh, he has all those damn World Series rings and gets to the playoffs a lot.

I’m not going to say that I could coach those Yankee teams to those wins, because that would be a silly thing to say, but I do think that a whole lot of baseball managers could coach those teams to those wins. Torre has a career .537 winning percent as a manager, but a .607 win percentage in New York.  He hasn’t won a World Series since 2000, and even though he has won the AL East in all of the seasons since then and has only once finished 2nd in the Division, they’ve had talent levels that other teams dream of. Not to mention, when they need to go out and add a player, they at least tend to go out and add some piece, even if it isn’t the perfect piece.

I didn’t realize Boston made the playoffs this year

I want to start off by saying that while I’m about to rip on Bill Simmons, I actually really like his work. I’m a fan of his writing style, and I like how he molds pop culture and sports together which I don’t find being done a lot of other places. That being said, I was really excited to see that he was going to keep a running diary of all the first games of the 4 divisional playoff match-ups. As any of you have to know if you have read really any of Bill Simmons’ work, he’s from Boston and an unabashed Red Sox fan. I certainly don’t have a problem with that in and of itself, but last time I checked the Red Sox didn’t make the playoffs this year. In fact I believe they finished behind the TORONTO BLUE JAYS. Well if you read Simmons’ playoff diaries you just might think the Red Sox are primed for a playoff run.

Roy Williams Presents

Roy Williams coming to you folks once again on the Internets. Ya’ll like my catch to end the ballgame against the Rams this past week? Yeah, so what if I was out of bounds? It was a hail mary at the end of a loss, you’re lucky Roy gave a damn enough to catch that ball. My recollection of that moment in 10 years will be of the catch, who cares about the scoreboard?

Now, sitting here watching this playoff contest between the Dodgers and the Mets, I’m reminded of a playoff moment from the 1980s. It was the ’88 World Series. A’s and the Dodgers. Do you remember Kirk Gibson? Well, I do. He had injured his leg in the previous series, but was ready to go in Game One of this game. He came up with the Dodgers down 4-3 and a runner on first base against Dennis Eckersley in the bottom of the 9th, two outs. Everyone lives to be in a situation like this…Gibson even worked a 3-2 count, and then, it happened, the moment Roy will never forget…

Gibson swings on a backdoor slider…connects…High fly ball into right field…and a lazy can of corn into the glove of the rightfielder. Great moment, he just couldn’t produce, but, to Dennis Eckersley, a job well done and I’m sure he was celebrating.

Until next time, remember, I’m Roy Williams…Hey, in Roy’s world, the score doesn’t matter, baby. And when the score don’t matter, we have to look at the moments that could have mattered.

Since this was just a short take, feel free to check out my longer look at last year’s USC Trojans Rose Bowl Victory. 

It’s a great day to be a Chicago sports fan . . . or is it?

Of course the Chicago Bears emerging as the apparent class of the NFC is a great development, but it isn’t really a surprise to anyone that is actually a Bears fan. And in even more exciting news, not only did Dusty Baker not get a contract extension, but, team president Andy McPhail took it upon himself to fall on his sword and resign his position. Neither of these developments instantly make the Cubs better next year, but there is reason to be excited . . .right? The Cubs organization can’t possibly fill the head coach and team president with two more incompetent individuals . . .right? Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news in the light of all this optimism, but click the read more link to find out why the Cubs are in no way, shape, or form in better shape then they were a couple weeks ago.

Tigers fans, this is what you should have wanted…

Detroit Tigers fans lucked themselves into a better postseason matchup by losing the AL Central to the Minnesota Twins this weekend. Now, I’m not going to guarantee a Tiger win over the Yankees. The Yankees are really good. Excellent line-up, so on down the line. But, you want to play the Yankees if you’re a Tigers fan…you did not want to play Oakland in a five game Series.
However, when it comes to postseason baseball, and a short five game Series, the Tigers had no shot to beat the Oakland Athletics, but at least have a prayer against the Yankees. Now, if it turns out to be a Shaun Alexander prayer that just offers a glimmer of hope, but ultimately, the prayer gets slapped back down, so be it. But, the possibility is at least there. I know, I know, I’m putting a lot of stock into pitching, but, this is postseason baseball, afterall.

Terrell Owens and the St. Louis Cardinals had something in common last night

A week ago, Terrell Owens just had a finger injury and an ego.

A week ago, the St. Louis Cardinals had an 8 and a half game lead in the NL Central.

Last night, they both decided the hell with that and emerge this morning as a mental whack job and a team with a 1 1/2 game lead.

Terrell Owens attempted general suicide and the Cardinals, well, they’re just not giving a damn about making the playoffs. One of the two drowned their sorrows with 35 pain pills. That, was Owens. The Cardinals just can’t beat anybody right now.