Rod The Bod Hangs Up His Skates Today (And A Few Other Blog Tidbits)

• The NHL is going to be without one bad ass bod in the locker room. One of my childhood favorites, Rod "The Bod" Brind'Amour has finally decided to hang up his skates at the age of 39. Rod The Bod was a key component to the Flyers Stanley Cup Finals run in 1997 and was a huge figure for them in the decade, joining the likes of Eric Lindros, John LeClair, Eric Desjardins, Mikael Renberg, and the person playing goalie for the week.
• Aspeaking of Flyers news, the Flyers have agreed to re-sign Michael Leighton for 2-years. I will reserve full judgment until the free agent goalies dwindle out, but if the Flyers think they can go back to the Stanley Cup with Michael Leighton and Brian Boucher as the team's 2 main goalies, Paul Holmgren should be banned from ever coming within 150 feet of the Wachovia Center. Come on Homer. Ellis. Mason. Bernier. SIGN ONE OF THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  
• Remember all that gobbledygook about how much I don't know about soccer? Well, yeah, I was lying to you. What I just realized about my original predictions about teams I expect to get out of group stage was that 15 out of 16 were correct. 15 OUT OF 16!!! And to think the only one I got wrong was because of a very last second change I made. I originally had Argentina and South Korea (which would have made me Mr. Perfect) getting out of Group B, but changed my mind at the last minute and changed South Korea to Nigeria. Now I am aware that I did not indicate this in the above post, but I listed the team I picked to win the group was listed first. I got 6 out of 8 of those correct, with the only ones I missed being because I had the wrong order with Mexico and Uruguay and England and the USA. Comparing that to someone who admittedly watches much more soccer than I do, Mookie only got 11 out of 16 correct (6 out of 8 on the group winners as well). Why yes, I do like to kid around and show off when I am ultra successful in picking. Why do you ask?
• Sometime later today when I finish watching yesterday's Round of 16 games, I will post the announcing schedule for the quarterfinals as well as my predictions for the quarterfinal round.
• Charlie Manuel is completely clueless on how to handle his pitchers and sucky bullpen. If today does not illustrate all that is wrong in a nutshell, then I don't know what does.
• Go Argentina!!!
  

Random Thoughts About Last Night And The End Of The Regular Season

We all know how the Phillies game ended last night, but I am curious as to your thoughts on this. I'll be honest, when Charlie Manual put in Brad Lidge at the end of the game, I was thinking to myself why on earth was he doing it and what the fuck was going on. But now that it has been a day and the more I think about it, the more I come to feel that that was one of the best things that Charlie Manual has done all year. Brad Lidge is currently at a real low point in his career and he had nothing but confidence to be gained. It was 1-pitch, it was a ground ball, and just like that, it was over. And while at that point, the division was technically over, I can tell you that no one knew that the Marlins had won. The scoreboard, according to Franzke and Anderson, had not indicated that that game was final before the last pitch. Surely only later in the night did the Phillies find out they were division champs before Lidge threw his one pitch. But the bottom line is after having a nightmarish year and going from hero to goat in Philly, if for one night only, Brad Lidge was once again embraced, loved, and cheered, and forget mechanics, whether he is closer or not in the post-season, that may be what Brad Lidge needed to get him back to his 2008 form.

Here's a thought: The Los Angeles Dodgers still have not clinched the NL West title. And here's another thought, Rockies, who play the Dodgers in their last series, win out, the Rockies will be NL West champions, after the Dodgers dominated 1st place in the NL West all year.

The Twins have a pulse, if nothing else. They started the series 2-games behind the Tigers and that is where they have ended up afterward. The downside for them now is that instead of 7 games to work with, they only have 3 and are counting on some help from the Chicago White Sox to beat the Twins as they have to play flawless against the Royals, which includes a Saturday meeting with Zach Greinke.

Some Things That I Missed And The Upcoming Days

Seeing as I work on Thursday, I figured why not throw up a garbage post late tonight before I crash from jet lag and just to recap some things to be looking for in the world of MLB.

JC and 49er16 did a great job of covering things while I was away and with the lackluster week and a half that it was, I really don't have much more to add.

Ben Roethlisberger is going Kobe Bryant on us all and ESPN is refusing to report and/or talk about it. I really should not be surprised by any of this....

Ron Franklin is retiring after the 2010 NIT tournament. The best of luck to him in all of his future endeavours. I'm too lazy to throw this up as a poll question, but with Franklin's retirement and perhaps the future retirement of some other older broadcasters (Stockton, Enberg, and so on and so forth), who do you think will emerge as the voice of the next generation of sports? Will it really be Joe Buck? Could he possibly become just as if not even more famous than his father, Jack Buck? What about the fruit of Marv's loins? Or Nantzy? Or Shulman? Or perhaps someone like Dave Pasch who is a relative unknown get the break of a lifetime? Let me know what you think in the comments section.

Will the Phillies trade for a starting pitcher? I must say, it is a blast reading rumor after rumor about what they will and won't do and who they are and are not interested in. Right now, the big names for the Phils are Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay but all that could change real quick. Who will become a Phillie and who will they replace in the starting rotation? Will Pedro Martinez even be a starter? The Phillies bullpen needs some help as they are not getting plenty of long games from the Phils starters and with Martinez being considered by most to be only a 5-inning pitcher at this point, is Pedro best-suited for the bullpen? If the Phils acquire Halladay, Lee, or some other big name, I certainly think that Martinez in the pen may be the best idea out there. They could use one more arm. Now will the Phils make that move with Martinez and will Martinez accept that role? The answer has to be doubtful at best on both accounts, but if you think about it, that really would not be that bad of a move and may benefit both sides more than anything else.

We can all stop watching this baseball season now. It's over. It's done with. You can take it to the bank, go to Vegas, and bet your household on this one. I will tell you right now with 100% certainty that the Boston Red Sox will win the World Series this year. Remember the day that you read this.

According to one forum, the Madden 10 soundtrack, along with the soundtrack of other EA games will come out this Friday. If that is indeed the case (or whenever the date is), I will post those soundtracks here.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm still jet-lagged and subsequently tired as hell. I will be collapsing in 5...4......3...2..

Thursday Afternoon Links, Random Thoughts, And Song Of The Day: "Sound Of Madness" By Shinedown

Seeing as I've got nothing in particular as of now to post, and I'm bored now and I'm working tomorrow, I figured I would throw up one of these posts. I'll try to do this every Friday, but seeing as I probably won't be blogging at all until the open threads, I'm doing it today.

I've never seen weather like this before in my life. It has literally rained here for 8 straight days and if I recall correctly, this is the 9th straight day that we have gotten .o1" or more. Emphasis on more. It completely poured last night and it's doing the same right now. Just flat out miserable. And oh yeah, while it's 70 now, the past few days were in the 50s. And if you recall me saying a few weeks ago, the weather was in the 90s for several days straight in April! Bizarre....bizarre....

Manny Ramirez has been suspended for 50 games. And 49er16 loves it! (Keith's Sports Journal)

Why the Phoenix Coyotes should NOT re-locate to Hamilton, but rather, somewhere else (Puck the Media)

Good luck to any and all of those out there that are currently taking AP tests! Having been through the process myself and seeing some friends go through it now, believe me, it can be tough and stressful. Hang in there and you'll do great!

This Arsenal fan from Kenya took the Arsenal loss to Manchester United in the Champions League Semifinals a bit too seriously. (BBC News)

Is Brett Favre coming back out of spite? (Comcast.net)

The season finale of Lie To Me is next week. If you have not seen the show yet, I'm telling you, it is worth checking out. Awesome, awesome show and last night's show was one of the best of the season and it ended with Dr. Lightman getting a body guard, for lack of a better term. It's on next Wednesday at 8 PM on Fox.

This blog has become more than I ever thought it would be. And while it my no means is a "big name" like Deadspin or Awful Announcing, the fact that I have developed a few regulars, even if it is only 4 known commenters, is something that makes me proud. Thanks for all of the support, guys!

Song of the Day: "Sound of Madness" by Shinedown

Random Thouights From Yours Truly Plus The Song Of The Day

It's Friday and I am going to be going home for the weekend for the first time in over a month!

Angels Field has not exactly been a blessed place to be, to use a really bad religious joke. A few days ago an Angels fan died in a fight there and then yesterday we learned of the passing of Angels' starting pitcher Nick Adenhart, killed in a car crash just hours after pitching 6 shutout innings. R.I.P. Nick Adenhart: 1986-2009.

The NFL schedule is going to be released on Tuesday and ESPN is subsequently airing a 3-hour special over it. 3-hours??????? Are you kidding me?!?!? Am I the only one whose only care is to actually see the schedule, and not have 3-hours of analysis and interviews. Hell, the NFL-N's 2-hour show is far too much overkill. Sheesh, just give me the damn schedule so that I can see it.

For those not following the World Cup qualifying that closely, I have put my post into a better perspective by boldening teams in the standings section that have qualified (although except for host nation South Africa who qualifies automatically) none have done so yet and by putting a line through teams that have been eliminated (of which there are a few, so you might want to check that out if that's not something you've been on top of).

Sometimes the best place to be is to be there when somebody is feeling down.

Sometime this weekend I will try to have a new poll up for you guys.

If anyone is interested in taking over this blog for a week or so, now is the time to start thinking about it. I'll have more information on this in the upcoming months.

The teams in the NHL playoffs in the Eastern conference are now set. Boston, Washington, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Carolina, Pittsburgh, New York Rangers, and Montreal are all in. And I am absolutely pissed that Service Electric Cable in Bloomsburg does not carry Versus. There are some potential really juicy matchups in the Eastern Conference of the playoffs and even though I get both CSN Philly and FSN Pitt to enhance my viewing a bit, if Boston and Montreal becomes a series and if I miss most of it, I will be really pissed.

Song of the Day: "Psycho" by Puddle of Mudd (Sorry for the weird vid; the reason I'm not using the official music video is because Universal Music Group has pretty much disabled embedding for everyone who uploads official music videos; this is the best I can do)


Song