Halloween update

Cardinals Capture Their 11th World Series

• On Friday night, the St. Louis Cardinals won their second World Series in 6 years defeating the Texas Rangers in game 7. The 11th championship in the franchise’s history; putting them second on the list of franchises championships. This game may be the last played by Albert Pujols as a Cardinal, as he is a free agent this offseason and will be looking for a big contract. Cardinals Hall of Fame Manager Tony LaRussa won the third World Series of his storied managerial career.
• The Cardinals sent their ace Chris Carpenter out, thanks to a rain day last Wednesday that pushed the game out a day which allowed Carpenter to get enough rest after pitching in game 5. The Texas Rangers tagged Carpenter early with 2-runs in the first inning as all 4 of the first 4 Texas hitters reached base. Things were not looking good for the Cardinals and the Rangers were looking good after a devastating loss the night before.
• However, the Cardinals tied the score in their half of the inning and went onto score another 4 runs. After the slow start Carpenter settled in and pitched through the 6th inning without giving up another run. David Freese, the hero of game 6, was named the MVP of the World Series. He is the 6th player in the history of baseball to be named the MVP of both the World Series and the League Championship series (the semifinals).
• While the Series win was a treat for the Cardinals, it was definitely a cruel trick for the Rangers who would have won the Series if, among other things, Nelson Cruz had simply caught David Freese's deep fly ball. It may or may not be the most debilitating collapse in American sports history and for a franchise that's never won a World Series, it will certainly be tough to swallow.

Major upsets in NFL, college football


• The last weekend in October was a big one for a number of teams, and many failed to answer the call. A week after #3 Oklahoma suffered their first loss, they played undefeated #8 Kansas State and after K-State took a 17-14 lead, they forgot to continue playing and let Oklahoma steamroll them, 58-17.
• The Clemson Tigers were also undefeated and looking for a BCS Title game possibility but they got beaten soundly, 31-17, by Georgia Tech whose well run triple option offense gives defenses firs because it is so rare and unconventional in today's game.
• Stanford nearly suffered a similar fate as it's fellow top 8 contemporaries but barely escaped with a 56-48 win in triple overtime against Southern Cal. Andrew Luck's Cardinal are now the 4th ranked team in the BCS standings and with #1 LSU and #2 Alabama playing each other next week, will likely move up to #3 after that game. Oklahoma State sits at #3 currently.
• In the NFL, the woeful Arizona Cardinals jumped out to a 24-3 lead over the Baltimore Ravens but former Cardinals star WR Anquan Boldin (7 catches for 145 yards) and his new team, the Ravens, avoided a second straight bad loss by beating the Cardinals 30-27 with a late rally.
• The New York Giants fell behind the winless Miami Dolphins 14-3 early but ended up rallying for a 20-17 win. The St. Louis Rams, however, did manage to get their first win after jumping off to a huge lead against the Saints and holding on for a 31-21 win. The fact that the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series in baseball can't be completely written off as a reason for this win as that victory gave the entire city a morale boost.
• In what could only be called a mild upset, the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the New England Patriots 25-17 after leading nearly the entire game. The Patriots were 5-1, considered by many to be the best team in the NFL and Tom Brady sported a 6-1 career record against the Steelers but all those stats meant nothing today as Pittsburgh and QB Ben Roethlisberger dominated the game that really didn't seem as close as the score indicated.

October 3rd update

Incredible comebacks top Week 4 of NFL storylines

Generally speaking, if you're down by 20 or more in the NFL in the second half, you're likely to be going home with your tail between your legs. But this season has shown that no lead is safe (and we're not just talking about football) and no game should be phoned in until the clock reads o.oo.
• 2 weeks after the Cowboys lost a game where they had a 14 point lead in the 4th quarter for the first time in team history, they managed to lose to the still undefeated Lions despite the fact that they led 27-3 in the 3rd quarter, assisted by 3 second half interceptions by Tony Romo.
• The Eagles, who many thought would be far and away the best team in the NFC this season, led the 49ers 23-3 but found a way to lose despite a phenomenal game from a banged-up Michael Vick, who snapped at reporters afterwards. The Eagles are now 1-3 while the 49ers are 3-1.
• The Giants trailed the Arizona Cardinals by 10 with less than 4 minutes but took advantage of a controversial call that negated what looked to be an obvious fumble by WR Victor Cruz. On the very next play, Eli Manning threw a TD pass to pass catching machine Hakeem Nicks and the Giants would hold on to win.
• The undefeated Buffalo Bills diverted from their winning strategy of the past 2 weeks, opting not to fall behind by 18+ points and then come back to win as they had in each of those 2 games. Instead, they led the Cincinnati Bengals for most of the game but lost on a late FG 23-20.
• It's only appropriate that the last game to be played this week is Indianapolis at Tampa Bay on Monday Night because the last time these teams played in Tampa (OK, let's see if you've been paying attention to theme of the week so far) the Colts made one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history, scoring 21 points in the final 4 minutes to send the game into overtime where they won, 38-35.
• In non comeback-related news, Aaron Rodgers had a "6-Pack" of TDs (4 throwing and 2 rushing) in an offensive explosion for the defending Super Bowl Champions who destroyed the Broncos and the Ravens forced 4 fumbles from Mark Sanchez and scored 3 defensive Touchdowns (which surprisingly, they've never done before) against an overmatched Jets offense. The 34-17 score looked closer than it was simply because the Jets had 2 return touchdowns of their own, one on a kickoff and one on an interception. It was the first game in NFL history with more than 4 return touchdowns.


Big games don't live up to hype in NCAA

• There were a number of big games in the NCAA in week 5, but many of them were blowouts that left TV audiences disinterested. There were 3 matchups that involved 2 top-13 teams and none of them ended closer than 20 points.
• In those 3 games, the Alabama Crimson Tide destroyed Florida 38-10, Clemson continued their terrific run by beating Virginia Tech 23-3 and establishing themselves as a potential title contender and Wisconsin made Nebraska look like they don't belong in the Big 10 (Or the "Legends and Leaders" as they now want the conference to be called) by demolishing the Cornhuskers 48-17.
• Other Big 12 teams had a rough day as Texas A&M lost another big lead, this time to Arkansas in a 42-38 loss, #15 Baylor lost a late lead, losing a heartbreaker to Kansas State 36-35 and Oklahoma dropped from #2 to #3 in the AP poll despite a 56 point trouncing of Ball State because the voters were more impressed by the opposition that Alabama faced.