*sigh*

"It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone."
-Bart Giamatti

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring."
-Rogers Hornsby

"At least my fantasy basketball team is now up and running."
-me

lets try and avoid this situation again

Having the World Series be won via a rain-shortened game would be a weird, ugly situation for baseball. No question. You don't want an ump waving his arms to be the "winning moment" instead of the usual final out or walk-off run. That's why I could understand the Phils and Rays continuing to play through a cold, pouring, windy night. But then after the game was tied and subsequently suspended, Bud Selig claimed in a post-game press conference that it was within his power as commissioner to suspend an un-tied game.

So the question then becomes: why didn't he do this? It certainly seems like the right thing to do in an ethical sense, but technically it would mean the commissioner of a sport changing the rules for winning literally in the middle of the game. If Upton had been out at home, and the 6th inning ended with the Phils up 2-1, and then the tarps came out, wouldn't the Phils be within their right to declare themselves the champions? They had, after all, won the game according to the official rule book. At the very least, Phillie fans would have gone all post-apocopltic, donned football pads and leather pants and begin running around Philadelphia in dune buggies.

The lesson here being: change the rule book to officially allow for suspending certain un-tied games. Those "certain games" can either be potential World Series-ending games, all World Series games, or all playoff games. Take your pick. As long as we avoid having to chose between playing the World Series in virtually unplayable conditions, a rain delay ending the World Series, or the commish having to deny a team their technical championship.

Update - An article on mlb.com points us to the applicable rules about rain delays: Rule 3.10(c). That rule does not say how long a rain delay can last until the game is called/canceled, only that the suspension continues "as long he (the umpire-in-chief) believes there is any chance to resume play." It doesnt say "... chance to resume play within X amount of time." So it seems the chief umpire is within his right to say "hey, there's a chance to resume play three days from now, so the suspension continues until then."

At any rate, I think it's best to put somewhere in the rules that no World Series (or maybe playoff) game can be called early due to playing conditions, and if necessary it will be suspended, no matter the score, however long it takes for the weather to clear up.

is it THAT hard to show a baseball game on television

First the Steve Harvey Game, then Comcast dies in the Philly metro area for a solid 30 minutes.

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On a different note, ever wonder what the world would be like if rappers talked like lawyers? Wonder no more.

"hello, i'm dr. brilliant"

I've been a one-man mucus and snot factory for over a week, so yesterday I went to an urgent care clinic hoping to get hooked up with those glorious antibiotics. The guy who examines me? Dr. Stuart Brilliant. I'm not kidding. I could barely focus on answering his questions; I was in a daze from meeting such an aptly named man. He diagnosed me with bronchitis, and also said it hardly mattered what it was, since antibiotics take care of all them pesky respiratory infections. And who am I to argue with DR. BRILLIANT.

As for the Sawx, the Devil Rays were clearly the better overall team. We managed to push the series to 7 because our bullpen is fairly awesome and theirs sucks. Seriously, who's their closer? JP Howell? David Price? Balfour? Wheeler? Who knows. Anyway, four months and five days until the first spring training game!

And go Phillies, my in-a-sense home team!

OH MY GOD

Without question, this is the highest ratings in the history of the Steve Harvey Show.

TBS should never, ever again be given the right to broadcast a sporting event.

I am beside myself.

EPIC

FAIL.

Update: 21 excruciating/bizarre/hilarious minutes after the game begins, TBS actually starts showing it. Un. Real.

weddings are hard work

I hadn't been to one since I was around 10, and I was a little curious to see what goes down from the inside. The answer: pictures. Lots and lots of pictures. Before, during, and after the ceremony. And I was only a groomsman, so I wasn't in a quarter of them. But I got exhausted by just looking at the B&G having to put on a million separate smiles for 8+ hours.

My strategy in keeping the groom calm was to act as if the day was just like any other day - you know, none of the "How are you feeling?" stuff and more of the randomly singing Queen's "Radio Ga Ga." It seemed to work as his only external signs of stress I noticed were some pacing, some "craps" and one "holy crap." Although, I did spend the 30 minutes immediately preceding the ceremony ushering in guests, so he could have been having seizures then for all I know.

The ceremony went off without a hitch (save for the hitch, ahyuck), and was beautifully done. Standing up there for so long in my hard plastic shoes (insert eye-rolling from every bridesmaid ever) did force me to switch to sneakers for the reception - that and the fact that I'm totally down with the sneakers-with-formal-wear look in general.

Good-Natured Disappointments:

• My height advantage made me the early favorite for the garter, by I got totally beat to it by a nimble and cat-like Best Man.
  
• "Thriller" was not played during the reception.
• I was sick the whole day and got worse toward the end of the reception, which I mostly spent coughing into a napkin and nursing a beer.
  
• No one got rowdy, so I was unable to take advantage of a groomsman's role as a de facto bouncer.
• There were no Greek or Jewish relatives, so sadly no plates were smashed. The punch bowl did get knocked over, however, so that was awesome.
  

how to push your luck

uh... *ahem*... i have a bad feeling about this

I'm not feeling too great about the upcoming Sox/Halos Sox/Rays series. Boston has a lot of things working against them: Drew and Lowell's health is hanging by a thread or worse Lowell is out, Ortiz hasn't been Ortiz since May, Beckett has been pushed back to Game 3 and might not even make that wasn't that good last time out, Teixeira Upton has been killing the ball the last two months games, and we're facing three very good pitchers in Lackey, Santana and Saunders Kazmir, Shields, and Garza.

Boston needs Lester Beckett and Daisuke to pitch extremely well in Game 1 and 2 if we're going to win this series.

i have a bad feeling about this

I'm not feeling too great about the upcoming Sox/Halos series. Boston has a lot of things working against them: Drew and Lowell's health is hanging by a thread (or worse), Ortiz hasn't been Ortiz since May, Beckett has been pushed back to Game 3 and might not even make that, Teixeira has been killing the ball the last two months, and we're facing three very good pitchers in Lackey, Santana and Saunders.

Boston needs Lester and Daisuke to pitch extremely well in Game 1 and 2 if we're going to win this series.