We're through the first two days of the baseball season so I figure it's about time we start talking about the World Series. Who you have going? I think it's pretty obvious after two games that both the Blue Jays and Marlins are going to go 162-0 and are on a collision course for October, though this opinion may be a bit premature. Still, MLB and Fox Sports are already talking about the World Series.
A high school football coach in suburban Philadelphia gave nine of his players the boot after they defied his orders not to skip school by attending the Phillies championship parade last Friday. Not surprisingly, the decision has generated a lot of negative attention, especially when you consider attendance at all public high schools in Philly was down 20 percent the day of the parade.
What's the harm in letting the kids have a little fun, right? Surely the coach is on an unfortunate power trip ... right?
Before you make a knee-jerk reaction, consider this: the kids were forced to sit out Friday's game due to the local high school association rules, which presumably states a student is ineligible to participate in an event if he didn't attend school that day -- a common rule that a lot of high schools enforce.
You'll have to excuse Chase Utley here. After all, winning a World Series is pretty awesome, and when you get to celebrate that achievement in front of all your fans, sometimes the emotion can get the best of you.
So what if your celebratory rally is being broadcast on live television throughout Philadelphia, sometimes you really need that F-bomb to drive your point home. Oh, and the video is NSFW if you haven't figured that out already.
Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske to record the final out in the World Series last night. Maybe he wasn't concentrating enough at the plate because he was worrying whether or not to start Ryan Grant this week. Grant did just finally have a productive fantasy game and is coming off a bye week, but they are facing the vaunted Tennessee run defense. Man, what should I - STRIKE THREE!
No, seriously -- CBS Sports is running a fantasy football league with with 13 major league players. B.J. Ryan is apparently dominating right now, running his record to a spotless 8-0 thus far. Hinske, who is said to be a "fantasy football addict", is facing off against Lidge this weekend, coincidentally. Both sport 3-5 records and need the win badly to stay relevant.
No word on if Maddux plays mind games with opponents, or if Hafner drafted a bunch of guys who ended up injured. I am sure Wright's 5-3 record is bound to get worse as the playoffs approach, though (zing!).
Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske to record the final out in the World Series last night. Maybe he wasn't concentrating enough at the plate because he was worrying whether or not to start Ryan Grant this week. Grant did just finally have a productive fantasy game and is coming off a bye week, but they are facing the vaunted Tennessee run defense. Man, what should I - STRIKE THREE!
No, seriously -- CBS Sports is running a fantasy football league with with 13 major league players. B.J. Ryan is apparently dominating right now, running his record to a spotless 8-0 thus far. Hinske, who is said to be a "fantasy football addict", is facing off against Lidge this weekend, coincidentally. Both sport 3-5 records and need the win badly to stay relevant.
No word on if Maddux plays mind games with opponents, or if Hafner drafted a bunch of guys who ended up injured. I am sure Wright's 5-3 record is bound to get worse as the playoffs approach, though (zing!).
From the Windup is FanHouse's extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.
You've hopefully heard the news by now. The Philadelphia Phillies are the World Series champions of baseball after knocking off the heavily favored Tampa Bay Rays.
The other night, during a live chat, I mentioned something about how the die-hard Phillies fans deserve this more than the Rays fans. It's a slippery slope to be sure, and likely just a bad choice of words, to say something like this. Frankly, no fan deserves anything. We voluntarily spend our time and money on these teams, and probably care way too much about them -- if you ask the majority of Americans. That's the thing, though, we die-hards know this and embrace it.
You want to know why I said the fans of Philly deserve it more? Because they've had more suffering. The only reason a fan puts himself/herself through the ringer for six months every season is the hope that there will eventually be some sort of payoff. The fans of Philadelphia had been waiting for another one since 1980. The Rays didn't even come into existence until 1998.
After a 46-hour rain delay, the Philadelphia Phillies finally finished off the Tampa Bay Rays in Game 5 of the World Series with a 4-3 win to clinch the 2008 World Series. They got lead off doubles from Geoff Jenkins in the sixth and Pat Burrell in the seventh and both runs came home to score, which gave them the edge after the restart in the sixth inning at 2-2.
It's their first World Championship since the 1980 World Series and Philly's first title in any sports since 1983. It's likely that Phillies' fans could care less if Peter Gammons thinks the rainout made this the worst World Series ever. Cole Hamels didn't get the win, but he did pick up the MVP award for the Series thanks to his two solid starts in Games 1 and 5.
As for the Rays, well, every key player should be back from their 97-win team that came awfully close to winning the World Series. They're incredibly young and the sky is the limit for many of their players. They're in an awfully tough division, but they're not going back to the punchline that they used to be.
Two days after it was suspended, the 2008 World Series is finally continuing. If you can think way back to Monday, the Phillies and Rays are tied at 2-2 going in to the bottom of the sixth inning. It's still cold in Philly tonight, but the rain seems to have passed and that means that we're going to have baseball tonight. Given the situation, with the Phillies having an extra at-bat at a 3-1 lead in the series, we might even have a celebration.
This is an unprecedented happening in baseball, which means that we've got a full slate of FanHousers here to detail the proceedings in tonight's live chat. There's no pregame show, but I'm going to open the chat up around 8:15 to take some pregame questions get the ball rolling early. The 188th pitch should be coming from Grant Balfour (Ryan Madson is "starting" for the Phils) shortly after 8:30 PM EST, so join us after the jump for the conclusion of Game 5 and anything that happens afterwards.
It's a good thing the Rays won the American League pennant, because had the Red Sox won, the Phillies might have had to juggle their starting rotation. Or something like that. From Bob Nightengale of the USA TODAY:
"I did not want to play Boston," says Myers, 28. "If Boston had beat Tampa, I would have gone to (manager) Charlie (Manuel) and told him, 'I don't want to pitch in Boston.'
"I don't ever want to pitch in Boston again."
If you remember, it was in Boston during the 2006 season that Brett Myers was arrested for allegedly beating his wife, Kim, outside a downtown bar. Despite the charges, he actually started the very next day. The Phillies caught a lot of flack for not holding him out, though for what it's worth, the scorn he received from the fans apparently scarred him for life.
Ok, Bud. You are America's whipping boy today. We can fix that, though. Hop into my DeLorean, and we're setting time circuits to 4:00 pm EST, October 27, 2008.
So you have another chance to not be caught in the middle of yet another self-inflicted debacle. Just follow these few steps, and everything will be fine ...
2. Realize what is coming, and be proactive instead of reactive, for once. The weather is going to get nasty at some point during the game, so you need to figure out how this game and series can be salvaged. Go meet with front office personnel of both teams, including the managers, and the umpires. Tell them that you are issuing an executive order that the game will not be over until nine innings are completed. Notify the umpires to stop play the second they believe the conditions merit it, and when play resumes -- whether it's Halloween or Thanksgiving -- the game will pick up from the point it left off.
3. Hold a press conference and notify everyone else.
We're through the first two days of the baseball season so I figure it's about time we start talking about the World Series. Who you have going? I think it's pretty obvious after two games that both the Blue Jays and Marlins are going to go 162-0 and are on a collision course for October, though this opinion may be a bit premature. Still, MLB and Fox Sports are already talking about the World Series.
A high school football coach in suburban Philadelphia gave nine of his players the boot after they defied his orders not to skip school by attending the Phillies championship parade last Friday. Not surprisingly, the decision has generated a lot of negative attention, especially when you consider attendance at all public high schools in Philly was down 20 percent the day of the parade. 
Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske to record the final out in the World Series last night. Maybe he wasn't concentrating enough at the plate because he was worrying whether or not to start Ryan Grant this week. Grant did just finally have a productive fantasy game and is coming off a bye week, but they are facing the vaunted Tennessee run defense. Man, what should I - STRIKE THREE! 
It's a good thing the Rays won the American League pennant, because had the Red Sox won, the Phillies might have had to juggle their starting rotation. Or something like that. From Bob Nightengale of the USA TODAY:
Ok, Bud. You are America's whipping boy today. We can fix that, though. Hop into my DeLorean, and we're setting time circuits to 4:00 pm EST, October 27, 2008. 
