For those of you that might have crawled from under a rock or maybe stranded on Gabon, then this may come as a shock. For the second year in a row, we need a sudden death playoff to determine one of the teams going to the playoffs. This is only the 8th time that it has ever happened, so it is not like it is a regular occurrence. To me it is just another way to sale some more tickets. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I am not a fan of these types of playoffs.However, if this game is like any of the others that were played for the same reason, it will be awesome.

I believe that they should play the 162 games out of the year and whatever the head to head is, that will be the deciding factor. If for some reason, there was a tie with the head to head, then and only then should this be used. This would cut out the need for the extra games to decide who the division champion is. All in all, we have to go through the game one more time.

Tonight’s ball game will pit the Chicago White Sox against the Minnesota Twins . It is set to start at 6:37 CT and will be aired on MLB.com and TBS. It will be play in Chicago. The starting pitchers will be John Danks for the White Sox going against Nick Blackburn for the Twins. Danks is 11-9 on the season while Blackburn is 11-10 this season. Danks is more of a strike out pitcher than is Blackburn, but Blackburn has 18 fewer walks than does Danks while both threw 187 total innings each this season. Danks has given up less hits, less homeruns, and less runs to finish .67 better in ERA than Blackburn. As for base runners, Blackburn only had 2 stolen bases against him all year while Danks gave up 23 of them.

Question is, will you be watching?

It did not take long for the St Louis Rams’ owner Chip Rosenbloom to replace fired head coach Scott Linehan. Replacing him will be the new Interim Head Coach Jim Haslett. One need not look very far to find the reasoning behind this happening. The Rams have been so bad this year that pathetic is too weak of a description. Now, do not get me wrong, all the blame does not lay on the shoulders of Scott. For, without the players performing to the best of their ability, then he is but one man. This issue with that is he is the head coach and his direction and motivation is what is suppose to guide these players. That is where he failed.

Haslett did what was needed to be done and gave the players a day off. This was to allow for them to say goodbye to the man that had led them. Most of these players knew that in some respect, they had a hand in the departure of Linehan. All in all, some are lucky that they too did not loose their jobs today. And for some, that scared starting position might still soon be gone.

Haslett is not new to the head coaching role either. He wore the head set for 6 years with the New Orleans Saints. Lately, he has been the Defensive Coordinator with the Rams.

It has not happened often in history, but it does happen nonetheless. What is it I am talking about? It is the “One Head to Head game” to decide who wins a division in case of a tie. For me, I am not a fan of this. I think that whoever wins the series throughout the season is the team that would win the division. However, I do not make the rules.

Now, with all that being said, Monday September 29, 2008 at 2:05 PM will be the most important time for the entire season for the Chicago White Sox. This is the time that theDetroit Tigers can rain down on the parade of the White Sox and propell the Minnesota Twins into the ALC Playoffs to face the Tampa Bay Rays.

The University of Mississippi Rebels travel to Gainesville, Florida today to face the undefeated University of Florida Gators in the “Swamp”. Prior to this game, the Ole Miss Rebels were 2-2 on the season. The two games that the Rebels have lost were close nail bitters. The first lost came against Wake Forest with a score of 28-30. The second loss was against Vanderbilt 17-23.

You knew that this was going to be a game when Ole Miss quarterback Jevan Snead rushed in from the 1 yard line for the first and only score of the first quarter. The second quarter saw the Gators get on track with the first score coming from Florida’s Jonathan Phillips as he kicked a 32 yard field goal. The next score was just a 1:05 later as Tim Tebow connected on a 43 yard touchdown pass to Percy Harvin with 12:26 left on the clock. The final score of the second quarter came with just 1:06 left on the clock as Tebow took it in himself from one yard out.

The second half opened and the Rebels were not going to take it laying down. With 3 scores of their own to dominate the third quarter, the Rebels shocked the Gator Nation. The first score came at the 11:00 mark when kicker Joshua Shene split the uprights from 33 yards out. Just 30 seconds later, the Gator fans would be shocked as they watched Snead throw an 18 yard touchdown to Cordera Eason. This was set up when Tebow fumbled at the 18 after the ensuing kickoff. The final score of the third quarter was had by Dexter McCluster as he galloped for 40 yards.

The fourth quarter was where both teams let it all hang out. The Gators went into the quarter trailing by a touchdown and needed to answer. They did just that with 11:26 left on the clock as Tebow once again called his own number and took a dive through the line to score from 1 yard out. The two teams traded a round of possesions that ended in punts. After Florida punted, Ole Miss made them pay dearly on a blown coverage play. It came on the third play of the series as Snead connect with Shay Hodge for an 86 yard touchdown pass. This would leave 5:26 on the clock. Tebow brought the offense onto the field and carved up the defense as they moved the ball at will. The drive ended with Harvin taking it in from 15 yards out. The difference to the game was the blocked PAT.

Florida would get the ball back one more time and march down the field. With a 4th and 1 to go, instead of attempting a 48 yard field goal, Tebow took it to the right side of the line only to be stopped short and turn the ball over on downs. Rebels win 31-30.

The curse of the number 1 ranking has struck again. This year, it is the University of Southern California Trojans that have fallen victim. The Trojans traveled North to face conference rival Oregon State Beavers last night and did not fair well. The Beavers seemed to have the number of the Trojans.

What was really amazing to me was the fact that the entire first half belonged to the Beavers offensively. They were able to rattle of 21 unanswered points before the Trojans  even knew what hit them. The second half was truly a different story with the Trojans coming back to tie the game with 2:39 left on the clock. This proved to be too much time for the Beavers as they marched just 40 yards down the field to take the victory over the Trojans.

Currently there are only 3 divisions that are left with a race going on for the division championship. Let’s first look at the division winners that have already been decided. The only American League team to wrap things up are the Los Angeles Angels. The closest team to them was the Texas Rangers by 21.5 games. As for the National League, the Chicago Cubs have won the Central Division and the Los Angeles Dodgers have won the West Divison. The Cubs were followed by the Miluawkee Brewers by 8.5 games why the Diamondbacks of Arizona are just 4.5 out from the Dodgers in the West.

As for the teams still in it, there are some tight races left. The Tampa Bay Rays had their chance to put away the Boston Red Sox with a win tonight and could not get the job done.  In the Central Division, the Minnesota Twins are only .5 game behind the Division leading Chicago White Sox. As for the Nation League, the only race going is in the East that saw the Mets keep their hopes alive by beating the Chicago Cubs tonight while the Philadelphia Philles were slaughtered by the Atlanta Braves. Hopefully this weekend will wind it all up and we can start picking some league winners.

It is amazing what a year can do for someone. At the beginning of the 2008 season Roger Federer was ranked number 1 in the world and Rafael Nadal was second. Today;s current rankings have them flip flopped. I believe that the biggest reason the ATP did this was Nadal’s win at Wimbledom. Even though Rafael spanked Roger in Roland Garros, beating him at Wimbledom was so much more to the tennis world. Rafael has dominated the clay courts for some time so the weight of that win is less.

I have taken the liberty to post the top ten men’s singles players in the world as list by the Association of Tennis Professionals. It has the player’s rankings and point totals as currently listed. I find some of these positions surprising to say the least.

ATP Expanded Rankings

Monday night capped the end of week three for the National Football League . Some teams are glad, some are sad, and some are so lost that they can not find their way out. It has been a strange start to the 2008 season. So much has changed since opening day. Let’s take a moment to take a look at all the changes.

The newest change might be that of Marc Buldger getting the “Pine” duty as he is benched by the ST Louis Rams . Another quarterback to get served the same fate was Tarvaris jackson of the Minnesota Vikings . Similar calls are looking more and more likely to come from the Cleveland Browns and the Kansas City Chiefs . In New England , we witnessed one of the best quarterbacks lose his entire season within the first 5 minutes of the first game. And to top it off, the Oakland Raiders have not made secrets of wanting to boot head coach Lane Kiffin to the curb.

OK, so you want to know what the point of this post is. It is a simple thought really. The teams of the NFL has no patience for losing. That is evident. I think the issues that lead to this is not addressed in the off season or the pre-season. For the Browns, they drafted Brady Quinn and have set him. If you have that kind of talent, play him. He will get better. For Brady, he has had knee problems coming in. Why not allow him some time off the knee, get it stronger and have him down the stretch instead of on crutches. Jackson in my opinion should have not been booted. His supporting cast stinks. Give him the time and he will be good.

All these moves this early in the season are not neccessary. I think that this is an issue that they VP of operations, General Manager, and the Head Coach need to get off their fannies and resolve in the off season. Am I crazy or do you agree?

I have to say, the Miami Dolphins did something that even I thought would not be possible for their team to do. They marched into Foxborough, Massachusetts to Gillette Stadium and kicked the behinds of the New England Patriots. Now, before i get into this game, let me say this. For all the bloggers out there that are making the statement that this would not have happened if Tom Brady was there, just drop it. You are the same people that a week ago were saying the Patriots would be fine behind Cassel.

All in all, you have to give the devil his due. The Dolphins had a plan, believed in that plan, executed the plan, stuck to the plan, and won because of the plan. Now, I am not sure what the plan was and I could care less. I am sure that players like Pennington and Brown know what the plan was.

As for the win, I for one am glad to see the Dolphins pull this upset. And before all you Patriot fans jump all over that statement, let me clarify it. I am not glad because the Patriots lost, I am glad because the Dolphins won. It shows that they are alive and well.

At this point the Tampa Bay Rays are sitting on cloud nine. Currently, as I write this, they are 2.5 games above the Boston Red Sox . As I can understand where my fellow bloggers are coming from, I can not join them in calling this a “Cinderella” season for the Rays. That is just a hard bandwagon to jump on when this team has been in the top three the majority of the season. On September 30, 2008, the Rays accomplished something that they sat out to do 11 years ago; making the playoffs.

This October, there will certainly be a different look to the playoffs. The Rays of Tampa Bay are replacing one of the greatest American League teams in the New York Yankees as it appears that they are mathematically eliminated barring a meltdown by the Red Sox. Teams that dominated the 90’s for the playoffs are out and the new blood is in. Boston is making their run at playoff contention again. The Los Angeles Angels have already won their division and can began healing in time for the playoffs.

As for the National League, the Chicago Cubs have done their job and won their division to clinch their spot in the playoffs. lets just hope that a fan does not reach out to catch a ball this year. It will be interesting to see who wins the other 2 divisions as those races are far from over.

As for the TB Rays, they took care of business at hand and did what they have done all year; depend on themselves to get the job done. They got to the Twins pitching early and secured the win forstarting pitcher Scott Kazmir who lasted just 6 innings in the win. Those innings were productive though as he scattered 5 hits through them while walking 1 and striking out 5 batters. TheRays provided a balanced attack with their bats. It truly resembled a team effort as the Tampa Bay Rays have etched their name in a piece of Baseball history.