Sweet Home Chicago

And now for some desultory comments regarding the baseball playoffs, writers, my World Series pick and other stuff.

1. The answer to everyone's question: No, I'm not cheering for the White Sox in the World Series even though they're located in the same city as the Cubs. In fact, from what I understand, White Sox fans are leery of Cubs fans jumping on their bandwagon. Not that I blame them.

I'm the same guy who offers everyone in the office a one time offer each season to jump on the Cubs bandwagon in April. Thus far, only Yes Dear has joined me (and that only because she figures she'll be watching close to 60 games a year as well as seeing highlight every night.)

I have a general disdain for bandwagon jumpers. (Granted, I'm the same guy who, a few columns ago, suggested that Red Sox fans might have been happier if they'd changed their loyalties to the Yankees, but I wouldn't have respected them if they'd done that.) Sure, you pick a team when you're eight because you like their mascot or one of their players has the same first name that you do, but that's your team. If a team in the same city does well, you might be happy for them. Heck, you might even be cheering for them to win the World Series, but under no circumstances can you start wearing that team's hats, showing up at the ballpark and acting like a longtime fan or even celebrate (in the event that they win). The fact of the matter is that your team didn't win. Nothing else in sports matters.

2. As you may have noticed, I'm reading "Now I Can Die in Peace" by Bill Simmons. (I constantly bring this up because I read so few books that when I do read one, I want to make sure everyone knows about it.)

One of the things he manages to capture in his writing is the passion he has for the Red Sox. (No, non-sports fans, that's not a typo. There are two "Sox" franchises in baseball. I'm not sure of the origins of the names for the two teams, but there was some sort of hex placed on them. The Red Sox went from 1918 to 2004 without winning a World Series, while the White Sox haven't won a title since 1917.)

After reading each of Simmons columns, I know exactly how he felt on that particular day. Granted, writing about your favorite sports team after a loss that feels like a sucker punch to the stomach is like blogging about your relationship with your significant other right after a big fight. You're probably going to write some things you don't really mean, but at the time it feels good to write it.

Sadly, I'm still trying to capture that ability of conveying my passion in my writing. I go back and read my posts from time to time and think "my God, why is anyone reading this drivel?" I'll strive to get better, I promise.

3. Remember on "Saved by the Bell: Hawaiian Vacation" when the local tribe thought Screech was their long lost leader? I thought about that today for no reason and wanted to share that with the rest of you.

4. Detailed sports discussion here. Non-sports fans, feel free to skip ahead. I was totally shocked to see the Astros rebound the way they did after Albert Pujols' home run in game five. I was watching that game and, even though I was pulling for Houston, I wanted to see Pujols face Brad Lidge with the game on the line. After all, Lidge is the best closer in baseball and Pujols is the best hitter in the game.

In fact, Pujols has reached the point (along with Manny Ramirez and Vladimir Guerreo) as hitters I'll delay going to the bathroom to watch. (Oddly enough, I call this the bathroom test. Non-sports moments that make the list include any time Jon Stewart is on, the final 15 minutes of any Law & Order episode, and selected moments in Big Brother). Pujols is a professional hitter, meaning he's going to have a quality at bat every time. He rarely swings at anything out of the strike zone, makes solid contact and puts the fear of God into every opposition fan whenever he's at the plate. The fact that the Cubs play his team 17 times a year scares me to death.

Lidge, meanwhile, has gone from middle reliever to All-Star closer in less than two years. He's got a 98 mph fastball (sorry Canadians, I don't know what that is in kph) and a slider that, when it's working, is unhittable.

So when Pujols and Lidge were squaring off in the 9th inning of Game 5, I knew I was in for something special. Lidge threw a slider on the first pitch that made Pujols look bad. I mean really bad. Since he'd been having trouble locating his fastball, Lidge went back to the well for another slider. Well, you know what they say about going to the well once to often. Lidge's slider sat right in the middle of the plate and Pujols crushed it deep into the Houston night for an improbable comeback win for St. Louis.

In fact, on the team plane flight from Houston to St. Louis, one of Lidge's teammates walked up to him on the plane and joked "if you look our your window, you'll see the ball Pujols hit last night. It still hasn't landed."

4. World Series Pick: Having seen Houston play quite a bit this year (they also played the Cubs 17 times this season, including seven of their last 10 games), I think their pitching is too much for the White Sox to overcome. My pick: Houston in six (Note: All picks by The Nexus of the Universe are guaranteed wrong or your money back.)

Weekend update: It's Homecoming weekend here at Georgia Southern. Friends will be down, stories will be told, laughs will be had and it'll be like old times. Only several of us are married, some have kids, and we're all "responsible" adults, unlike our college years.

Georgia Southern pick: The Eagles have been up and down this year. I think they'll play decent Saturday and pull out a 24-10 win.

Thesis update: Yes Dear spent a good portion of last night putting some last minute touches on her thesis. She'll make some final minor editing changes on Monday and will be done writing it by Wednesday. She defends it on November 1 at 9 a.m. (In case you're wondering, I'll be in a Statesboro City Council meeting at that time, so I can't go support her. (Stupid job.)
Correction: Somewhere earlier in this blog, I said Yes Dear was graduating on December 10. In fact, it's on December 9.

As always, thanks for reading and until next time, take care of yourself, and each other.

Next update: Monday night