World Series Quick Hits: Those crazy umpires....

- Here we go again...In the span of one full inning, the same umpire managed to butcher two calls at first base and effectively killed two rallies. Bud Selig must be breathing a sigh of relief that neither of those easily reversible calls cost either team the game. If either call had swung the game for the Yankees or Phillies, there wouldn't have been enough military, police, and private security to keep the wrathful fans from Philly and New York from seriously injuring him. At this point, when fans at home can tell in 15 seconds that the umpires blew a call, there are exactly zero reasons that MLB cannot replay close plays in the field. "It will slow the game down" How? The games take 4 and a half hours anyway, with pitchers taking forever between pitches and managers making 4-5 pitching changes an inning (*cough* Girardi *cough*); why not enforce the slow play rules during the game and use a replay umpire in the booth to get the calls right? "Think of the integrity of the game..." I am, that's why it makes me sick to see correctable mistakes being made night after night. How much integrity can baseball retain if the men in charge are constantly screwing up and changing the outcome of games? This isn't Pirates/Nationals in mid-June, the stakes are just a little bit higher now. Instant replay, catch the fever.

- Something from yesterday that I thought might need clarifying. After finishing the post yesterday, I realized my less than clever nickname for FOX announcer Tim McCarver might need some explaining. When I think of a "carver", I think finesse and skill used in combination to produce something great. A "butcher" on the other hand, I think of someone wielding a blunt instrument, or large knife, wildly hacking (emphasis on the word, hack) at something trying to make it usable for someone else, like a carver. Hence McButcher, the man who tries to takes big chunks of baseball and totally hacks them up with little or no finesse. It's bad enough we have the umps getting calls wrong on the field, but now we are subjected to McButcher bold faced lying to America by saying a pitch, shown to be well within the strike zone, dipped outside or that the umps made the right call on Ryan Howard's trap on Johnny Damon's liner.

Obviously, as a Yankees fan, it's a constant struggle to remain objective when watching/listening to the games. But you know who struggles worse? Yep, you got it; my buddies in the FOX booth. While AJ Burnett was mowing down Phillies and puting on the best performance of his career, Buck and McButcher took the opportunity to turn last night's game into a Pedro Martinez love fest. Even when Hideki Matsui took Pedro yard on a pitch that had no business being where it was setup to be, McButcher railed against the Yankees DH saying that it was, in not as many words, a garbage home run. And as they applauded the umpires for blowing the call against the Yankees that ended their chance to pad their lead, the booth was quick to cry foul when Chase Utley was clearly safe on an inning ending double play. I've come to the conclusion that it physically harms both of these clowns to award any kind of praise to the Yankees under any circumstance. Make no mistake, if Andy Pettitte went out and tossed a no-hitter on Saturday, we would hear about how Cliff Lee's performance in Game 1 was better or more important. If I want Philly-biased commentary, I'd move to Philadelphia and listen to the radio. When I don't have the option to watch the games on any other network, I expect a little more objectivity than I'm getting from FOX's card carrying Yankees haters.

- OK, I feel better now. On to actual game stuff. Why is everyone piling on A-Rod after two games in the World Series? Yes, he has six strikeouts in the eight at-bats so far, but he has faced 2 pitchers that have made all of the other players in the lineup look just as bad. You don't get the World Series with mediocre pitching, so it should come as no surprise that he's stuggled so far. Guess who else has six strikeouts to start the Series? Ryan Howard. Apparently two meaningless basehits somehow makes his contributions (a Golden Sombrero in Game 2) greater than A-Rod's. The truth is neither hitter has lived up to the expectations that were placed on them because of their production in the first two series. Scary thing is that if either hitter gets going and starts driving in runs, we could be looking at some blowout games and a short series.

- It's incredible to see two aging pitchers like Pedro Martinez and Mariano Rivera continue dominate in the playoffs. Having visibily lost a ton of zip on his fastball, Pedro has become more of a Greg Maddux type pitcher who's going to out think you at the plate than a blow you away with a 97 mph heater pitcher. You could see it last night; Challenge A-Rod inside, inside, inside with fastballs then freeze him with an outer corner curve. And Mariano, despite throwing a few more pitches than usual, showed that his cut fastball may be the most devestating pitch in baseball, even at age 39. Every batter who steps to the plate knows exactly what he going to do, and there's little or nothing they can do to stop it. Left handed batters order two shipments of new bats when they know the Yankees are coming to town, simply in preparation for Mo to saw them off at the hands 4 or 5 times in a series. It's no coincedence that the teams that have Pedro and Mariano on their roster are meeting in the World Series. Guys like these two are exactly what teams need to have a chance for a championship.

- You want to know why the Yankees are so beloved, or hated, by some many people? Jay-Z and Alicia Keys in center field before the start of Game 2 of the World Series. Who else does that? The MLB All-Star game doesn't have musical acts, but the Yankees demand excess in everything they do. Your move Philadelphia. Good luck topping this......

World Series Quick Hits: The Yanks play the quitting game

- Yeah, that picture pretty much sums up Game 1 for the Yankees. I'd like to say that Cliff Lee was just better than the Yankees line up and that's the end of the story, but unfortunately I can't. More so than many other teams, the Yankees performance's at home are almost directly connected to the atmosphere created by fans at the stadium. After Chase Utley hit his 2nd home run of CC Sabathia, the air completely went out of the stadium, as did the effort of the Yankees. Down 2-0 with Lee on the mound, it was very obvious from the Yankees body language that they had more or less quit on the game (with Jeter and CC as the exceptions). Whether it was Johnny Damon's bogus non-committal wrist swing on a pitch in the dirt or Melky Cabrera's all-around terrible effort trying to hit off-speed pitches, the Yankees looked absolutely defeated after the 5th inning. I'm not saying the fans' silence was the reason the Yankees gave up, seeing as the players on the field gave them very little to get excited about, but as the fans go, so do the Yanks.

- Phil Hughes is unbelievably terrible. It's been a long time since I've seen a player dominate in the regular season like Hughes did, only to be totally overwhelmed by the moment in the playoffs. What we have seen from Hughes so far this postseason has been a complete overhaul of his pitching method with little rhyme of reason for doing so. Regular season Phil Hughes reared back and challenged batters "hit it if you can" with his fastball and put them away with devastating breaking pitches. Postseason Hughes is afraid to challenge hitters in the zone, tentative trying to work the corners, and if he falls behind in the count the threat of the off-speed pitch goes out the window. The "Baby Rocket" has gone from shutdown bridge man to certified torch man who has zero confidence at the moment. Unfortunately, the Yankees may be stuck with postseason mental midget of Chuck Knoblauch proportions.

- Cliff Lee's backyard wiffle ball style catch in Game 1, while not a big deal, will be remembered by the Yankees next time he comes to the mound. Nothing can motivate athletes more than being humiliated on a big stage, and trust me, that was humiliating.

- I said it before the World Series started and now it's looking like I was right; Chase Utley is the scariest hitter in the Phillies lineup. Ryan Howard and Jayson Werth have flashy power, but they also have constant strikeout ability if they are pitched to properly. Utley on the other hand probably accounted for about 15% of the pitches CC Sabathia threw in Game 1. He fouled off pitch after pitch until CC made a mistake, which was immediately deposited in the right field bleachers. Hitters like Rollins, Howard, Ibanez and Werth can be dummied with good inside-outside pitch variations, Utley can cover the entire plate, spoil good pitches, and hit the ball all over the field. If the Yankees are to win this series, they should focus more on how to get Utley out, and less on the power hitters who follow him.

- Joe Buck and Tim McCarver make me want to beat my head against the wall every time they open their mouths. While newspapers like the NY Daily News have been looking for a nickname for this year's World Series, the correct answer was thrown in their face last night. I'm proud to announce that the 2009 World Series will now be known as "Everyone Loves the Philadelphia Phillies". Well, at least that's what FOX's biased fools in the booth are turning it in to. Apparently they didn't get the memo that the Yankees are in the World Series too and it's not an FCC violation to talk about them without the Phillies involved as well. Though not a direct quote, I distinctly remember hearing something along the lines of "CC Sabathia looks sharp early, but Cliff Lee has clearly been sharper thus far. Had to throw the last part in their didn't you, Joe? The sad part: that comment is closest the booth comes to objectivity on any given night. If you were totally blind and could only listen to the game, you would have thought that Derek Jeter, or "Jerek Deter" as the bumbling Tim McCarver refered to him several times in Game 1, struck out every time at the plate. "Flatline" Joe Buck and McButcher harped on his first inning strikeout at every turn, conviently ignoring Jeter ripping off 3 straight hits after that.

Here's a fun drinking game to play watching the games from here on out: Every time Tim McCarver tries to prove that he knows more about baseball than you by calling out the next pitch, and is horribly wrong, take a drink. As a warning, don't play with hard liquor; you will be belligerently drunk/borderline dead by the 3rd inning if you do. If you get too drunk too early, you miss the best part of the telecast; when McButcher blatantly screws up the catcher's signal and goes totally silent for about 30 seconds. If you're still not completely hammered from the first part of the game, A) congrats, you have a superhuman level alcohol tolerance and B) add this to the rules of the game: anytime McButcher uses the term "close" to describe a obvious play in the field or a pitch they show on their k-zone to be a mile inside/outside, drink. Guaranteed alcohol poisoning by the seventh inning stretch.

Honestly, a booze induced coma serves as a viable alternative to listening to Buck and McCarver on most nights.

Knee-jerk Reactions: The Pac-10 joins the awful officiating party

1) New week, same story: I know it's not just me when I say that officiating across college football, and the rest of the sports world for that matter, has been inexcusably bad this year. Case and point, Taylor Mays attempting to behead Oregon State receiver James Rogers and the subsequent lack of yellow fabric in the offending area. Luckily, the Pac-10 actually understands that this kind of nonsense cannot occur and has suspended the oblivious referee. Not to be outdone, the SEC upped the ante with a pair of blown calls that had a direct impact in how the games played out. Exhibit A: Tennessee vs. Alabama...



Did you miss the absolute mountain of a man (AKA, Terrence Cody) tearing his helmet off in celebration after blocking the kick and while the ball was still live, because the officials definitely did. For some reason, the SEC claimed that said penalty was not an enforceable one (?). If the SEC says that's not enforceable, there is a pile of tape that shows players taking their helmet off in the field of play and being flagged 15 yards that would beg to differ. Moving on, Exhibit B: Florida vs. Mississippi State...



Note to all teams playing against Florida; you're not going to get a fair shake from the officials. Not a conspiracy theory statement, it's just a fact. The officials reviewed the interception returned for a touchdown, and still managed to blow the call. It was very clear that during his premature celebration, the Florida defender fumbled the ball before crossing the goal line and the play should have been ruled a touchback. What, didn't anyone tell the other SEC teams that Florida is going to be in the National Title game? That was determined before the season began.

At this point, the general ineptitude of officials has grown to a level where there will be ZERO tolerance for missed/blown calls in the future. Usually, if something like the Alabama/Tennessee helmet toss happens, it can be dismissed as it didn't really matter or that it was a bad call, let's move on. However, the shear number of horrid calls this year only amplifies the outrage surrounding a missed penalty like the one we saw in Tuscaloosa on Saturday. It scary to see awful calls becoming less of abominations, and more of the norm in college football.

2) The BCS/AP Pollsters still don't get it: Here's how it works; beat a better than average Tennessee team, lose your spot atop the polls. Struggle against, and use a garbage TD call to beat an awful Mississippi State team, we're #1!we're #1! Get it?

No? Good, neither do I.

I referenced the "fish memory" condition last week in regards to MMA fans, but now it appears that college football pollsters suffer from the same condition. It is the only logical conclusion to draw when top ranked Alabama beats a mediocre team and #2 ranked Florida beats a less than mediocre team, and they somehow switch spots. Did they somehow forget that 'Bama has actually stepped up to play decent competition while the Gators creampuff and pillowfight their way back to the National Title game? The only halfway decent game left on Florida's schedule is #22 South Carolina, who Alabama already dispatched in dominating fashion. Maybe Florida knew what I beginning to suspect about Tim Tebow and made their schedule accordingly. Cover your eyes Gators fans and Tebow jockriders, because this is about to get real.

3) Tim Tebow is badly overrated: Yeah, I'm going there. And yes, I'm aware that just a few weeks ago I wrote about how much of a pleasure it is watch Tebow play football. Yes, it is great to watch him play the game and I'm going to be a little disappointed when his college career is finished. My point is simply this; Tebow is not as amazing as everyone is making, and has made, him out to be. If ever you needed proof of this claim, just look at what has happened this year.

First off, get the concussion talk out of here; it hasn't changed the way he has played one bit. Tebow's problem runs much deeper than being negatively affected by a nasty hit. His problem is that he no longer has the high quality playmakers to make him look super-human than he once did. In one season, Tebow lost his three biggest playmakers to the NFL Draft (Harvin, Murphy and Ingram). Without the deep threat that Harvin presented, the quality slot presence of Murphy, and the attention that Ingram demanded in the middle of the field, defenses have been able to cheat up a little bit and key in on Tebow more. Granted, he does burn defenses for their overcommitment to crowding the box from time to time, but he does it far less frequently than in previous seasons.

Possibly the most important factor that contributed to the humanizing of Tebow is that SEC defenses now have piles of tape, and have had alot of practice to defend his style. If the front 4 can collapse the pocket, especially on the edges, Tebow gets a little jumpy in the pocket and takes his eyes off his receivers downfield. When he takes off, now most defenses have assigned a linebacker, or two, as a spy to make sure he doesn't get too far away. And with no real threat of a rushing attack other than Tebow, linebackers are freed up to either help on the slot receivers, or keep their eyes in backfield on the QB.

Nothing against Tebow; he's still a great player and should be a decent player at the next level. All I'm saying is numbers don't lie, and they've gone down significantly since he lost his big weapons. The Tim Tebow legend is exactly that, a legend. A fundamentally true story with some major exaggerations thrown in for good measure. He's great, just not as great as everyone has made him out to be.

4) C.J. Spiller is the best player no one ever talks about: Well, everyone except Todd McShay that is. Spiller was my dark horse favorite for the Heisman before the season began, and he's consistently worked his way up to serious consideration. With the major candidates (McCoy, Tebow, Bradford, Bryant) under performing, Spiller's 9 total TD's for a less than incredible Clemson team speaks volumes about how outstanding this kid really is. For a relatively undersized running back, he has decent power rushing ability to accompany his breakaway speed game. Will he win the Heisman? Absolutely not. I fully expect the ceremony to include McCoy, Tebow, Mark Ingram, Jimmy Clausen, and maybe Case Keenum with the trophy being gifted to Colt McCoy in sympathy for last year. It would just be nice to see the committee actually recognize one of the most outstanding players in college football this season, not just hand out invites to people because of past success. Check out McShay's list of Heisman frontrunners; outside of Noel Divine being top 3, he's got the right idea.

5) Free Dez Bryant!: It's good to see the NCAA wielding it's banhammer for something important. While Rich Rod runs his team into the ground in practice, Lane Kiffin violates recruiting rules, and USC looks the other way on numerous infractions by star players, the NCAA decides that a meeting with Deion Sanders is more egregious than anything else and suspends the Oklahoma State receiver for an entire year. Huh, I wonder why kids don't want to stay in college for 4 years before jumping to the NFL? Wait, maybe it has something to do with an overly judgmental board of fools more concerned with lining their own pockets with ideas like the BCS than the integrity and spirit of the game. Bryant was wrong for lying about what happened, but an entire year? We're talking about this kid's ability to make money playing at the next level, was this really necessary?

Which brings up another question; why is no one talking about what Terrell Pryor did? The Ohio State QB is fielding calls from LeBron James, which is pretty much on the same level as Bryant's "offense", but no one is talking about this. All he told the media was that JeBron encouraged him; who knows if that's really true? For all we know there was healthy discussion of potential agents and other subjects the NCAA is supposed to look down upon. Consistency NCAA, it's a glorious thing. There's bigger things happening in college football than Dez Bryant's little white lie. Maybe less time should be spent penalizing something a small as this and worry about the garbage officials that are ruining the game.

UFC 104 Recap: Welcome to the Machida Error

My Picks Results: 7-4 (5-0 main card*)

Where I was right

- I put the asterisk in my main card results because I kind of feel wrong about the perfect record. Realistically, I should have been 4-1 with the loss coming in the main event of the evening. As much as I love being right about Machida winning, I feel terrible for "Shogun" Rua because I believe he got a raw deal from the judges. The three ringside judges scored the bout 48-47 (3 times) for Machida, giving him the unanimous decision victory. However, the general consensus among MMA writers, fans and those in attendance is that Rua did enough to take the belt away from the champ. And I can't really blame them for being upset at the decision as I too had "Shogun" as the winner by a 48-47 score. MMA forums have exploded since the fight with accusations of a fix, judge's incompetence, and the horribly overused term of "robbery". Let's be clear; this fight was extremely close and although the decision may not have been what I, or a lot of others, thought it would be, a robbery this was not.

An argument can easily be made for either fighter to have won the fight, which immediately rules out a "robbery". Shogun, at least from where I was watching, clearly took the 4th and 5th rounds, which leaves the opening 3 frames as the deciding factor. Based on clean striking, I gave the first 2 rounds to Machida (although the 2nd round has very close) and the 3rd was all Shogun, with the exception of a largely ineffective flurry from the champ. All credit goes to Mauricio Rua and his camp who executed a perfect gameplan that made the elusive (or "allusive" as the UFC graphic artists would have you believe) Machida look hittable for the first time in his UFC tenure. "Shougn" peppered the legs and midsection of Machida to the point where his legs were visibly bruised and his ribs were bleeding from accumulated damage. I know that "visual damage" isn't supposed to be part of judging criteria, but during the official decision announcement one fighter looked like they had been on the receiving end of much more effective striking, and it wasn't Shogun.

- Cain Velasquez is for real. Despite the nonsense that was Steve Mazzagatti stopping the fight as Ben Rothwell was using the cage to get back to his feet, Velasquez used his incredible wrestling to dictate where the fight went and completely devastated his opponent with punches en route to a 10-8 (or worse) 1st round and a stoppage early in the 2nd. This kid has all the skills needed to dominate in the heavyweight division for a very long time (yes, Brock Lesnar included). He's still developing as a fighter and it is evident with his improved stand up defense he showed against Rothwell. Granted, he only stood with for about 25 seconds before taking him down, but it only took that long for him to be tagged repeatedly by Cheick Kongo in his previous fight. Despite what overzealous Lesnar fanboys might have you believe, Cain is a legitimate threat to his spot atop the UFC heavyweight ladder. As unstoppable as Lesnar's takedown have been so far in his career, it is not beyond comprehension that Velasquez could take him down as well. Delusional fanboys seem to forget that 46 year old Randy Couture came within a fence grab of bringing Lesnar to the mat. With that in mind, it's possible that Velasquez, who threw a 270 pound Ben Rothwell around like a rag doll, could either shoot a double leg or use his wrestling in "reverse" like Chuck Liddell did for years. Cain sent a message to the heavyweight division on Saturday, "watch out".

- Surprise! Josh Neer got dominated by a wrestler, lost a wide margin decision, and got pissed when he heard it announced. Who could have ever seen that one coming? (*raises hand while smirking arrogantly*) The really sad part about this fight was that Tibau was completely gassed by the time the 3rd round started and Neer still stopped only about 50% of the takedowns in the round. Even when he did stop the feeble attempts, he was reluctant to punish Tibau for it. By the end of the fight, Neer was basically giving up on defending the takedown and resigning himself to being on his back. I told you no one would accuse this of being fight of the year. Both fighters are in a curious spot in the UFC's lightweight division now. Neer doesn't have the wrestling defense to work his way up to the top in a division ripe with top notch wrestlers, and Tibau always gasses as a result of being a huge lightweight. He's too small for welterweight and hardly ever makes the 155 lightweight limit at weigh-ins. Honestly, I wouldn't be terribly upset if both of these fighters were relegated to the undercard of Fight Night cards for awhile, or at least until they can put together a complete game.

- "Rumble" Johnson devestated Yoshiyuki Yoshida in less than a minute, just like I thought he would. Don't really care though because he came in 6 pounds overweight and likely walked into the cage at 190 or more. This was a welterweight versus a middleweight/light-heavyweight and should do nothing to help Johnson towards a title shot. Although, I wouldn't mind seeing Georges St. Pierre truck Johnson and force him to go a his actual weight class. Nothing against "Rumble", I just look at coming in overweight for a contracted fight as horribly unprofessional, and extremely dangerous for both combatants. Johnson is only 27 and it would be a shame if his career was cut short because he destroys his body cutting 40-50 pounds to make 170. Props to Yoshida for accepting the fight even with the huge weight disadvantage. He could have declined the bout and I would have been totally fine with it. It just goes to show how brave these guys really are.

- Ryan Bader and Kyle Kingsbury won decisions. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............. Not really in the case of Bader who almost finished in the 1st, but he really needs more than a 5 minute gas tank if he want to compete in a deep 205 pound division.

Where I was wrong

-Just because it would be a huge cop out to say "the undercard" in the "where I was wrong" section, I'll do my best to breakdown individual fights even though I didn't see a couple of them...

- I missed the Okami-Sonnen fight and haven't been able to find a video online yet, but from the sounds of things, Sonnen absolutely dominated Okami for 15 minutes. For the UFC, this has to be music to their ears. For about a year, fans (AKA, internet fanboys) having been clamoring for Okami to get a shot at the middleweight title. Entering UFC 104 he was 7-1 with the promotion and his only loss was to former champ Rich Franklin. With his loss to Sonnen, Okami now goes directly to the back of the line (or not because he probably already there in the UFC's eyes). Although I haven't seen the fight yet, I can only assume that Sonnen took away Okami's biggest weapon, his wrestling. Okami relies heavily on his ability to take opponents down and work from the top, which Sonnen did not allow him to do. I wouldn't be surprised to see Okami leave the UFC now and sign with DREAM or Sengoku now, simply because he would probably get more exposure fighting in Japan, rather than on the undercard of UFC's for the forseeable future.

- Pat Barry crushed his former training partner Antoni Hardonk. Oops, should have listened to Jordan Breen when he said that Hardonk doesn't move his head and gets smashed in face, even by terrible strikers. I will say this, I only picked Hardonk because I didn't assume he would be stupid enough to trade strikes with Barry, who he obviously knows has powerful striking, when he had the advantage on the ground. They're both awful on the ground (and it showed for the small amount of the time the fight went there) but I was betting on Hardonk being able to control the much smaller Barry en route to a TKO stoppage. Instead, he stood complete stiff with his hands ridiculously far apart (that's his idea of blocking apparently) and got cracked at will by Barry's straight right. Pat Barry probably isn't going anywhere in the heavyweight division simply because he's too small (5'11, 230), but his striking prowess always make him an exciting attraction, even if it's on Spike TV every time.

- Rob Kimmons got wrecked by Jorge Rivera. Didn't see the and I don't really care to in all honesty. Kimmons should have been able to submit him, but instead got pounded out by the 37 year old journeyman. I'm glad for Rivera, who has had some personal tragedy recently, but I'm not going to lose sleep over picking this fight wrong.

- 6'11 Stefan Struve triangled Chase Gormley late in round 1. I blame this one on A) Struve being way better than I thought on the ground and B) Gormley showing up with a 45 second gas tank for his UFC debut. Happy trails bro, I'm pretty sure the UFC doesn't take too kindly to underwhelming debuts. If Struve can pack 20 pounds of muscle on to his frame (he's only 21, it's possible), he could be the second coming of Semmy Schilt in the MMA world.