Baseball Post Season Set

OK, the regular season is over...the envelopes please!

In the AL, we have Texas, Minnesota, and Tampa Bay for division champs. The New York Yankees are the wild card. Texas will play Minnesota and New York will play Tampa Bay.

In the NL, we have San Francisco, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia for division champs. The wild card is Atlanta. The Reds will play the Phillies and the Giants will play the Braves.

And as this article from mlb.com documents, heads are already starting to roll from the managers and executives of teams that fell short of expectations this past year.

Yes, New York Mets, I am looking at you!

True Confession: I Am Rooting For Michael Vick to Do Well

I spent four years in the Philly metro area going to school and during that time, the city's professional sports teams wormed their way into this New Yorker's heart. I still have to this day a soft spot for the Eagles, Phillies, Flyers and Sixers. Part of that may have been that all were winners at that time in the late '70s and early '80s but the teams also had some winning players as well, players who played hard and embodied the spirit of Philadelphia. In the NFC East, always my second choice; if the Giants can't win, please let it be the Eagles.

Now, if you follow the NFL, you know that the Eagles lost their starting QB to a concussion this year and inserted Michael Vick in the game. He has continued to play and even now with the starter, Kevin Kolb ready to go, has remained the starting QB for the Eagles. He has received acclaim for his play--he has regained the speed that made him such a threat in the back field, has been more disciplined in the passing game and has shown leadership both on and off the field.

And I am glad for him.

He served his time. He lost his fortune. He lost respect. He is trying to regain his footing in his life. He has done everything asked of him and it has appeared to be genuine. So let him excel and show the gifts that God gave him for the football field. I hold no grudge against him. I don't want to holler "Dog killer" at him or stop rooting for the Eagles.

Yes, it's me The Observer, who blogs about Wayside Waifs on a regular basis and couldn't leave a kitten out in the rain, rooting for Michael Vick.

You know, there is a weird sort of bright side to all this. Would we, meaning the general public, know anything about this underworld of dog fighting if it wasn't for this public figure, Michael Vick, getting swept up in the criminal investigation like he did. Now we know. We know more than we want to know. But we know, and now we watch, we donate, we adopt and we care.

So here's a sweet ending: A redeemed human being, who gets to do the thing he loves the most--play football--and is an improved and better person. Dogs get more protection from abuse due to increased public awareness and donations to causes that help prevent, detect and prosecute dog fighting and care for the abused dogs left behind. A double WIN in my eyes.

Photos: Michael Vick X2 from Philly.com and an English Bull Terrier at the 2010 Pet Expo by The Observer.

Chiefs Thump 49'ers

Wow, everyone was convinced the 49'ers would win this game with a superior run defense stuffing Chiefs runners and an offense with a strong runner and weapons at tight end and wide receiver.

(I for one was not sold on the Niners winning--due to their heartbreaking loss to New Orleans and due to their HBLtoNO on Monday night--I really thought they were due for a let down and Arrowhead was the perfect place for the let down...I should have made this clear before so it doesn't look like "now picking.")

Well, there was a team out there with a strong run defense, good runners and weapons at tight end and wide receiver. It was the Chiefs.

Actually you have to hand the game balls out to the guys in the trenches. Both the offensive and defensive lines played absolutely superior, shoving the 49'ers all over the field, and enabling the fireworks on offense. And didn't you just love the play calling? Perfect balance between conservative and gambling.

Critical moment when the Chiefs could have lost the game: After Ryan Succoup's rare miss just before the 2 minute warning, the defense could have allowed the Niners to move the ball, and possibly score. Instead, they held them to 3 and out, and the Chiefs took advantage to get that 3 points they missed out on earlier.

Chiefs are off on a bye next week--they return in two weeks in Indy. Tough assignment!

In other news, Josh Freeman is held in check by Steelers defense and Steelers offense runs over and above Buc's defense for a blow out win by the Steelers.

Us Giant fans may have to step out of denial and recognize that our football team is not very good. They lost to Tennessee in New York, making them 1-2.

As I type the Jets and Dolphins are down to the last minute of their game, with the Jets up 31-23 and the Dolphins on the Jets 10. The Dolphins would need a TD and 2 point conversion to tie. The Jets have intercepted Miami's pass in the end zone, and will do the Victory Formation to win the game. The Jets may be the better New York team, now being 2-1.

Baseball Slogs On--End Is In Sight

Royals losing more than winning but looking at a lot of guys and setting up for next year. There are some positives coming out of these games, and we are not going to lose 100 games this year either.

With regard to pennant races, Tampa Bay and the Yankees are in a dogfight for the division championship, but it's not to the death. Loser gets the wild card spot as a consolation prize. Kind of takes some of the edge off. Rangers and Twins counting magic numbers now in the west and central respectively.

Over in the NL, the west is a total fight, Giants and Pads within one game of each other, with the Rockies lurking. For the wild card, it's the Giants, Padres and Braves who have slipped enough to allow the Phillies to take the lead in the NL east. The Reds are far ahead of disappointing St. Louis and the Phillies would have to have a significant collapse to allow the Braves back in it in the east.

Regular season wraps up October 3--then it is on to the play offs and World Series. Guess Fall is really here!!

Your Josh Freeman Update

Josh Freeman ran and threw his way around the Carolina Panthers this past week. You might remember that Carolina was where Josh played his worse game last year with multiple interceptions. This time, he threw for 178 yards on 12/28 passing with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 43 yards on both designed runs and scrambles. His best play was when he shook off two potential sackers in the back field, then confidently, calmly and with good form stopped and completed a long pass. So Tampa Bay is also 2-0 unexpectedly.

The Grandview High grad looked right at home last Sunday, eluding the rush and making strong accurate passes (nfl.com)

Chiefs Win--People Fret Anyway!

Matt Cassell and the Chiefs offense need to improve if the Chiefs expect to continue winning (nfl.com)

I think we live in a town of people with black clouds over their heads sometimes...

The Chiefs are an unexpected 2-0 and all people can talk about is how rotten Matt Cassell is. (Well, he isn't playing very well, no and in some ways we are winning in spite of him, with running and defense and special teams...)

The win is the thing though. It's winning. We-Are-Two-and-Oh. Not Oh-and-Two. It took us til November to win this many games last year. And I do not think we are done winning yet. The team is carrying itself with a certain amount of swagger, swagger we could not buy last year. Swagger that has a can-do spirit that was missing most of last year, pounded into submission by the endless losing and the way we looked losing, crappy in every phase of the game.

So yes, we got stuff to work on, but enjoy the two "W"s and look forward to the challenge of the next game, here, against the San Francisco 49'ers (who are giving the Saints a tussle as we speak on MNF--but it is only the third quarter with S.F. up 14-9.)

Preps: Ruskin Loses First Road Game

I don't have any pictures for you this week as Ruskin traveled to Park Hill for their game last week and I don't have extensive stats for you--I did look at the box score earlier in the week however and it's amazing what you can tell from a box score.

Ruskin was leading at half time (again). Ruskin scored nary a point in the second half. Ruskin lost the game in what looked like a rout but was probably only a rout in the last quarter.

Hard to tell why. Possible reasons. Offense not good. Defense not good--couldn't get off the field to let the offense have a chance to score. Penalties. Turnovers (it wasn't a full box score).

So...hopefully the boys learned something. It's hard to tell if their next game, against North Kansas City at NKC will be a hard game--don't know these teams in this division at all. We could use another W before returning home October 8.

Nice thing: Left Kearney behind in class 4, and as usual, they took apart a southland team, this time Grandview. Center survived their trip to Grain Valley with a win.