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Welcome to October! In my neck of the swamp, today’s high temperature will be a lovely 95 degrees. Nothing says fall like, “At least the heat index will be less than 100 degrees today!”
Are you ready for the baseball playoffs?
October means the end of the lengthy major league baseball season for most teams and the start of the month-long playoffs. Unlike the NBA and NHL’s playoff season (more than two months), at least baseball’s one-month playoffs seem reasonable.
The top two finishers from the American League (New York Yankees and Cleveland Guardians) and the National League (Los Angeles Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies) are getting this week off.
Today, several best-of-three series will get underway. This week’s winners advance to the second round beginning on Saturday.
In the American League, the Houston Astros face off with the red-hot Detroit Tigers. The Tigers are making their first playoff appearance in ten years and were the hottest team in baseball during September to gain a post-season spot.
The Houston Astros are no stranger to post-season baseball in the past several years. This year’s team won the American League West and dethroned last year’s World Series champions, the Texas Rangers. The Astros seem to come alive for post-season games, so this best-of-three series should be quite interesting.
The other American League match-up features the Baltimore Orioles against the Kansas City Royals. Like Detroit, KC wasn’t expected to be a contender this year, but here they are. The Royals had a 30-game improvement after posting more than 100 losses one year ago.
The Baltimore Orioles continue to prove that good pitching and timely hitting will take your team a long way. The O’s won 91 games and finished just three games behind the top-seeded New York Yankees. They will try to avenge last year’s disastrous playoff appearance when the team was swept by the Texas Rangers.
In the National League, it will be the New York Mets facing off with the Milwaukee Brewers and the Atlanta Braves going against the San Diego Padres.
Play ball!
The President’s Cup golf was fun to watch last weekend
Though most sports fans probably didn’t watch last weekend’s President’s Cup golf matches in Montreal, the International team put up quite a fight against the heavily-favored American squad.
In particular, the entertaining tag-team of the two South Korean Kim’s – Tom and Si-Woo – absolutely stole the show last weekend.
The two golfers played with a lot of skill and passion and gained millions of fans around the world. This twosome high-fived, chest-bumped and wildly celebrated birdie after birdie during the Saturday four-ball and foursomes (alternate shot) matches as they went 1-1 on the day.
The large Canadian crowd loudly chanted “I-N-T, I-N-T!” for every birdie for their International squad.
Sadly, the cheering and crowd support wasn’t enough to win the President’s Cup.
Sunday’s final day of singles matches saw the US golf team win 8.5 matches to 3.5. The Americans have captured ten straight Cups dating back to 2009.
Can you guess the two remaining NFL unbeaten teams and the one team without win in 2024?
If you said Kansas City, Minnesota, and, on the losing side, Jacksonville, you are correct!
Over the weekend, the Pittsburgh Steelers, Buffalo Bills and Seattle Seahawks lost their first game of the season to fall out of the unbeaten ranks.
On the plus side, Tennessee finally won its first game of the year last night with a 31-12 win over the Miami “Brother, can you spare a quarterback?” Dolphins on Monday Night Football.
Coming up this weekend, my two favorite black and gold teams will have the national spotlight.
On NBC’s Sunday Night Football, the 3-1 Pittsburgh Steelers travel to Dallas to play the 2-2 Cowboys.
On Monday, the 2-2 New Orleans Saints visit 4-0 Kansas City as my “WhoDats” attempt to hand the first loss of the year to the two-time defending NFL champs. Monday Night Football will kickoff at 7:15PM on ESPN. If you might enjoy hearing Payton and Eli Manning cover this game, check out ESPN2.
We lost basketball’s Dikembe Mutombo on Monday
Legendary NBA shot-blocker Dikembe Mutombo is probably best known for a hilarious Geico Insurance commercial about ten years ago. The happy Mutombo wagged his finger as he swatted away a wadded-up piece of office paper headed for the trash can. He later swatted away a box of cereal with a grin as a youngster was tossing it into the grocery cart with his signature, “Not today!” line.
This 7’2” basketball fan favorite died on Monday at age 58 after battling brain cancer for the past two years. He was one of the NBA’s good guys and beloved on and off the basketball court.
Major League Baseball legend Pete Rose passed away Monday at age 83
For those of us lucky enough to have grown-up watching Pete Rose play pro baseball, we will remember “Charlie Hustle” sprinting to first base after every hit or walk. The nickname was given to him by New York Yankees legend Mickey Mantle who was amazed at how the young Pete Rose was such a fiery competitor for the entire game.
A three-time world champion and 17 time All-Star choice, Pete Rose is best remembered for his years playing for the Cincinnati Reds. With a career which spanned from 1963 through 1986, Rose remains baseball’s all-time career leader in hits (4,256). Pete Rose finished his career with a batting average of .303. He won MLB’s Rookie of the Year (1963), Most Valuable Player (1973) and World Series MVP (1975).
Sports media update – DirecTV is buying Dish
On Monday, DirecTV formally agreed to buy Dish, their biggest satellite television competitor.
DirecTV (formerly owned by AT&T but now under control of a private equity firm known as TPG) has about 11 million customers today. Dish was down to 6.1 million subscribers.
Both of these satellite television providers have been losing customers for several years.
They haven’t done themselves any favors by getting into disputes with many local television stations around the country about how much money the local television station must pay to be shown on their systems. In some disputes, a local station has been kept off DirecTV or Dish for up to a year or more until an agreement is reached.
EchoStar Corporation (parent company of Dish and owner of Boost Mobile telephone) will assign about $9.5 billion in long-term debt to DirecTV’s owner just to take it off their hands.
This combined entity will have more than $20 billion in long-term debt which (eventually) must be repaid.
DirecTV stated that this proposed combination will create an option for smaller, more affordable content packages with a more streamlined, one-stop-shop for entertainment.
I was surprised to learn that nationally known internet television service provider Sling TV is owned by Dish and will become part of this transaction, too.
Over the past decade, the FCC suggested that they would not permit this combination between the two top satellite TV providers. With diminishing market shares and the proliferation of additional options for home television viewers, the proposed DirecTV and Dish combination seems likely to be approved by federal regulators.
Northwestern State University and Stephen F. Austin will bring back “The Chief”
These two Southland Conference members are separated by just 110 miles. Their annual football match-up featured one of the most unique trophies in all of college football.
Chief Caddo was a 7’6” tall wooden Indian figure (a tribute to the local Caddo Nation tribes) and weighed more than 300 pounds. Since 1960, the winner of the Northwestern State Demons and Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football game kept Chief Caddo at their school for the next year.
SFA left the Southland Conference a few years ago, and the two teams didn’t play football regularly.
Until this season.
In 2024, Stephen F. Austin has returned to the Southland Conference once again. Their long rivalry with the NSU Demons has been renewed as well.
A new wooden trophy called “The Chief” was designed as the two universities conferred with leadership of the Caddo Nation to incorporate them into this new reward for the winning team.
Still standing 7’6” tall, the new trophy will feature a pitchfork on one end (for Northwestern State) and an axe on the other (for SFA). Scores from every game will adorn the new traveling trophy.
The winning team will display “The Chief” at their school with the winning logo facing upward.
Northwestern State University president James T. Genovese and Stephen F. Austin State University president Dr. Neal Weaver released a joint announcement on Monday.
“While the name and the design of the trophy will change, the great tradition endures,” said NSU President Genovese. “We have a wonderful relationship and a strong rivalry with our good friends at SFA, and this simply opens a new and exciting chapter to be enjoyed for generations to come.”
“For decades, our universities have battled for bragging rights on the football field each fall in a game that we anticipate year-round,” said SFA President Weaver. “It generates not only a sense of pride in the outcome of the game but also pride in our common ground and the outstanding accomplishments of our students, faculty, staff and alumni.”
This Saturday night at 7PM at Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches, Texas, the 2-2 SFA Lumberjacks will take on the winless Northwestern State Demons. “The Chief” will be in attendance and heading home with the victors.
In case you were wondering about the location of the original Chief Caddo, he is rumored to be residing in a warehouse somewhere on the Stephen F. Austin campus.
When pressed about the retired trophy’s whereabouts, an unofficial line going around the school this week was something like, “Don’t axe. Don’t tell.”
