Normally I start with football, because really this time of year, that’s all that matters.  But as a depressed Phillies fan, I want to put the final nail in their coffin ASAP, so that I can stop talking about them until my angry mid-winter rant about how they gave Howard too much money, which forced them to let Werth walk, which in essence ruined our team.

Rangers-Giants, eh?  As a baseball fan, I’m stoked.  This is going to be a great series.  Two long-suffering fanbases and two very exciting young teams loaded with talent.  The Giants are arguably the second most successful franchise in MLB history, although fans in San Fran know nothing about that.  They haven’t won a title since the team moved there in 1958.  This pennant is their 18th, tied for 2nd most in ML history.  But, it’s only the 4th in 52 years in California.  The other three times were memorable World Series, but for all the wrong reasons.  In 1962, the Giants lost to the Yankees 4-3, despite clearly being the better team throughout the series.  In 1989, it was the Earthquake Series.  And in 2002, they blew a 5-run lead in the clinching game of the series, and lost in game 7 to the California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. 

Now they’re back.  They proved in the NLCS that their pitching can not only match up with the more polished Big Three of the Phillies, but it might just be better.  America now knows Matt Cain’s name, and Tim Lincecum is a stud (no news there).  Personally, I still believe Jonathan Sanchez is a tad overrated.  Until he can control his wildness, he’ll never be a star.  But, Madison Bumgarner is legit, and that bullpen is scary good.  These are all good things for San Fran, as they’ll need every arm they have if they want to beat Texas’ high-flying lineup.

Like the Phillies, Texas’ lineup is loaded from top to bottom.  Unlike Philadelphia, the Rangers are actually playing well right now, which will pose some serious problems for the Giants.  This is a team that had never won a playoff home game or a playoff series until this year.  They have a former #1 pick turned substance abuser turned bust turned redemption story turned superstar leading their charge.  They have a manager who admitted to using cocaine just a few months ago.  They were recently bought by Nolan Ryan, who everybody loves.  They have a star pitcher that nobody has ever heard of, who would hold his own against any of the Giants arms.  And, oh yeah, they have Cliff Lee.

The storylines for this World Series are unbelievable.  The talent is unbelievable.  And the potential is unbelievable.  Hopefully America watches.  I know where I live, in Yankee/Met/Phillie country, there are 3 lines of thought going on right now, and none include excitement over the World Series.  Mets fans are celebrating this weekend like they just won their own World Series, due to excitement at seeing the hated Yankees and Phillies fall to “lesser” teams.  Phillies fans are just in shock, not sure how they lost to that bleepin’ team.  And Yankee fans are also in shock, but like they do every time they lose, they’ve turned aggressive.  Proclaiming themselves still the greatest franchise in the history of the world, reminding everyone of their 27 titles (22 of which were won before just about every fan I’ve encountered was born), and making fun of the Rangers & Giants for not being the Yankees.

Apparently, Yankee fans don’t live in a what have you done for me lately type of world.  Nope, they live in a you suck and I’m great, no matter what the headlines say kind of world.  I’d feel sorry for them, but I hate Yankee fans.  So I just make fun of them as much as I can.  And then they call me jealous.  And then I make fun of them some more, because seriously, why not?

Anyway, my point is, I hope the rest of the country is more excited about this World Series than the Philly/New Jersey/New York area is.  I’ll be watching.  I’m taking the Rangers in six.

OK, enough baseball talk.  We had week 7 yesterday, and while it was a pretty tame week compared to the last six, it was still a football Sunday.  The big story all week (as you can see right on this website) was the new penalties on the pre-existing defenseless receiver laws, and the fallout from the James Harrison ridiculousness.  Then, the games started yesterday, and there wasn’t a single defenseless receiver penalty.  In a few instances, you could see defenders laying up a bit, and just making the tackle, instead of demolishing the player.

That’s the point, isn’t it?  I didn’t enjoy the games any less because of this.  And nobody got hurt.  And nobody is going to get suspended.  Score one for the NFL.

Speaking of scoring, Oakland just got another touchdown.

In New Orleans, it’s serious head-scratching time.  You just lost to the Cleveland Browns.  How did they beat you?  By picking your QB off four times, 2 by a defensive lineman with the same name as Drew Brees’ newborn son who managed to return both for scores.  Hello 28 point swing.  Their punter had a 70 yard rush.  And their rookie QB caught a pass.  It’s time to hit the panic button in New Orleans.  This Sunday night, the Steelers come to town.  4-4 anyone?  Who Dat!

Quick, who was the best receiver in the NFL this weekend?  You can make a case for three guys.  Roddy White, Kenny Britt, and DeAngelo Hall.  All three dominated.  Britt was obviously the best WR in the league yesterday, all kidding aside.  And, the dude didn’t even start because of a midweek altercation.  Talk about a coming out party.  But DeAngelo Hall, are you kidding me?  Four interceptions in one half!  I’ve never seen anything like that!  Jay Cutler may have just found a new favorite target.  In fact, he likes him so much that in the press conference after the game, Cutler said he’d keep throwing Hall’s way if they played another game today.  Talk about QB-DB loyalty.

There were 8 defensive touchdowns yesterday.  45+ turnovers in 13 games.  Seriously?  There was a half hour stretch on the red zone channel where every time they showed a new game, somebody turned the ball over.  It was one of the sloppiest, least exciting days of football in a long, long time.

Unless you’re a Raiders fan, of course.

Apparently the San Diego Chargers really are that bad.  They made it interesting in the 2nd half, but they were completely outclassed yesterday.  Jacob Hester, what are you thinking?  The season is over in San Diego.  I know the rest of the AFC West isn’t great, and they’re still only 2.5 behind KC right now, but I just don’t see them turning this around.  There’s no effort by this team.  They quit yesterday, and were only able to make it competitive because New England inexplicably had no idea that San Diego would attempt an onside kick, and because Belicheck went for it on 4th down again late in a game.

I don’t have a problem with going for it, really, because at least he was at midfield this time, and not in his own end.  But why on earth would you run it when you haven’t been able to run it all day?

Regardless, the Patriots won.  The Jets were on a bye, so both teams are now 5-1.

Joining them atop the NFL foodchain are two teams from another AFC Division, the Steelers and Ravens.  The Steelers win was kind of weird.  I think the ref made the right call on the touchdown/no touchdown/fumble/no recovery/steelers ball/field goal.  I’m not sure.  Maybe I’m missing something here, but why couldn’t they have just kept watching the replay until somebody got out of the pile with the ball in his hands?  Is that stupid?  I’m too confused about the end of that game to really give an opinion on it, but it seems simple enough to me.  Somebody had to recover that ball.  For Baltimore, I’m not sure what happened.  They should have lost that game.  The Bills were better than them.  The Bills!  But, it doesn’t matter what happens during the course of the game, all that matters is that you win.  They won.

So there’s your top 4 NFL teams.  Who is #5 right now?  The 4-2 Colts?  If the Giants beat the Cowboys tonight, is it them?  Can it be the Atlanta Falcons after they almost blew a huge lead to the Cincinnati Bengals?  Can you make a case for anybody else?  Nobody in the NFL deserves to be in the Top 5 except for those four teams that are clearly 1-4.  What a weird season.

Editor’s Note: Speaking of NFL Rankings, I apologize for no ERP Power Rankings this week.  Doozer & MIB submitted their polls to me, I never organized and posted them.  My fault.

I have to admit, as far as college football goes, I didn’t watch a single second of it this weekend, and I didn’t see any highlights, either.  I was working ’til 11 on Saturday, so I taped the Phillies game.  In fear of having the game ruined for me, I avoided ESPN.com, facebook, twitter, my cell phone in general, and anything else that might tell me the score.  Then, I stayed up til 2am watching the Phillies, only to see Juan Uribe hit a lame home run, and then to see Ryan Howard do his best Carlos Beltran impersonation.  Then, I got angry, and I went straight to bed.  The next morning, I turned on ESPN to watch sportscenter, but there was too much NLCS coverage, which I couldn’t watch, so I turned the TV off, which means I saw nothing on college football.

I saw the scores online, and checked out the newest polls & BCS, but I didn’t watch anything, so I can’t give any commentary.  I did see Oregon smoke UCLA Thursday night, and as of now I don’t see anybody in the country that can compete with them.  They’re scary good.

I actually hope Boise State doesn’t play them in the National Championship, because I think Oregon will destroy Boise, and that’ll be the end of the little guys getting a shot at winning a title.

Let’s see, what else?  Oh yes, the NBA starts tomorrow.  A few predictions:  The Heat will not go 82-0, but they will be featured on the front of ESPN.com after every single game, and likely before every single game.  The Thunder (my adopted team until the Nyets figure it out) will give the Lakers a run for their money out west, and that will be your western conference final.  My New Jersey Nets will make the playoffs.  It’ll be an all-Florida East finals.  And Kobe will go into ultra-competitive mode and beat the Heat in the NBA Finals, to give them the three-peat.

No hockey news this week, because my Devils still suck.

Happy Monday!