MLB Season Nears its' End While the NHL's is Just Beginning

This part of the year might be one of the best in sports; The MLB starts the World Series next Wednesday, The NFL season is a little more then a quarter of the way done (and the play-off picture is starting to slowly shape-up) and the NHL season is just getting going.

The Texas Rangers have a 2-0 series lead over the Detroit Tigers as of Tuesday afternoon after enduring multiple rain-delays, and despite not being thought of to play in the World Series (by The Clock's sports writers at least), the Rangers appear on their way to back-to-back World Series appearances. Texas, who defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in four games in the ALDS, have dealt with adversity both on and off the field this year (Shannon Stone's death back in July, which shook Josh Hamilton's psyche greatly). In the other clubhouse, though, the Tigers have lost Magglio Ordonez, whose age might be catching up to him after he was lost for the rest of the postseason with a bad ankle. Detroit appeared to be destined for the World Series after beating the New York Yankees in five games in the ALDS, but only time will tell if they will ultimately end up in the World Series. As far as the NLCS goes, the Milwaukee Brewers are up 2-0 on the St. Louis Cardinals. This series, which features two teams from the same division (the NL Central), should be quite an entertaining series, and the Brewers will finally get some national attention despite playing in one of the smaller markets in the MLB. Milwaukee defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks in 5 games in the NLDS, while the Cardinals beat the Philadelphia Phillies in five games in the first round of the playoffs. This series should be quite exciting because both teams have said that they don't like each other, and that always provides for entertaining baseball.

The NFL season keeps chugging along, and the "Dream Team" isn't going anywhere anytime fast. The Philadelphia Eagles, who are heading into week five 1-4, seem completely out of sync. Michael Vick has been struggling all year, and that defense couldn't stop a team composed of The Clock's own Ben King as the quarterback. It seems as if the Eagles will be lucky to finish 8-8 this year.  On the other end of the spectrum, the Patriots and the Green Bay Packers are starting to just start rolling teams. The Pats defeated the Jets 30-21 to go to 4-1, while the Cheeseheads are 5-0 after beating the Atlanta Falcons 25-14. Green Bay seems to clearly be the best team in the entire NFL, while the New England, in my opinion is the 2nd best team in the AFC behind the Baltimore Ravens. For the Patriots, the game this week against the Dallas Cowboys will really show how good they are, because the Cowboys are one of the better teams in the NFC (at least in the first 3 quarters of a game). The Packers don't play an opponent that I think they will have trouble with until week 8, in which they play the San Diego Chargers. Between the Packers and the Pats, two of the best coaches in the league are leading both of these teams (Bill Belichick in New England, Mike McCarthy in Green Bay), and no let downs should be expected for both of these well-composed teams.

In the National Hockey League world, the Bruins were unable to win in their home opener against the Philadelphia Flyers. Despite this opening night loss, the Bruins came back to beat the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday behind strong play from goalie Tim Thomas and center Rich Peverley. It is obviously too early to establish what team is going to come out of no where to surprise everyone in the NHL, but with the autumn chill last week, I think it reminded everyone that hockey season is upon us, and that both of Plymouth's hockey teams will be on the ice themselves soon enough.

David Stern announced on Tuesday that the first two weeks of the regular season were canceled this year. Stern, who announced a couple of weeks ago that the pre-season was canceled, still stressed that he wants the season to happen. Not having a season this year will not only turn fans off from the game, but will also hurt the economy in cities that only have an NBA team in it (i.e. San Antonio Spurs, Sacramento Kings, Oklahoma City Thunder for example). The NBA season needs to happen this year, plain and simple, because the competition now is arguably the best it has ever been, and there are some unbelievable players in the league.  

In other irrelevant (though I find interesting) sports news:

-Tom Brady threw his first interception ever in the red-zone last week against the Jets. That is unreal that it took him over 10 years to do so.

-Al Davis was a big deal not only to the Oakland Raiders, but also to the entire NFL. His loss might motivate the Raiders to make the playoffs, but Davis was one of the best owners ever in professional sports.

-Tim Tebow is the answer in Denver

-There were some unbelievable catches last week, with #1 (in my opinion) being Dwayne Bowe's catch.

-The fact that the San Francisco 49ers are 4-1 blows my mind.

-Linebacker Bobby Carpenter for the Detroit Lions is the comeback player of the year.

-Terrell Owens needs to get signed by someone.

-Sunday River in Maine is already blowing snow on to the mountain.

-The 2015 Super Bowl (yes, I know, it seems like a long time away) will be played in Arizona again. Phoenix hosted the Super Bowl in 2008, and I think you know the rest (Eli to Tyree, Plaxico back-corner fade for the game winning touchdown against the Pats).

-Robin Ventura being chosen as the new Chicago White Sox's manager surprised me. I anticipated former Red Sox's skipper Terry Francona to change the color of his soxs, but the White Sox thought differently. One other thing related to this that I thought was interesting is that general manager Kenny Williams considered making Paul Konerko the first player/manager in recent memory.

-My pick to win the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway this week is Jimmie Johnson.

-Best NFL game of the upcoming week? The Bills traveling to Jersey to face the Giants. How will the Giants bounce back after an awful loss against the Seahawks?

Non-sports information of the week:

-Having Monday off this week was a great thing.

-I never realized how many people come up North to see the fall foliage. While I was returning to school on Monday, the Southbound side of I-93 was backed-up for 12 miles.

-I hope to try to review a bunch of the mountains that are relatively close to Plymouth so people know which season/day pass is the best one to get.

-For the record, I am a skier.

‘Till next week I'm outta here.........