Time Out for Sports Talk: Falling Back on a Winning Formula
Todd: Hope you all had a haunted Also hope you turned your clocks back one hour last weekend, otherwise you’ve been running an hour early for everything this week, which might not necessarily a bad thing if you typically run late. Anyway, time to delete a few more folders from the hard drive…
File under too bad, so sad: in the words of John Sterling, Mets lose, Mets lose, thhhhuuuuuhhh Mets lose! I suppose my hatred for New York’s second baseball team has waned thanks to 2004, 2007 and 2013. But it still annoys me that the 1986 Red Sox had to gift-wrap those ‘Noo Yawkuhs’ a World Series, especially since at the time I was attending a New England liberal arts university equally divided between Sox and Mets fans.
Quick digression – I hope New Englanders managed to enjoy last Sunday, when the Mets ended their season, the Jets defense was clobbered in Oakland, and the Giants scored 49 points yet still lost to the Saints. If only the Knicks were playing that day, as they surely would have added to the fun of Schadenfreude Sunday, a much needed coping method for the end of daylight savings time.
For Sox fans, this year’s World Series provided some karmic payback. As I read on one comment board, the Mets managed to ‘Buckner’ Game 4 and ‘Grady Little’ Game 5. Thanks to the hole in Daniel Murphy’s glove and the lack of quality pitches left in Matt Harvey’s tired arm (and for convincing his manager to pitch the ninth inning). At least Harvey has the consolation of his NL Comeback Player of the Year award, as well as having Scott Boras for an agent.
I know it’s not what screen writer Bob Gale predicted in Back to the Future Part II, but it was still nice to see the Royals win their first World Series since 1985, the year the original BTTF movie debuted in theaters. To see where that baseball franchise had been the last three decades and for them to reach the top again, especially as a mid-market, smaller budget team, is good for baseball in general.
Tying Kansas City’s success into the current group of Red Sox (sorry Jonny Gomes, you’re not included after hijacking the victory speech from your Royals teammates who actually played this postseason), the group of Alex Gordon, Eric Hosmer, Mike Moustakas, Salvador Perez and Lorenzo Cain have more or less all been mainstays in the Royals’ lineup since 2011. General Manager Dayton Moore stuck with these young hitters and it all came together five seasons later. I’m hopeful Dave Dombrowski will do the same with Bogaerts, Betts, Bradley, Swihart and Rodriguez, because it could all come together for those guys as well.
Hoops and hockey talk: Celtics didn’t catch any breaks from the NBA’s schedule makers to start this season, as coach Brad Stevens has been challenged to find the right rotation among his top ten players. While this year’s Green Team might be deep, they also need time to develop some chemistry and find someone other than Isaiah Thomas who can consistently score.
As for the Bruins, enjoy the offensive explosiveness while it lasts, because I’m not sure it can last an entire season. And I know it’s so easy to say now, but watching Tyler Seguin in a Dallas uniform the other night is a reminder of a trade that will likely haunt Cam Neely and company for the next 10-15 years. Are we sure Seguin wasn’t featured in the Bruins fans’ borough of the Town of Terror?
Football fans, consider this not so far-fetched scenario: AFC playoffs feature three 15-1 teams, meaning one of them would not get a bye and actually have to play on wild card weekend. Then add in a pair of 8-8 wild card clubs to the mix along with the AFC South champion Indianapolis Colts, who may very well win that sorry division with a 6-10 record and who just fired their offensive coordinator. Looks like Jim Irsay picked the wrong week to quit amphetamines, especially now that the Colts have no Pep.
Meanwhile, our 7-0 Patriots continue to make it look somewhat easy and wrap up their three-game home stand this week with another opponent that likely won’t provide much pushback. I think the only significant stat I can offer about the Redskins is that the last four times the Patriots played them in the regular season, they advanced to the Super Bowl (should I leave out that they lost 3 of those 4 SBs?). This looks to be a pick-your-score type of game, which works out perfect for us: Patriots 41, Redskins 18.
Week 9 Picks (2-1 last time, 14-7 season): This week I’m taking the Jets over the Jaguars, Saints over the Titans and the Falcons over the 49ers.
Mike: I must say, I also took great pleasure in watching the Mets blow the final game of the World Series at home. Unlike you Todd, three Sox World Series titles have not softened my hatred of the Mets, and seeing them just choke was too awesome for words.
It is actually nice to see Kansas City win the World Series. For too long, baseball was in a state where a small market team like the Royals had little to no chance of harboring championship hopes going into a season as the big boys had it pretty much wrapped up.
For whatever reason, that has changed, and now there are more teams that have a real shot at a championship, and that just makes things more exciting for everybody. The only exception to this is the Cubs, because after this year, I am firmly convinced that there is nothing that anyone can do to make that club win. They are just going to torture their fans by getting somewhat close, and then fall short. I know the Red Sox finally broke through, but this seems different to me with the Cubs. It seems like fate really does hate the Cubbies, and not even Marty McFly can change that.
As for the Patriots, the road to 16-0 continues through the Redskins, and this is looking like another virtual bye week for New England. Pats win 34-10.
Before I get away from this game, I do want to say that there has been a lot of talk this week about the name Redskins and how it should be changed. I do agree that the name is offensive and it is ridiculous to try and defend it. I could make an argument as to why this is do, but I think it would be better said by the noted philosopher/poet Eric Cartman:
Week 9 Picks (1-2 last time, 11-10 season): For the rest of the games, I'll take the Broncos over the Colts, the Eagles over Dallas and the Packers over Carolina.
Our next LIVE show is coming up on Wednesday, November 18 from 8-9pm. You can post your questions via Twitter using the hashtag #TOSTnov18 or call in at (617) 484-2443.
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