Anybody else see this: http://tinyurl.com/yffcrq

Whew! Don't think I could handle another accident.

Oddly, it's easier for me this year than last. Last year, we came so close. I couldn't help thinking "What if?"

This year, we got blown out the last two games, and didn't even take it to five. We didn't deserve to win, so I can accept the defeat.

Then the Yanks have bragging rights - we'd be the only team to have beaten the world champs in the playoffs. ;-)

I've been so busy lately, not only I wasn't able to watch the games, I barely had time to come to the Banter. I'd probably would want to slap myself at this point if the Yanks were still playing because I would not be able to watch the games religiously.

With the division title on the line, they got swept by the Royals in the last series of the season. Then the Yankees beat them handily in game 1...this series should have been a cakewalk. Losing it, and looking so pathetic doing it, was awful.

Plus...Kenny Frickin' Rogers?????

That's precisely why it was so frustrating. I think our chances were pretty good if we got past the Angels.

And we came so close to beating them. That last game was in question until the very last out. If Sheff hadn't run into Bubba... If stupid Joe West hadn't called Cano out for running inside the line... If Bernie hadn't missed the hit and run, or Joe hadn't called it... If A-Rod had gotten a hit or even a strikeout instead of a GIDP in the 9th...

Still not as maddening as 2004, of course.

BTW, anyone getting their TV signals out of NYC got Fox? I'm getting all the other channels okay, but Fox is the blue screen of death.

Wonder if Joe would send Mo in in this situation?

The Tigers certainly don't know how to manufacture runs.

At least you won. I watched some of the beginning, and it didn't look good.

This game has Craig Monroe/Carlos Guillen walk off homer written all over it.

He says the idea was to put their worst against our best, their best against our second best, and their second best against our third best, etc. Sacrificing the first game in order to win the rest.

Congrats to the Tigers.

Now that Pudge is in the World Series, is anyone at FOX or ESPN or in the media going to talk about his miraculous weight loss and the steriod suspicions that surround him? I bet not.

The 'politically correct' environment in this country is beginning to remind me of 1930's Germany.

I have to admit, Leyland worked miracles in Pittsburgh while he was there. At least compared to how they've done since.

He should have been fired when he made his comments a few years back about Shawn Green.

They both should have been fired after mocking the blind man.

He was rightfully fired after his comments about Sweet Lou's Spanish.

He should explain or apologise ON AIR, so kids who see his apology and then ask their parents what it was about. Then his remark becomes a learning experience for others. Instead he is fired.

My reference to Germany was that people were afraid to speak what was on their mind, for fear of reprisals. Firing is a reprisal. Have you ever voiced a view against the war? Were you called a 'traitor' or 'UnAmerican'?
(like our congressmen). Can you be fired for being 'traitor' or 'UnAmerican'... or just a bigot?

It's going to be tough for the Mets to take this series with that pitching staff. Just have to hope LaRussa over-manages them out of the series.

Dude. You're kidding, right?

Having a political or policy opinion is not the same thing as saying a Jew not marrying a Jew or not having a Barmitzva means he should play on Yom Kippor, or mocking a blind man, or Latinos. Well, unless you believe the government should do or not do something to benefit or harm a specific ethnic group, then you might be a bigot.

For those who haven't already seen it, firejoemorgan.com has had some awesome stuff lately.

And wsporter, if you're out there, we ended up not going to Old U. Maybe in the spring for ReUnion though . . .

1. He has been celebrated at Fox for his outrageous "Crazy" Steve Lyons will say anything style for years. The producers encourage him to be a jackass.

2. Far worse things have been said on Fox and other networks for that matter without resulting in termination.

3. What he said to Piniella was stupid, but I don't believe Lyons is any more racially or culturally insensitive than any of the other Fox talking heads on the news programs they air.

He was fired because Piniella was pissed off that he got mocked by Steve Lyons. What he said was probably ignorant, but not racist. It was insensitive in some way, but not moreso than what he said about the blind fan with the visual assitance device. It happened because he mocked a famous and powerful member of the baseball fraternity.

I've only read what was said, so I can't say with all that much certainty how severe the tone of his comments were, but we'd all be hypocrites if we piled on Lyons without taking a good hard look at what else is said in the media on a daily basis. The media has married itself to talk-radio journalism in this day and age, and encourages outrage. It boosts ratings. The days of Walter Cronkite and Dick Schaap are behind us.

Either we, as consumers, demand a change to this kind of sensationalism, or we'll see idiotic remarks like Lyons' on the nightly news and no one will bat an eye. Should there be discipline? Yes. A kind of broadcast "censure" makes more sense than a firing. If our own president can lie about weapons of mass destruction and get 10,000s of innocent people killed while keeping his job, so should Steve Lyons.

If the Mets don't win, that to me is the decisive moment in the series.

Couldn't agree more.

Hernandez.

I love, love, love listening to him, both because of his personality and because of his respect for the game. Yet he often says things that make me think they're going to fire him.

Once he likened a lineup card with all its squiggles and crossings-out to an acid trip.

And his humor can often be a bit callow and sexist, in that old school rat pack type way.

I guess he gets away with it because he's local, but still, I'd hate to see them pull the plug on him because his authenticity is what makes him so enjoyable to watch a game with.

Olbermann has known Limbaugh for a long time, and he says that sportscasting is actually Limbaugh's dream job. It's what he really wants to do in life. He's gotten rich off politics, but he doesn't enjoy the job.

A nice piece from a history blog I contribute to on nineteenth century player Jim Creighton, who evidently changed everything.

http://tinyurl.com/y52rtx

and my most recent:

http://tinyurl.com/y85vvk

54 mike, you're right on about most of the current media, and that's why I tend to avoid it as much as possible. Unfortunately, outrage sells. The only way I see things changing is if many many consumers express their outrage by supporting media outlets that don't engage in outrage-tactics.

I'm afraid I don't see many such outlets out there.

Honestly, I am feeling better everyday because it turned out we didn't lose to a bad team, just a team we found a way to beat during the season but not the playoffs...wait...I feel like vomiting again.

And then, there's Kenny Rogers, somehow he figured out how to make this October, the month of his career, good for him!