I still think five teams are set for the National League “bracket” of the baseball “tournament.”
The teams very likely will be the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, St. Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds.
However, the Arizona Diamondbacks are now within 5 games for playoff qualification. Also don’t look now but the Washington Nationals are only 7 games behind.
The Cardinals are now one and a half games ahead of the Pirates in the NL Central. Pittsburgh acquired two good players from the Mets in Marlon Byrd and john Buck.
The Pirates still figure to make the post season games for the first time in 21 years. Perhaps John Buck will get his name called by Joe Buck during the World Series. That was virtually impossible before the trade and now is possible.
Former Mets Byrd and Buck
There was quite a basketball game last night, a two overtime thriller in which the home team had to scramble back from a 19 point deficit in the fourth quarter.
Basketball you say, but which league? It was in the WNBA and in the game the second place Los Angeles Sparks trailed the last (6th) place Tulsa Shock by 19 points in the ten minute WNBA fourth quarter.
However, they fought back to win the game in two overtimes and now the Sparks trail the first place Minnesota Lynx by only one game in the WNBA West.
I believe there is some exciting, good play in the WNBA. I hope to have some coverage of the upcoming WNBA playoffs.
Last year due to the Olympics, the WNBA season went well into October, hence conflicting with the baseball post season as well as big time football. This year the overlap will not be as pronounced.
The Fox Sports site, in reporting on a WNBA game between the Sparks and Shock referred to the Shock as the Detroit Shock.
The Shock, who lost a heartbreaker in two overtimes at Los Angeles vs the Sparks last night, are near the end of their fourth season as the Tulsa Shock and not the Detroit Shock.
Somehow this mistake in reporting comes as no “shock” to me.
I checked again and they have corrected their mistake. The mistake was there as of 1 PM eastern time and I am noting it.
Also worth noting, was the thrilling game referenced above that the favored and second place Sparks won in 2 overtimes vs the last place (6th) Shock.
L.A. trailed by 19 points in the fourth quarter. Quarters are 10 minutes long in the WNBA. Perhaps we will devote some coverage to the WNBA playoffs.
This despite the fact they will coincide with the baseball stretch run and playoffs as well as the start of regular season football.
Tomorrow night, Monday August 26th, at 9 eastern time, HBO will air “Glickman,” a documentary about the life of the great sportscaster, Marty Glickman.
I know some of the people involved in the documentary and sense this will be a really good piece of work.
Certainly the subject, Marty Glickman, who died in 2001 has greatness all about him. His life was compelling and surely the documentary will touch on the transcendent events involving Marty and Sam Stoller, as each was denied a chance to participate in the 1936 Olympics.
This is the first documentary for James L. Friedman; a writer, director and producer, who worked with Marty on a late night sports show. I recall that show airing on WNEW in New York.
In just thinking about WNEW, my anticipation for this documentary grows. Great memories of Marty’s broadcasts of New York Giants’ football games on that station are rekindled.
Of course things can change very easily during the course of a baseball season. However, it really looks as though two of the three National League divisional races are over and that we probably know all five NL baseball tournament participants at this relatively early point in the season.
Surely, the Atlanta Braves with a 14 game lead will win the NL East. Barring a monumental change, it will be the Braves’ first divisional title since 2005. That year Atlanta grabbed the last of their 14 straight divisional titles, the first three being far more impressive, “one quarter” and not “one eighth” titles.
It is very likely the Los Angeles Dodgers will win the NL West. If and almost certainly when they do it will be just their 5th division title since 1988, when they last won the NL Pennant and for that matter, the World Series.
Three teams from the NL Central will likely comprise the other three teams in the National League side of the baseball tournament.
In any order those teams are the St.Louis Cardinals, Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds. At the moment the Arizona Diamondbacks, the closest of those teams “on the outside looking in” are 7 games behind for playoff qualification.
Did I watch the entire movie this time? No, but I have many times including once on the big screen. Each time I see any or all of the classic “Gone With The Wind,” I feel enriched in some manner.
“GWTW” aired on TCM last night as part of the “Summer Under the Stars” August feature on the fabulous Turner Classic Movies channel.
Yesterday’s star was the incredible Hattie Mc Daniel, “Mammy,” in “Gone With the Wind,” for which she became the first black actor/actress to be both nominated for and win an Academy Award.
The fabulous TCM host Robert Osborne set the scene for “Gone With the Wind” with his usual array of great facts and tidbits.
So well spoken, precise and classy, Osborne is so great in his role as host, that I can almost forget the other drek (an Italian word, “ha ha”—no “LOL” for me just as certainly no “w–k –f,” for a game ending baseball play) that permeates the airwaves. The operative word is almost as even Osborne is not that great as to do the impossible.
Knowing the Academy Awards are “apples and oranges” but with a reverence for movie history, I repeat the five nominated films out of the ten nominated, cited by Osborne for the great movie year of 1939.
“Gone With The Wind” won the award. “Goodbye Mr. Chips,” whose Robert Donat won the best actor award, “The Wizard of Oz,” “Stagecoach” and “Ninotchka” were the nominated films cited by Osborne.
In the movie (GWTW), Olivia de Havilland’s “Melanie Hamilton Wilkes” tells Leslie Howard’s “Ashley Wilkes” she will love him until her death.
In real life not reel life, (a truly “reaching for” phrase by me–sorry–), Mr. Howard died 70 years ago when a plane he was in was shot down during World War Two. He was a superb actor.
Ms. de Havilland is 97 years old and on some level great work like “Gone With The Wind” is loved for all time.
By the way, time, that most precious of commodities, is recognized in “Gone With The Wind.” I noticed a sign warning not to waste it while watching “Gone With The Wind” last night. Again, I was enriched watching this classic.
While informing the audience of the day’s scores last Friday, New York Mets broadcaster Josh Lewin said the Cardinals lost. The proper “etiquette” if you will, is to say this afternoon the Cubs defeated the Cardinals.
Later, Lewin said the Kansas City Royals have not made the playoffs in 27 years. It was 1985, 28 years ago, that K.C. last made the post season, winning their only world title.
In reporting that the Royals won a doubleheader at Detroit (of course it was separate admissions as “Force” or Deity forbid the fans, who keep on “taking it,” should get a break and have a one admission doubleheader), Lewin authoritatively stated that “the Royals are not going away.” They lost the next two games at Detroit and more important are 6 games out for playoff qualification.
Even more brash and at least equally mistake prone, was Evan Roberts, this morning on an all sports talk radio station.
In talking about a Roger Clemens ALCS masterpiece for the Yankees vs the Seattle Mariners, he said it was in game 5 of a (2-2) series, making the game much more important than the actual facts.
It was game four, (the Yankees ahead two games to one) which Roberts eventually noted as his producer looked it up.
Why couldn’t Roberts, who knew he was going to talk about that game this morning have looked it up? The least he could have done was have his producer look it up before he went on the air.
Later while talking to Toronto Blue Jays’ outfielder, Jose Bautista, Roberts talked of Bautista’s big year (54 home runs) in 2010, saying it was four years ago. Did he and Lewin have the same math teacher? No, Lewin’s taught to be one less than correct, Roberts one more.
Alas, countless hosts and broadcasters rip into the player’s performances. A host named Russo would actually say certain big league players “stunk.” This though they were of elite caliber by definition, in making the big leagues.
So often these announcers do not as much as get their facts correct. Unlike the players who do face opposition in their quests, no one is trying to stop them.
Some thoughts about Football.
Last night, the Buffalo Bills won by four points vs the Minnesota Vikings. Each of those franchises lost in the four Super Bowls in which they appeared. Neither team has been to the “Supe” since the Bills lost their fourth Super Bowl in four straight seasons after the 1993 season.
The Vikings last appeared in the Super Bowl after the 1976 season, suffering a fourth Super Bowl loss in seven seasons. Minnesota never led in any of their four Super Bowl appearances.
A more positive Super Bowl history concerning the number “four” manifests concerning the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
First of all, last night the Patriots won by four points vs the Buccaneers. From (2001-2004), the Patriots and Buccaneers combined to win all four Super Bowls in that time span. The Patriots won in 2001, 2003 and 2004 but have not won one since that time.
The 2002 title season for the Buccaneers occurred in their only Super Bowl appearance.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have played tremendous baseball since the All Star break going (23-3). Last night, they completed a three game sweep of the New York Mets getting the key, tying, two run home run from pinch hitter, Andre Ethier in the bottom of the ninth inning before winning in 12 innings.
The Dodgers have won 40 of 48 games and lead the second place Arizona Diamondbacks by seven and a half games in the NL West.
With this hot streak, the city of Los Angeles is really responding to the Dodgers, whose popularity and performance had waned in recent years.
The Dodgers are one of the great franchises in all of sports. As one of their owners, the former NBA great Earvin “Magic” Johnson said when buying in, they are a great “brand.”
Their history is rich with production especially within the National League and peaked from (1947-1966) when the Dodgers, in Brooklyn until 1958, and then in Los Angeles, won half the pennants contested in those 20 seasons.
The Dodgers have not won the National League Pennant since 1988 which was also the last year that they won the World Series. They are currently experiencing the longest pennant drought in Dodgers’ history, certainly since the advent of World Series play in 1903.
Current major league managers, Kirk Gibson, coincidentally with the Diamondbacks, and Mike Scioscia, with the other LA team, the highly disappointing Angels, each hit huge, even epic home runs in that 1988 Dodgers’ title run.
Much has happened since and there is a long way to go this season. Certainly, who knows about post season?
At this point, however, the Dodgers great run of 40 wins in 48 games deserves much credit.
Click here to see Gibson’s epic home run
Click here to see Scioscia’s epic home run
1988 Dodgers
Raiders will be the visiting team in the annual Thanksgiving Day tilt at Dallas vs the Cowboys.
This will be the first time that the Raiders will be in that game. While the Raiders are perceived to win about six games and Dallas about nine, there is no diminishing these two teams’ national appeal.
The Cowboys, whom I believe first played on Thanksgiving in 1966, certainly had their first big season in 1966. From 1966-1983, the Cowboys made the playoffs an incredible 17 of 18 times. In none of those seasons, were there even 5 teams per conference or league making the post season, no less the six from each conference that qualify today.
The Raiders began their great run a year later in 1967, going to the second Super Bowl. In their rout win vs the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) in the AFL Title game, the Raiders had a touchdown off a faked field goal attempt, with veteran Dave Kocourek scoring.
From 1967-1985, the Raiders made the playoffs 14 of 18 seasons with the same tougher qualification standards than are in place today.
Though in the playoffs together 13 times during those 20 seasons (1966-1985), the two teams never met in the Super Bowl.
The Raiders have won three Super Bowls but their last was in the season that began 30 years ago.
The Cowboys have won 5 Super Bowls but none since the 1995 season. This year, who knows? It’s nice to reflect on each team’s past glory and look forward to their Thanksgiving Day clash.
Oakland vs Houston 1967
