I can remember back in the day when my buddies and I would hope our teachers at Washington Elementary or Lincoln Junior High or Lindsay High School would have the decency to allow us to listen to the World Series games broadcast on the radio and forego our normal school lessons. Usually they would, especially if one of the teams had some connection to the area. Yes, it was October, a time when the warm days of summer were dissolving into cool and then cold days, and if the games were played in the more northern cities, it could be downright cold, but at least the games were played during the warmest part of the day...

Willie Mays gets a hit in the 1962 World Series

In this day and age, television makes the rules. Baseball went to a playoff format in order to keep fan interest at a higher level late in the season and I can understand that, but it pushed what used to be an early October World Series clear back to what we have today, a Series that could run into November. Couple that with the increased chances of wind, rain and ever colder temperatures, and finally throw in the need for night games so the whole country can watch, and we get what has happened in Philadelphia the last couple of games.

East Coast Weather, October 27th-28th, 2008

There was a telling remark during tonight's game five broadcast and I hate to admit it, but I believe it came from good old Tim McCarver. He said it was a shame that the Rays (and you could insert Phillies there too) had to desert the type of play that had served them so well during the regular season (and in the earlier playoff games) so that they could play in the most important games of their lives, the World Series, all due to the inclement weather conditions while playing at the coldest time of the day.

Dirk Shadd, St. Petersburg Times photographer captures B.J. Upton sliding through the mud at home plate scoring the tying run in the top of the 6th inning in a driving rain. It made a perfect suspension point once the top half of the inning was completed.

I realize my musings about the problems we've seen in the 2008 World Series won't change a thing, but it sure helps me personally. Here is a case where the way things were done in the past truly made them the good old days... 

Another big game last Saturday in the Big Ten in what turned out to be a hard fought victory for the Penn State Nittany Lions over perennial Big Ten champion Ohio State.

Congratulations are in order as Joe Paterno's 2008 Nittany Lions team defeated the Buckeyes in Ohio State's horseshoe for the first time in several years. A look into their future schedule points to the very real likelihood that the Lions will be undefeated come season's end (Nov. 8th @ Iowa [5-3], Nov. 15th Indiana [3-5] at home and Nov. 22nd Michigan State [7-2] at home).

This leads to a couple of questions. In the first place, this Penn State revelation leads me to wonder how the wonderful BCS will seed the national championship game if say Texas (or Texas Tech) and Alabama are also undefeated at the end of the 2008 season. Secondly, what about an undefeated Ball State, Boise State, Utah, or Tulsa? These folks are now, or will be shortly, clamoring for their rightful piece of the BCS pie too.

Let's face it, once again "Big Time" college football is headed for another BCS wreck. If the final month of the season plays out the way it now stands (with Texas or Texas Tech winning out in the Big 12 and the Crimson Tide in the SEC), someone is going to become the proverbial sacrificial lamb...

When was the last time you saw a Lion equal a Lamb???

 = 

Since Coach Paterno took over the Penn State football program way back in 1966, the Nittany Lions have put together five undeated seasons with only one (1986) leading to consensus National Champion recognition. In 1982 Penn State won it's only other national championship while losing one game during the season. Now that's quite a record, wouldn't you say? Well folks, it looks like Penn State is going to take it hard once again in 2008.

I want to hear all you Penn State fans out there give a hearty cheer for the BCS... Ain't it great?

And yet again, as another college football season races to it's end, the fans of this sport can only wish for a playoff system that gives all of the top teams in Division I a fair chance at winning the National Championship on the field.

Thank you  FOX for your sports coverage in MLB, NFL, ect. In most of your broadcasts you feature some of the most knowledgeable commentators on television, with one glaring exception.

Why do you have Tim McCarver as your color commentator on the World Series broadcasts? He is nothing but a master of regurgitating the obvious. He is a muck raker and never afraid of spewing his narrow opinion at the worst possible times. Your other broadcasters are so much more professional.

How long does your listening audience have to put up with this old timer when there are so many enjoyable baseball people available?

Let's hear it for the Rays!

Against all odds, with this season's third youngest team in Major League Baseball and the team with the smallest payroll to ever play in the World Series, the Tampa Bay Rays have escorted in the renaissance of this sport. This in spite of the league's owners and their commissioner who were deeply compliant components of the recently ended drug era in professional baseball. No more will drug enhanced players who, even late into their careers were performing what we now know were superhuman fetes, dictate who will become the sport's champions. From now on, the playing field has come a very long way toward being leveled as older ballplayers will naturally see their playing prowess diminish along with their advancing age. From now on, the owners will become more and more wary of paying exorbitant contracts to the older players only to watch their performance and skills erode with the inevitable onset of advancing years. From now on, teams that play in the smaller markets around the league (like the Rays) will stand a much better chance of playing in the post season with youth filled rosters. From now on, well managed teams will stand a chance against the well moneyed teams and the sport, in spite of the owners, will enjoy a popularity as yet unseen in it's history.

Last season we saw another young, small market (and payroll) team make it to the big show. The Colorado Rockies made an improbable run into the playoffs only to fall to the Boston Red Sox in the 2007 World Series. This, as it turned out, was the harbinger of things to come.

This season we've had the pleasure of watching another young, small market team put together one of the most impressive runs in the history of Major League Baseball. By stringing together one win after another, the Tampa Bay Rays have advanced from the league's worst record in 2007 to first place in the American League East, the league's most competitive division, but that's not all. In 2008, the team's eleventh year of existence, the Rays have strung together four firsts in it's short history. 2008 is the first season the Ray's won over 70 games in a season, the first season they attained a winning record, it's the first time they've won the AL East, and now it's the first time they've won the American League Championship. There is one more celebration possibly waiting in the wings.

Will the 2008 MLB season end with the Tampa Bay Rays hoisting the World Series trophy? If it does, it will mark the end of one of the most improbable runs in the history of sport and truly mark the beginning of a new era in Major League Baseball.

I want to congratulate the Philadelphia Phillies for their run into the series. I can understand why the fans in Eastern Pennsylvania, South New Jersey, and Delaware will be cheering for their Phils, and I can understand why the fans of the other American League East teams may have their reservations, but I'll look for all of the other MLB fans to come together and pull for, and hopefully celebrate with, the Tampa Bay Rays as they complete what right now appears to be the inevitable.

Let's see if they can pull it off!

GO RAYS!