Time Out for Sports Talk: Take Me Away, I Don’t Mind
Todd: But you better promise me I’ll be back in time.
Ok, I think I’ve been more than a little obsessed with the Back to the Future movie trilogy, driven in part (pun somewhat intended) by the constant airing of a certain car commercial the past few weeks.
I suppose the other reason those movies are on my mind is because next Wednesday—October 21, 2015—is the future date that Professor Brown, Marty and Jennifer travel to in BTTF II, which we’ll commemorate at the top of our live TOST starting at 8:00pm that night. When I first saw this movie in the theater, that date felt like a whole other lifetime away. Now it’s here, and in some ways 1985 doesn’t feel like it was thirty years ago.
Anyway, you’ll recall in BTTF II when they went to the future, that many predictions were made about what our world would look like three decades later. Maybe Robert Zemeckis and his crew didn’t nail the predictions about flying cars, hoverboards or nineteen Jaws movies. But one incredible hunch they had was the Chicago Cubs winning the 2015 World Series (though they got the opponent wrong--but give them credit-there was no team in Miami when the movie was made).
Now I know the Cubs haven’t accomplished that seemingly impossible feat just yet. But they are playing in the NLCS and, for the moment, have again prevented the fabric of the space-time continuum from unraveling. Don’t forget this was a team that won only 73 games last year and was tied for the seventh worst record in MLB. I’m not even sure old friend and Chicago’s VP of Baseball Ops Theo Epstein would have predicted this type of meteoric rise from his young club.
This year’s Cubs won 97 games and had the third best record in baseball, but unfortunately had to play in the one division that featured the only two teams—the Pirates and Cardinals—that won more games. Undeterred, the boys of Joe Maddon have disposed of them both in these playoffs, despite not having home field advantage.
Seriously, why is the Cubs/BTTF connection not a bigger October baseball story? Maybe folks are still waiting to see if they can actually advance to the Fall Classic, which has only eluded the franchise for 70 years (compared to the 107 years that have passed since the Cubs’ last championship). Regardless, I suggest popping in your BTTF II DVD while you enjoy a pizza fresh out of the hydrator.
Apologies for the baseball diversion, but while we’re on the topic, how about those Toronto Blue Jays? They looked as good as gone a week ago after losing the first two games of the ALDS at Rogers Centre. But the way they stormed back to win three straight was impressive, and that seventh inning of Game 5 packed about as much drama and emotion as can see in the postseason.
Now for some football talk, although not much to say about the Patriots’ 30-6 win in Big D last week. The offensive line struggled and Tom Brady was sacked five times in the first half, the most that’s happened to him since his first year as a starter in 2001. Yet they still won by 24 points in a game which wasn’t even that competitive. Big thanks to Brandon Weeden for having no clue how to win in the NFL.
The one concern from last week was finding out left tackle Nate Solder has been placed on season-ending IR with a torn bicep. An ever-rotating Pats O-line has to shuffle yet again, with either Sebastien Vollmer moving over from right tackle or Marcus Cannon taking over as Brady’s blind side protector. It’s an important job, so whoever winds up there can’t afford to slip up too often if TB12 is going to remain healthy—avocado ice cream can only do so much.
Looking ahead to the Colts, we all know about footballs and air pressure and revenge. But the real story is on the field, where the Pats are 4-0 against Indy in the Andrew Luck era, outscoring them 189-73. The Pats have run for nearly 200 yards per game while scoring 15 rushing touchdowns. Will the Pats offense continue to ground and pound with LaGarrette Blount and Deon Lewis? Might as well until the Colts prove they can stop it.
Offensively for the Colts, who is more likely to succeed at quarterback? All signs point to Luck being healthy enough to play Sunday night, but is it possible that Matt Hasselbeck might be better equipped to handle the pressure of this game? This game has had blowout written all over it for weeks, yet I think it’s going to be closer than we think. Patriots 38, Colts 20.
Week 6 Picks (1-2 last week, 10-5 season): While Mike mentioned the Town of Terror last week, I was reminded about my frightening picks the last few weeks. To try and rectify my recent slide, let’s go with Jets over Redskins, Seahawks over Panthers and Packers over Chargers.
Mike: First of all, if Back to the Future 2 can get the Cubs thing right, why did they miss so badly on other things? Here are the things that I really want to see:
- Flying cars
- Power lace-up shoes
- Hoverboards
- Mr. Fusion
Actually, this is how it would look if the movie was made today! (Warning-some NSFW language)
OK, now that I've got that out of my system, we can move ahead.
How much do the TV networks hate the fact that the ALCS is Toronto vs. Kansas City? I mean, could you find worse TV markets for US television? Wow. At least the NL has some cities where people watch baseball.
If the Cubs have any sense of humor, if they make the World Series, they should have Christopher Lloyd and/or Michael J. Fox throw out the first pitch and bonus points if they do it after rolling up in a Delorean. (Lea Thompson, who played Marty's mom did it)
Ok, now I'm done.
On to the Patriots. This is going to be short and sweet.
This is going to be a punishment for Deflategate. I don't care what is being said publicly, the Patriots have had this game circled on their calendars all season, and they are going to try and embarrass the Colts in front of their own fans and a national television audience.
I see the Patriots winning this one 59-17. Though if they can run the score up to 70, they will.
Week 6 Picks (3-0 last week, 8-7 season): OK--let's see if I can get another perfect week this week. I'll take the Bengals over the Bills, the Cardinals over the Steelers and the Vikings over the Chiefs.
One last thing, the Colts used to be accused of pumping in artificial crowd noise in the old RCA Dome to make life hard for opposing offenses. But that has stopped in the new stadium. I wonder if the NFL said this to the Colts?
Our next LIVE show is coming up on Wednesday, October 21 from 8-9pm. You can post your questions via Twitter using the hashtag #TOSToct21 or call in at (617) 484-2443.
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