The Locker Room

(A little middle of the night sports roundup.

My Mariners are out of it. And Alexander has a broken wrist. Meh.

FP’ed 2:55 AM, Tuesday, September 25, 2007. – promoted by exmearden)

MLB

So, in the AL, 3 teams have already clinched their playoff spots, with the Angels and Indians already clinching their respective divisions.  The Red Sox also have a ticket to the after-party, though the Yankees are only 1.5 games back.  It is beyond the mechanizations of my helmet-holder to understand why the Yankees haven’t statistically clinched a spot yet….but so say the websites.  It looks like a lock to me.

The NL has a wider range of possibilities and no teams have clinched yet.  Right now the Mets, Cubs, and D-backs are sitting atop their respective divisions, but none are more than 3.5 games up on their nearest rival.  The Mets are the only of these playing today (probably right now, depending on when you read this).  The wildcard race is also tight, and any of the current division leaders could end up in that mix, though it doesn’t seem likely.  It looks like a runoff between San Diego and Philly; San Diego has a half-game lead and a game in hand (which they play tonight).

(edit/update: the mets lost to washington 13-4; San Fran is up 7-4 on San Diego in the 5th)

NFL

Week 3, 5 teams still undefeated.  Colts, Cowboys, Packers, Pats, Steelers.  And the Titans and Saints play tonight.  Yeah, like I’m staying awake for THAT game…

I guess I should probably mention that Brett Favre has tied Dan Marino’s all-time touchdown pass record.  420.  Yippee.  I’m not a fan of Favre’s, so someone else will need to talk him up.

This is not a good video, and certainly not his best run of the day, but with all fingers here are crossed for Brian Westbrook, who injured his ribs in yesterday’s game.  (I found it helpful while watching to imagine that the Eagles were wearing the green -n- silver…these throwback uni’s are hideous!!)

My Saturday was completely tied up with my daughter’s Cross-Country meet so I have very little idea what the NCAA week was like…care to fill me in??

NASCAR??

Oh, and NASCAR hit my radar this weekend, as the unwashed masses descended upon my own humble home state to cheer as cars drove around an oval.  This is believed to be somehow entertaining.  And apparently the winner cheated…

After Edwards won the Dodge Dealers 400, his No. 99 Roush Fenway Ford failed postrace inspection. Officials determined the car’s right rear was too low, and NASCAR chose to take possession of the car and bring it back to its Concord, N.C., facility for further testing.

If NASCAR’s finding sticks, it is likely – based on precedent – that Edwards will keep the victory but be penalized driver points. Team owner Jack Roush also would be docked owner points, and fines also could be assessed. from this Yahoo! News story

Tennis

The U.S. and Russia will play for the Davis Cup finals in November.  Please don’t ask me to explain the groupings or schedule for the Davis Cup.  Please.  Just look at the pretty pictures….

Andy Roddick…

…and James Blake
of the U.S. Davis Cup team.

Women’s World Cup Soccer

Quarterfinal Results:
Germany 3, North Korea 0
United States 3, England 0
Norway 1, China 0
Brazil 3, Australia 2

So it’s Germany v. Norway on Wednesday,
Brazil v. U.S. on Thursday

Team Norway:

I’ll end my diatribe with a quote from this Yahoo!News story

Frankly, it’s nice to see that the league is cracking down. Rogue cheerleaders have used unsavory methods to decide the outcome of NFL games for too long. Today, at last, the league freed itself from their wicked influence.