Weekend Wrap-Up

Is it just me, or does meaningful games in the last weekend of Major League baseball's regular season make it a much better sports weekend?

The Twins, needing to give the Royals the broom over the weekend, which included beating the future CY Award winner Zack Greinke, did so to force a play-in game against the reeling Detroit Tigers. Thanks to the Vikings, and the Days of Our Favre, the game will be Tuesday, which gives the Tigers a bit of an advantage, considering how hot the Twins bats are. We will be watching that one for sure.

Of course, the Tigers would be alot happier if star slugger Miguel Cabrera was not coming home drunk in the middle of a pennant race at 5am in the morning, fighting with his wife until 6 am, escorted out of his house by the police, then have to be picked up by Tigers GM Dave Dombrowski at 7:30am. Cabrera is lucky, if his coach was Tom Cable, he would have alot more than just scratches on his face.

Since the end of the baseball season is here, the Awards goes to:

AL MVP - Twins C Joe Mauer- Imagine what his stats would of been if he did not miss a month?

AL CY -  Royals Zack Greinke- Felix Hernandez made it close, but 2.16 ERA and 240 strikeouts on that team is just absurd.

AL Manager of the Year - Twins Ron Gardenhire- About two weeks ago, this pick would of been Rangers Ron Washington, but this stretch run the Twins have put up tipped me over to the other side.

AL Rookie of the Year -  Oakland Closer Andrew Bailey - I know relief pitchers do not get much love from this vote, but Bailey was by far the most dominant rookie of this class. The numbers back that up. Beats out Rick Porcello in my eyes, although the media are total victims for the spotlight.

NL MVP - Cardinals 1B Albert Pujols - Do I really need to go into this one? Thank you.

NL CY - Cardinals Adam Wainwright - Alot of good candidates for this one, but Wainwright has the horse that survived the stretch run. Tim Lincecum could not finish strong, same with teammate Matt Cain. Wainwright's teammate Chris Carpenter had a great year, but even he would admit that Wainwright is the man here.

NL Manager of the Year - Rockies Jim Tracy - Took over a cellar dweller mid season, and turned them into a playoff team. When you go 74-40, you are doing something special.

NL Rookie of the Year - Phillies SP JA Happ - This was the toughest decison for me, as Tommy Hanson is unbelieveable, and I hate the Phillies. Overall though, Happ does deserve the award. A sub 3 ERA in that sandbox is pretty damn good.

Finally getting off of baseball, and before we get into the football weekend, just how pathetic is it that NBA TV is showing PRACTICES of NBA teams??? That is right, PRACTICES! The NBA is dull enough until the last quarter, and they are telling me that there is a market for televised practices? Allen Iverson is now wants to go to practice.
It is not fair when Peyton Manning is in Arcade Mode. Watching the Seahawks-Colts game yesterday, it just seemed like before going out in the field, someone would pop a quarter into Manning, and it was like some 12 year old kid running up the score with a joystick. Unreal.

Steve Smith leads the NFL in Receptions and Receiving Yards. He even did it without punching a teammate. Wait a second, wrong Steve Smith. The loudmouth lunatic is not even the best WR with his own name anymore. How the mighty how fallen.

With all the press the New Orleans Saints offense gets, their defense is pretty damn good. They just destroyed one of the better OLines in football against the Jets. They did it with a ton of blitzing. Are you hearing that out in Tennessee? Paging Mr. Cecil!!! Bring more than four men at a time, otherwise, it is your ass.

I still dunno what is the bigger shock to me. The Titans 0-4, or the Broncos 4-0. I think someone put some acid in my Spam.

After getting humiliated by Virginia Tech, the Miami Hurricanes redeemed themselves with a huge win at home against Oklahoma. After those first 4 grueling game, 3-1 is a nice place to be for a program trying to reclaim their old glory.

Congrats to California and Houston. Both programs are the co-winners of the biggest fraud award for this season so far. Cal was suppose to be a powerhouse, and has been pummeled like chopmeat by Oregon and USC in consecutive weeks. Houston was ranked too high for their bridges, but 58 points to UTEP??? The same UTEP team that got hammered by Texas the week before? At least we will not hear the press crying that they are getting overlooked now.

What a catch by Georgia WR AJ Green in the 4th quarter of that great game between LSU. The offical that tossed that excessive celebration penalty should never officate another college football game again. That was one case where an offical played God, and dictated the outcome of a game. SEC, do the right thing.

Speaking of shady nonsense in college football, the Polls have Iowa moving up after 1 spot in the AP and 3 in the Coaches Poll after barely beating Arkansas St. Nice work, I would harp on that even more, if not for the fact that Virginia Tech somehow mysteriously leapfrogged Boise St. in the Polls after struggling against Duke.  Now, I am a Rutger's football fan, can I cut a check to some of these pollsters and see Rutgers #22 next week? This is not a joke, I think I really could.

Last thing on college football before the Monday Night pick. Is there anymore important game for the Heisman this year than Notre Dame against USC in a few weeks? That is the make or break game for Jimmy Clausen. With a great game, he can become to frontrunner in a star-studded year.

Monday Night Pick of the Week:

The only thing the schedule makers messed up was that this game should of been in Lambeau. Cut the tension with a knife tonight, as The Days of Our Favre finally get a crack at his old franchise, the Packers.

The storyline will be Favre against Aaron Rodgers, but this game will more about if the Packers can stop Adrian Peterson. I do not think they can, but the Packers will be smart to just air it out, and let their best playmaker Greg Jennings try to take over. This has shootout written all over it. Last one with the ball wins.

Packers 31, Vikings 28.