I used to live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the late 1970s.  I was there during the glory years of the Philadelphia Phillies, Philadelphia Flyers and the resurgence of the Philadelphia Eagles and Philadelphia 76ers.  Also, the first two "Rocky" movies had been filmed there so it was a great time to be living in Philadelphia. 

One of the biggest misconceptions about Philadelphia sports fans is that they are rude and abusive.  While that may be true for some of the fans, that doesn't mean that it's true for the majority of them.  Philadelphia sports fans get a bad rap from the media and they always fall back on the reference to them "booing Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny".  In actual fact, the Philadelphia sports fans are no different than any other city except that they may be more vocal and passionate than others. 

The media needs to stop parroting the Santa Claus and Easter Bunny reference and start thinking for themselves.  Philadelphia is not just a great sports town, but a great city with lots of history and culture.  If more people would study that they would see it and realize that there's a lot of great history in Philly besides rabid fans and cheese steaks.  And enough of this talk about how they haven't won a sports championship since 1983.  When's the last time Kansas City did anything?  How about Detroit?  Sorry to be harsh, but I'm just showing my brotherly love here.

If there was ever a case to be made for day games during the World Series or at least earlier starting times, it has been made during the last two World Series games in Philadelphia.  Game 4 had a 2-hour rain delay and did not end until after 2 o'clock in the morning on the east coast.  Game 5 also had a rain delay, but was suspended and supposed to have resumed tonight.  However, that plan was scrapped when "inclement weather" suspended the game again until tomorrow night. 

This has been a memorable postseason, but in some ways there are some things about it I'd just as soon forget from the infamous "Steve Harvey game" to the bad umpiring throughout this series to the twi-night singleheader that was Game 4 and finally last night's suspended game.  I'm a Cubs fan, but I would rather have watched Steve Garvey rather than Steve Harvey on TBS a couple of weeks ago.  And I don't understand why there can be day games during the LDS and LCS, but not the World Series.  So what if the game doesn't start at 8:00pm on the east coast?  They could start a game at 5:00pm on the east coast and by the time all of the B.S. and rain delays got finished the game would end around 11pm anyway. 

Now MLB is talking about starting the season later in 2009 and having the playoffs extend into November.  Great.  That's all we need.  More stupid commercials featuring "Gonzo" and a host of other assorted characters proclaiming "There's only one November!" Who comes up with these slogans anyway?  What's going to happen tomorrow night?  A new MLB commercial with the slogan "This time it REALLY counts!"? 

I know it's easy for me to say all of this, but I am a fan and the fans in Philadelphia got hosed for the past two nights-literally and figuratively.  They deserve better and so the rest of MLB fans who have been watching the games on tv or listening to them on the radio or the Internet.  Granted, at least FOX didn't have a power outage and force us to watch a rerun of "Titus", but the way things have been going this postseason I have no idea what's going to happen next.  About the only thing predictable about this postseason has been its unpredictability. 

40 years ago there was an NFL game between the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders which ran a little long and towards the end of the game NBC cut to a movie called "Heidi" about the little girl in the Alps.  After a few minutes and a deluge of complaints from television viewers, NBC cut back to the football game and it was forever to be known as "The Heidi Bowl."

Last night baseball fans across the nation got ready to watch Game of the ALCS and were treated to...Dick Clark and Steve Harvey.  Of course, it could have been worse.  We could have been treated to back-to-back episodes of "FrankTV" because they sure haven't promoted that show enough on TBS.  TBS apologized to viewers and said they had "technical difficulties" and eventually the game was aired at 8:28PM EST. 

Now, I know that TBS has received more than its share of criticism for the past two years, but this was an error of Buckneresque proportions.  I'm sorry, but there is no excuse for TBS to botch that telecast from last night.  Why didn't they have Chip Caray or one of the play-by-play crew use a telephone calling the play-by-play and have a game screen similar to Gameday on the MLB.com website showing us the action?  God forbid if this happens again.  If TBS thought they received nasty phone calls and e-mails last night, they better hope and pray that they don't make another error like the one from last night.  Because it could be the last time they ever telecast a MLB game and that won't be very funny.

Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies and their fans tonight! They are the 2008 National League Champions and they earned it.  I lived in Philadelphia, PA from 1977-1979.  Prior to that I lived in Wilmington, Delaware which is approximately 30 minutes from Philly.  As you can imagine I became a Phillies fan and just in time to root for the team during their golden years. 

The Phillies teams of the late 1970s were great.  They won three consecutive division titles from 1976-1978 and were lead by stars Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, Greg Luzinski, Bob Boone, Larry Bowa, Tug McGraw and many others.  However, as great as the Phillies were during the regular season they could never get into the World Series.  The Phillies fans had waited almost 100 years for their first World Series championship and it remained elusive for them in the late 1970s.  Sound familiar?  Even when they signed Pete Rose as a free agent in the winter of 1978 and traded for pitcher Nino Espinosa and second baseman Manny Trillo the team struggled in 1979 and missed the playoffs for the first time in 4 years.  It cost Danny Ozark his job as manager in August of that year and he was replaced by former scouting director Dallas Green. 

Green helped lead the team to a World Series championship in 1980.  They returned to the World Series in 1983 only to lose to the Baltimore Orioles.  They didn't come back to the Fall Classic until 10 years later when they lost to the Toronto Blue Jays in 6 games. 

After 1993 the Phillies went into decline for a few years until 2001 when new manager Larry Bowa guided them to a second-place finish in the NL East.  Bowa had 3 winning seasons in his 4 years as manager with the Phils, but he was fired in late 2004.  Charlie Manuel took over as manager in 2005 and once again the Phillies narrowly missed the playoffs that year and the next year.  In the last two years they have won a division title and now this year they have made it back to the World Series.  I would have preferred the Cubs to be the team representing the National League this year in the World Series, but the Phillies is the next best thing. 

Philadelphia is a great city not to mention sports town.  Sure, they have some rowdy fans who can be obnoxious at times, but it's unfair for the media to consistently bash Philly and their sports fans.  What they fail to understand is that they are passionate people.  These fans love their teams and if you go out and play hard and give 100% they'll love you.  If you don't, you might as well turn in your uniform.  They may not be as civil as the St. Louis fans are, but they're brutally honest and I love that. 

As I write this, the Boston Red Sox are one win away from being eliminated from the ALCS by the Tampa Bay Rays.  Personally, I'm rooting for Boston if only for the reason that I can't bear the thought of the Rays getting to a World Series AND winning one before the Cubs.  I've already had to endure the White Sox and Cardinals winning the World Series back-to-back.  I don't think I can handle any more.  What's next?  Mark Prior signs with the Pirates in the offseason, wins 20 games and the Cy Young as he and teammate Kerry Wood take Pittsburgh to a World Series championship? 

Whoever the American League opponent is for the Phillies, I don't care.  I'm rooting for Philadelphia to win it all and give another championship to a National League team.  I'm rooting for Charlie Manuel who initially I didn't think was a very good manager, but have since changed my mind.  The guy has been much-maligned by some in the Philadelphia media because he isn't Larry Bowa.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm a huge fan of Bowa.  I love the guy.  But, in a way, Bowa was kind of like Dave Bristol managing the Cincinnati Reds during the late 1960s.  Bristol got the Reds ready for Sparky Anderson.  Bowa got the Phillies ready for Charlie Manuel.  This hasn't been an easy week for Manuel.  I know that his mother is up in heaven smiling down at her son.  He's a good man, but more importantly he's a good manager.  A really good manager.  I hope to see him be the first Phillies manager since Dallas Green to win the World Series. 

Much has been made in the sports media about the failures of the Chicago Cubs in the last 100 years.  Before we examine the 100 years of so-called "futility" let's take a look at the years 2000-2008. 

1. 2000 6th place, 65-97 record
2. 2001 3rd place, 88-74 record
3. 2002 5th place, 67-95 record
4. 2003 1st place, 88-75 record (NLDS winner)
5. 2004 3rd place, 89-73 record
6. 2005 4th place, 79-83 record
7. 2006 6th place, 66-96 record
8. 2007 1st place, 85-77 record
9. 2008 1st place, 97-64 record

Since the year 2000, the Chicago Cubs have had 3 1st-place finishes (3 division titles) and 1 National League Division Title championship.  They have also had 5 winning seasons above .500 out of 9.  Where is the futility?  There are some teams like the Kansas City Royals and Pittsburgh Pirates that would kill to have 5 winning seasons in the last 9 years.  The Achilles Heel for the Cubs is ZERO World Series championships since 1908.  It certainly is a blemish on the franchise, but the fact is that it is extremely difficult to make it to the World Series let alone win one.  The New York Yankees haven't won a World Series since 2000.  The San Francisco Giants haven't won a World Series since 1954 when they were the New York Giants.  The Cleveland Indians haven't won a World Series since 1948. 

Now, there will be naysayers who will point out that the Yankees, Giants and Indians have at least been to the World Series since 1989, but is it enough just to get there?  As the late Tug McGraw once said, "Losing a World Series is horrible.  There's no, 'well, we were one of the two teams that at least got here.' It's horrible." The Chicago Cubs would love to be able to say they got to the World Series, but it's not enough just to get there.  You want to win it.  And as Lou Piniella said during the NLDS, "Let's judge this team on its own merit." These current Cubs may have disappointed Cubs fans this October, but make no mistake, this is a really good ballclub we got in Chicago.  We have a winner here. 

Hopefully Lou and Jim can figure out a way to get this team to the World Series in 2009.  Hopefully by next spring we'll have a new owner who'll put up the financial resources to do whatever it takes to bring a World Series championship to the Chicago Cubs and their long-suffering fans.  We're close, but we're not there yet.  But one thing's for sure to me and that is that we are lovable losers no more.  We're contenders now.  Get used to it. 

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Dodgers! I knew they were going to be tough, but I wasn't expecting them to sweep the Cubs in the NLDS.  This Dodgers team reminds me of the 1988 Dodgers team which defeated the Oakland Athletics in the World Series.  Nobody gave that team in '88 a shot against the Bash Brothers, Stew and Eck, but they were able to beat the Mets in the NLCS then the Athletics in the World Series that year.  However, this Dodgers team has more talent and it goes beyond just Manny Ramirez.  We can't forget that the Dodgers had the best ERA in the National League.  They also replaced former hitting coach Mike Easler with Don Mattingly at the All-Star Break just weeks before acquiring Casey Blake and Manny Ramirez.  I think that helped along with providing protection for Andre Ethier who has been on a tear since late July. 

As a Cubs fan since May of 1984 I can honestly say that this Cubs team was possibly the best team I have seen in my 25 years being a Cubs fan.  I really believed that they were going to be in the World Series this year.  I also thought the Angels were going to the World Series this year, too, so the moral of this story is don't ever ask me about predictions ever again. 

Much has been made in the media about the so-called "curse" against the Cubs.  Which one?  Oh, it must be the dreaded goat again.  Or is it the black cat?  Or perhaps the evil one, Steve Bartman?  Puh-leaze.  There isn't any curse.  There never was one.  All of that stuff is about as relevant as The Easter Bunny or The Tooth Fairy.  Moreover, it is a diss to the Dodgers and teams like them because essentially what you're saying is that the Dodgers didn't win on their own merit.  It was the curse that caused the Cubs to lose so anybody could have beaten the Cubs.  Nonsense.  Chicago had no excuse for playing as poorly as they did.  These guys knew what they were up against and a million pre-game pep talks wouldn't have made any difference.  They didn't have to be told by Lou or the coaches that it's been 100 years since the last World Series championship.  That's only been said about 500 times in the past year, but that pales in comparison to the number of times Frank Caliendo's show has been promoted on TBS. 

We've got too many people in this country right now blaming someone or something else for their problems.  Nobody wants to take personal responsibility anymore.  I think at the end of the day that these guys have to look themselves in the mirror because there's no excuse for the way they played against the Dodgers.  I'm sure that most of them did their best and gave 100%, but at the end of the day Los Angeles was and is the better team.  They played like champions and the Cubs didn't.  It's that plain and simple.  That's why Los Angeles is playing Philadelphia tomorrow night and the Cubs are not. 

Some Cubs fans have already started talking about next year.  Folks, I don't even want to think about next year right now.  I'm still trying to get over this past season.  This is going to take awhile to get over.  If there is any silver lining to this cloud, perhaps it could be that the excruciating pain and embarrassment the players feel right now could drive them to be on a mission in 2009 to work even harder at a championship.  And maybe soon we'll have a new owner who will put up the necessary dollars to bring us a championship team.  Other than that, I don't even want to think about the Hot Stove League right now.  I wish the Dodgers luck against the Phillies.  They're going to need it.