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Happy New Year's Eve to all at Free Republic!!! Make your predictions for 2008. Good Luck!!!

"When it's third-and-10, you can take the milk drinkers and I'll take the whiskey drinkers every time." That's the authoritative word from Green Bay Packers legend Max McGee, who died on Oct. 20 at 75 after he fell raking leaves from his roof. Many old-time athletes and sports writers have felt the same way. Didn't Babe Ruth set records while satisfying his voracious appetite for hot dogs, booze, and sex? Character counts, but runs count more, right? That's what the Colorado Rockies thought until 2004, when fastballer Denny Neagle was arrested for soliciting a prostitute. The Rockies, who had finished...

The Washington Nationals took some satisfaction from playing the role of spoilers in the final week of the season, helping decide who would win the National League East. They also unknowingly may have had a role in deciding the NL West as well. As a result of a loss exactly two months ago, it's easy to argue the Nationals played a small part in Colorado's miraculous run in the final weeks of the season, a stretch that ultimately led to the Rockies' appearance tonight against the Boston Red Sox in the World Series. It was Aug. 24 at Coors Field...

9/7/2007 - ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. (AFPN) -- While some kids might boast about having a Little League World Series under their belts, the Warner Robins American Little League baseball players are taking it all in stride. Parents of five of the players who were part of Robins team said the journey to the Little League World Series, which started in early June and wrapped up with a World Series Championship in Williamsport, Pa., was one marked by excitement and fatigue. Now, the baseball players and their families are just trying to take their new-found fame in and get...

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. -- Dalton Carriker couldn't feel his legs as he rounded the bases. His home run in the bottom of the eighth had just given Warner Robins, Ga., a thrilling 3-2 victory over Tokyo to win the Little League World Series title. "I felt like I was flying, like Peter Pan," Carriker said. "I didn't know what I was doing." Adrenaline took over from there, said the 12-year-old slugger with braces. His dramatic home run over the right-field wall off a 2-1 pitch from Japan's Junsho Kiuchi gave the United States three straight Little League championships. "USA! USA!"...

Phil Hellmuth, Jr. Makes Poker History! JUNE 12,2007 - 3:01:02 AM PST by: Nolan Dalla Poker Superstar First Player to Reach 11-Gold Bracelet Milestone Doyle Brunson and Johnny Chan Linger In Second Place with 10-WSOP Wins Each Las Vegas, NV (June 11, 2007) – Poker superstar Phil Hellmuth, Jr. made history today becoming the first player ever to win 11 gold bracelets at the World Series of Poker. The WSOP bracelet is considered the gold standard of the poker world. Each bracelet represents a single win at the world’s largest and most prestigious poker tournament. Coming into this year’s World...

The day after the St. Louis Cardinals clinched the 2006 World Series, fan Jason Harris went to a local tattoo parlor to permanently memorialize the team's tenth championship. Harris, a 20-year-old college student who had never previously gotten a tattoo, headed for The House of Ink in St. Louis, where he wanted the words "St. Louis Cardinals, World Series Champions, 2006" inked on his back. However, according to a negligence lawsuit Harris just filed, the resulting fist-sized tattoo was marred by errors for which he now wants in excess of $25,000 in damages. Harris's Circuit Court complaint, a copy of...

BOSTON -- It may take DNA experts to finally settle the rumors surrounding Curt Schilling's famous bloody sock. Baltimore Orioles broadcaster Gary Thorne said on the air last night that Schilling painted the sock red as a public relations stunt in the Boston Red Sox's Game 6 win over the New York Yankees in the 2004 AL championship series. "It was painted," Thorne said during the Orioles-Red Sox game. "Doug Mirabelli confessed up to it after. It was all for PR." But Mirabelli, Boston's backup catcher, later denied ever talking to Thorne, telling the Boston Globe that Thorne's comment was...

ST. LOUIS - The current kings of baseball are the worst World Series winners in history, though the St. Louis Cardinals are hardly bothered by such trivialities. For the rest of us, however, the question is whether to bury them or to praise them. That is what we are left with today, the first unofficial day of winter, following the fifth and final game of the World Series last night at Busch Stadium. The Cardinals defeated the Detroit Tigers, 4-2, concluding a wildly improbable playoff year during which 12 teams, including Detroit and, yes, the Red Sox, finished the regular...

As the Cardinals closed in on their 10th World Series championship, former major-league executive Buzzie Bavasi agonized. "They're killing me,'' said Bavasi, a general manager with three major-league teams over 30 seasons. "Just killing me.'' Bavasi's case of Cardinal-envy was half-joking and half-real. As the general manager for the Brooklyn-Los Angeles Dodgers from 1950-68, Bavasi jousted with the Cardinals for the distinction of king of the National League. According to Bavasi, the Cardinals were more of a nemesis to the Dodgers than the hated New York-San Francisco Giants. Advertisement The Dodgers-Giants rivalry was based on geography as much as any...

4-1. CARDS WIN

Let's GO! Baseball fans!!!!! Verlander v. Weaver and "The Gambler" in G6!

CARDS LEAD SERIES 3-1Cards are flying high!

Jeff Suppan faces Jeremy Bonderman as the Cardinals host the Tigers in a weather-delayed Game 4 of the World Series. The Cardinals lead the Series, 2-1.

Game 3.

It was the first World Series rainout since the 1996 opener between the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees.

DETROIT // Next door to Comerica Park sits St. John's Episcopal Church, where an electronic sign beckons with bright orange letters, "Pray here for the Tigers." The plea should erase any doubt that religion and baseball intersect sharply in the Motor City. But the role sports plays - the role the Tigers play - can be a bit tougher to dissect.

Game 2...again with no national anthem? John Cougar Mellencamp's "Our Country" is the anthem>?

Odalis Perez vs. Jeff Suppan

DETROIT -- Ever notice how the media makes head coaches or managers larger than life in the post-season? Anything you read or hear over the next week about Detroit Tigers manager Jim Leyland is well deserved and then some. You could bring in ESPN's volatile Dick Vitale for a comment. Vitale rants and raves about each coach in an NCAA hoops regional game and does the same in the nightcap of the doubleheader. Well, you could roll the praise for all four of those coaches together and it would be fitting for Leyland, for what he achieved this year. Leyland...

Detroit Tigers Won the American League Pennant Today

Recent months have seen a flurry of books about the highly controversial 1919 World Series and the so-called “Black Sox.” The most notable are Red Legs and Black Sox by Dr. Susan Dellinger; and Burying the Black Sox by Gene Carney. Both are highly informative books that were a joy to read and have renewed my interest in “all things Black Sox.” I recently reread the Melvin Durslag Sporting News interview of Chick Gandil from 1956. Gandil was often cast as a ringleader of the plot to throw the 1919 World Series. Thirty seven years later, at age 69, he...

Columbus, Ga. Cody Walker (21) trots home to a celebration by teammates after hitting a game winning third inning two-run home run off Kawaguchi City, Japan pitcher Go Matsumoto in Little League World Series Championship baseball game Monday, Aug. 28, 2006 in South Williamsport, Pa.. Georgia beat Japan 2-1. Georgia players from left: Patrick Stallings (25), Mason Meyers (16), winning pitcher Kyle Carter, rear, and Josh Lester, right. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Georgia wins world championship. GREAT

My favorite element of the photo accompanying this column is the Secret Service agent moving in on me like a bouncer breaking up a brawl. In classic neighborhood tradition, I did the same move with the president of the United States that I do during virtually any photo op with any man, woman, child or dog. I throw my arm around ya, like we've known each other for years. THAT'S the Chicago way. But when you've got your hand squeezing the neck of the leader of the free world, it's the Secret Service's job to make sure you're not going...

Richard M. Daley is as wrong as a man could be in knocking Ozzie Guillen for skipping the team's scheduled trip Monday to the White House. The mayor should be ashamed of saying, "I don't care who you are. Maybe you think you're too important." What a cheap shot after everything Guillen has done for this city. I hope this isn't Daley's way of getting even for a joke Guillen recently made. On his test to become a naturalized U.S. citizen, one of the questions Ozzie had to answer was this: "Who is the mayor of Chicago?" "Me!" he said....

CHICAGO -- Getting the chance to privately tour the White House in the nation's capital and meet with President Bush would be a fairly interesting and exciting experience, in and of itself, for any average American citizen. Being recognized for their 2005 World Series title by President Bush after their tour, as announced Thursday by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, simply adds to that particular brand of excitement. But for Aaron Rowand, the Gold Glove caliber center fielder who was traded to Philadelphia just a month after the celebration ended, Monday's trip holds an even higher level of personal...

Chicago Jews on Chicago White Sox Growing up, my family lived so close to Wrigley Field that on game days if I wanted to know if the Cubs were winning I only had to go out on the back porch and listen to how loud the cheers sounded. Add to that a father who was a newspaperman in the days when free Cubs tickets were distributed so liberally that sometimes even the nature columnist got them. So-in the ever-present debate over heredity vs. environment-you could say that being a Cubs fan was in the air that I breathed if not...

MIAMI - Al Lopez, a Hall of Fame catcher and manager who led the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox to American League pennants in the 1950s, died Sunday at 97. Lopez had been hospitalized in Tampa since Friday, when he suffered a heart attack at his son's home, Al Lopez Jr. said. Lopez was the oldest living Hall of Fame member, said Jeff Idelson, spokesman for the Hall. Lopez hit .261 with 51 homers and 652 RBIs during a 19-year career in which he was one of baseball's most durable catchers and set the record for most games caught...

CHICAGO (AP) -- The party was in full swing. Two days after the White Sox swept Houston for their first World Series title since 1917, the team hit Chicago's streets Friday for a ticker-tape parade and rally. Double-decker buses filled with players, coaches and their families left U.S. Cellular Field as hundreds of fans cheered. And they kept cheering all the way to the Loop for a celebration and a parade. There, one after another, the players and team officials took turns thanking the fans. ``Chicago, second city no more,'' said Paul Konerko, the first baseman who brought team owner...

I was trying to keep my eyes open in the ninth inning of the Astros/White Sox' Game 3 Tuesday night when I came to a conclusion. Major League Baseball is eating its seed corn. How can baseball grow new generations of fans when The World Series – the culmination of the entire season – is televised too late for any young kid to watch? This is not exactly a novel thought. It's been a topic of discussion all week during the morning drive, on WEEI Sports Radio. I side with Gerry Callahan, who argues that starting the games an hour...

The conservative Chicago theoretician was the source of Ozzie Guillen's baseball philosophy.

STARTING LINE-UPS FOR GAME 4 (Chicago up 3-0)Chicago White Sox S. Podsednik lf .278 T. Iguchi 2b .200 J. Dye rf .333 P. Konerko 1b .333 A.J. Pierzynski c .273 A. Rowand cf .308 J. Crede 3b .308 J. Uribe ss .333 F. Garcia p .000 Houston Astros C. Biggio 2b .214 W. Taveras cf .308 L. Berkman lf .417 M. Ensberg 3b .143 M. Lamb 1b .125 J. Lane rf .214 B. Ausmus c .231 A. Everett ss .083 B. Backe p .000

Starting Lineup: Chicago WSox at Houston Chicago WSox   Houston Pos Player HR RBI AVG   Pos Player HR RBI AVG LF Podsednik, Scott 1 4 .286   2B Biggio, Craig 0 4 .326 2B Iguchi, Tadahito 1 4 .207   CF Taveras, Willy 0 0 .357 RF Dye, Jermaine 0 3 .241   LF Berkman, Lance 2 8 .314 1B Konerko, Paul 4 11 .273   3B Ensberg, Morgan 0 9 .256 C Pierzynski, AJ 3 6 .259   1B Lamb, Mike 2 3 .273 CF Rowand, Aaron 0 3 .250   RF Lane, Jason 2 6 .237...

HOUSTON (AP) -- Joe Morgan worries about the face of baseball. Watching the World Series, the Hall of Famer is troubled by what he sees. His old team, the Houston Astros, is down 2-0 to the Chicago White Sox, but it's not their lineup that concerns Morgan. It's their makeup. The Astros are the first World Series team in more than a half-century with a roster that doesn't include a single black player. ``Of course I noticed it. How could you not?'' Morgan said while the Astros took batting practice before the opener in Chicago. ``But they're not the only...

The roof, the roof, the roof is on… or off Jason Joyce on Tue, 10/25/2005 - 11:29am. Because there are several hundred baseball writers covering the World Series, there's a lot of sweating the small stuff. The latest non-story to become a big story has to do with the retractable roof on Houston's Minute Maid Park and whether it should be open or closed for Game 3 (Tuesday, 7:38 pm, FOX). The Astros want it closed for two reasons: crowd noise and predictable weather. Writing a diary for the Houston Chronicle, Houston third baseman Moran Ensberg considers it a home-field...

Game 2 Live Thread! Chicago leads series 1-0 Pettite vs. Buehrle

Did anyone catch Joe Buck's commentary (I think it was him) about how our commie buddy Castro is celebrating the World Series by trying to block it from being broadcast in Cuba (which would seem awfully difficult) and not allowing Contreras' name to be spoken publicly? Is there a transcript of the comments available? Fidel's still a paranoid loon after all these years.

You love your White Sox, but as an American League fan, you may not have a firm grip yet on how to focus your dislike for their World Series' opponent, the Houston Astros. Perhaps I could be helpful in that regard. Having recently watched the Astros chew up and spit out a team for whom my allegiance is known, I had an opportunity to give that quite a bit of thought. Strangely enough, the experience left me with nothing but respect for the Astros players, a formidable and highly professional team. But everything else about the Astros stinks. Barbara Bush...

Will it be Rocket Launch or Rocket Failure? Clemens vs. Contreras

Astros beat the Cardinals 5-1 in St. Louis tonight, to win the series 4 games to 2. Their first trip to the World Series in 9 playoff appearances. World Series starts Saturday in Chicago.

People still misunderstand, and we need to clear it up with the nation turning to the White Sox for the first time since anyone can remember. When the Boston Red Sox won the World Series, we were tortured with endless stuff about the Curse of the Bambino. When the Cubs were close two years ago, it was the goat thing. What's the Sox' legend? I hate to say this, Sox fans, but when the nation thinks of the Sox, it thinks of Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979. And fans jumping onto the field to attack umpires or coaches....

The "Go-Go White Sox" reached the World Series in 1959. Go back further, to 1917, for the last South Side champs.

I've been watching the little guys and haven't seen a thread on the games. No Texas team this year, but my money is on Hawaii if they can get past California's mustache'd pitching ace & homerun hitter.

ANAHEIM -- While most of New England was sleeping Friday night, Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein worked late into the night 3,000 miles away, completing the first day of the Winter Meetings by agreeing to terms on a two-year contract with free agent left-hander David Wells. The club hasn't officially announced the deal yet, which is pending a physical that Wells is likely to take in Boston early next week. While the Red Sox remain focused on trying to keep Pedro Martinez in a Boston uniform, Wells (who will turn 42 on May 20) gives the rotation another veteran...

Boston Globe, Oct. 16: "The Yankees stripped the Red Sox of all dignity last night, pummeling six Boston pitchers en route to a hideous, 19-8 victory, which gives them a 3-0 lead. So there. For the 86th consecutive autumn, the Red Sox are not going to win the World Series. No baseball team in history has recovered from a 3-0 deficit. . . . Mercy." Mercy came, as the Red Sox won four straight over New York and kept going, so that the Globe could report on Oct. 27, "Eighty-six years of waiting are over. The Red Sox won their...

Expelled from Northeastern University for vandalizing cars after the Super Bowl, a Maine man may now face expulsion from Boston University in the wake of his arrest Saturday before the Red Sox World Series parade. ``We have a long and consistent record of holding students accountable for their conduct on or off campus,'' BU spokesman Colin Riley said yesterday about 21-year-old student Daniel Rosquete. Rosquete could also be sent to jail today if a Roxbury District Court judge determines he violated the terms of his probation from his Super Bowl case. Rosquete was tossed from Northeastern after he was identified...

BOSTON -- The Red Sox's World Series championship will be formally celebrated Saturday morning along a parade route through the streets of Boston. Plans were announced Thursday afternoon for the highly anticipated event at which the champs will be saluted by Red Sox Nation -- and literally millions of its visiting expatriates. Parade details were unveiled in a joint media conference by Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and Larry Lucchino, club president of the Red Sox, who both expressed hopes for a joyous and peaceful celebration of the team's first title in 86 years. Menino reiterated estimates that between 3 1/2...