World Forums

I was born and raised a Dodger fan. The land that occupies Dodger Stadium belonged to my people of Chavez Ravine.

The Dodger don't belong to L.A. The real Dodgers are from Brooklyn. Your Dodgers are fake like your favorite side from Madrid.

The Brooklyn Dodgers died the day they left NY.

Thanks for the history lesson Falc. It's surprisng how teams have moved around. In the NL, only the Cubs and Reds are still in their original cities, while the Indians, Tigers and White Sox have remained put in the AL.

The Tigers are still playing?

So much for a made for TV WS. The dreaded and dreadful rays will taint the October Classic in their football dome. What a horrible place for baseball.

I hope the Phillies sweep the Rays right out of their dome. FORZA National League.

Well, I hate the Phillies too. I remeber them beating the Dodgers way back then when Schmidt played. I hate thier low-life fans too. They should cancel the WS.

I think there should be socialism in baseball; that way all teams have a chance to win (it seems to work in the NFL)....

Hye the poor teams deserve it. Let's the big dominant teams get all the breaks. It will eventually create opportunity as it trickles down.

Trickle down or pissed on?

Depends who you ask. Reagan always said trickle down. I want to go to his library and piss on him.

There is socialism in baseball. Just that it goes into the pockets of the owners. Some might even call it cronyism.

Some call it the Free Market.

Really? I saw some note about that politkovskaya's relative's lawyer Karinna Moskalenko had been subject to an alleged poison attempt.

What boggled me was....what are they doing with a human right's lawyer? Have they opted for it themselves or are there western interests (as news corporations holding economic rights to her works) that supplied them with it.
Sure, in utopia one can perhaps acheve legislation that effectively protects individuals from sorrow and loss, even in violen and unpredictable ways but I would figure that Politkovskaya's relatives would need a lawyer specialiezed in various legislation concerning wealth distribution such as law of succesion and laws concerning economic rights to intangible property (due to Anna politkovskaya had been an author). I would consider a human rights lawyer rather redundant?

Surely..facts about details surrounding that can be at fault in various directions but I would surely hope that it isn't some media corporation that is so eager to provide for all that pro bono human rights advice to people that may be in an altogether different need.

Recall a rather peculiar (funny in a dark sense of humour way) about a researcher from the old soviet times that had a discussion with the minister of finance about payments of revenue for various work abroad....the constant reply he got was "The money is theoretical yours but you can't ever dispose of it nor give it away". Priceless!

Well, there's socialism in every form of governement and business. Baseball is no exception.

There is profit sharing in baseball and although the plan is not anywhere near as good as the NFL, the bottom line is that richest teams don't always win. Yankees haven't won since 2000 and they lost the WS in 01 to the d'backs and lost in 03 to the Marlins. In 04 they lost to the RSox in the ALCS and 3 seasons after failed to make it out of the division series. To boot, this season they didn't make the playoffs. The Mets haven't made the playoffs in the last 2 seasons and they have the highest payroll in the NL. The Dodgers & Angels haven't won in a while and although the Cubs show flashes of greatness, they haven't won in quite some time. The Red Sox have been playing very well and they have won 2 world titles in the last 5 seasons. Pretty good but hardly dominating.

I would say that since 2002 there has been good parity in baseball. The last 7 WS winners: 07 - RSox, 06 - STL, 05 - WSox, 04 - RSox, 03 - FLA, 02 - LAA, 01 - Dbacks. And this season either the TB Rays or Phillies will win it. Good parity if you ask me.

Ummm...Casati...not sure what you're trying to say there

"Well, there's socialism in every form of governement and business. Baseball is no exception."

"The Red Sox have been playing very well and they have won 2 world titles in the last 5 seasons. Pretty good but hardly dominating."

That could be interpreted as a functioning competition with adequate players (here I think of owners and their management rather than actual players), couldn't it? Would that necessarily be labeled as "socialism"...but of course...while socialism may have a negative ring to it I could consider it better than nepotism.

Lol...casati..my ex usually votes for the comminists (which is perfectly legal in Sweden as well as many other European countries) but when questioned closer about his beliefs he doesn't appear as a clean cut commie even if he was in his youth in the 70's a member of a communist terrorist group that was mortified in 1998. And as ever often I've wondered whether he's thick skulled or somewhat gullible about some things I could almost guarantee that he could sacrifice a lot to have someone like our Minister of Foreign affairs Carl Bildt be freed from a lifetime service at a cheap russian whore house. And trust he wouldn't even request a "thanks" or "amen" from Bildt's italian catholic wife for the sake of not disturbing her position as a minister wife.

What I'm trying to say here is that the government always helps either businesses and individuals in need. And where people want to admit it or not, it's a form of socialism.

In looking at particular businesses such as baseball, football, basketball, etc, there is s spreading of the wealth which is a form of socialism.

Ironically, sports leagues in the U.S. are very socialistic while the soccer leagues in Europe are not although some are going into that direction.

I am renouncing socialism. From now on, I'll just worry about my own needs and well-being.

Title drought over in Philadelphia

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

From losingest team to longest game, the Philadelphia Phillies are World Series champions.

Strange as that sounds.

Strange as it was.

Brad Lidge and the Phillies finished off the Tampa Bay Rays 4-3 in a three-inning sprint Wednesday night to win a suspended Game 5 nearly 50 hours after it started.

Left in limbo by a two-day rainstorm, the Phillies seesawed to their first championship since 1980. Pedro Feliz singled home the go-ahead run in the seventh and Lidge closed out his perfect season to deliver the title Philly craved for so long.

"It's over," Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins said. "It's over, man."

Bundled in parkas and blankets, fans returned in force to Citizens Bank Park and saw the city claim its first major sports championship in 25 years. No more references needed to those sad-sack Phillies teams in the past and their 10,000-plus losses.

It was among the wackiest endings in baseball history, a best-of-seven series turned into a best-of-3 1/2 showdown when play resumed in the bottom of the sixth inning tied at 2.

How bizarre? Series MVP Cole Hamels was a star in Game 5 -- and he never stepped on the mound Wednesday night.

Two Rays relievers warmed up to start, and there was a pinch-hitter before a single pitch. "God Bless America" was sung rather than the national anthem and the seventh-inning stretch came quickly.

For Philly, it was more than a World Series win. It was a bit of redemption for all the losses, the jokes, the slights.

Finally, something to celebrate.

How much did Philly fans want a champion to call its own?

Well, the sports hero they point to with the most pride isn't even a real person -- Rocky Balboa.

Yo, Adrian ... the Phillies did it!

Lidge went 48-for-48 on save chances this year, including two this week. He retired two batters with a runner on second, striking out pinch-hitter Eric Hinske to end it.

Lidge jumped in front of the mound, landing on his knees with arms outstretched. Catcher Carlos Ruiz ran out to jump on him, and teammates sprinted to mound to join them as towel-waving fans let loose.

A generation ago, it was Tug McGraw who went wild when the Phillies won their first title. A few days after country singer Tim McGraw scattered his dad's ashes on the mound, it was Lidge's turn to throw the final pitch.

Despite low TV ratings and minus the majors' most glamorous teams, fans will always remember how this one wrapped up. And for the first time in a long while, kids saw a World Series champion crowned before bedtime.

Reliever J.C. Romero got the win, his second of the Series.

While former NL MVPs Ryan Howard and Rollins drive the Phillies, it was their less-heralded teammates who helped win it on this chilly night and sent the Rays home.

Tied 3-3, Pat Burrell led off the seventh with a drive off the centre-field wall against J.P. Howell. Chad Bradford relieved and one out later Feliz singled home pinch-runner Eric Bruntlett.

Rocco Baldelli's solo home run off Ryan Madson, who relieved Hamels when the game resumed, made it 3-3 in the top of the seventh. The Rays almost got more, but all-star second baseman Chase Utley alertly bluffed a throw to first on a grounder over the bag and instead threw out Jason Bartlett at the plate.

Pinch-hitter Geoff Jenkins, the first batter Wednesday night, doubled and later scored on Jayson Werth's bloop single.

In all, there were six new pitchers, three pinch-hitters and two pinch-runners when play restarted.

Manager Charlie Manuel, whose NL East champions clinched a playoff spot in the final week, guided the Phillies' second overall championship in six World Series tries. The Phils helped themselves by going 7-0 at home this post-season, beating Milwaukee and the Dodgers in the NL playoffs and then defeating the Rays.

"I always thought we'd win the World Series. I knew we could beat anyone in the league," Manuel said.

Once known as a city of champions, Philadelphia sports fell on hard times after Julius Erving and Moses Malone led the Sixers to that 1983 title.

Since then, the Phillies, Eagles, Sixers and Flyers made it to the championship game or round -- seven times, in total -- and lost all of them.

The city became so starved for a crown that it was ready to throw a parade down Broad Street for a horse. But local colt Smarty Jones lost, too, in his bid for the Triple Crown.

"People enjoy being associated with winning and a world championship is the ultimate," Mike Schmidt, MVP of the Phillies' other championship, wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press this week. "It unites a town behind one team."

Cheesesteaks, on the house.

Tampa Bay did itself proud, too, until this final week. Baseball's best success story this season, the worst-to-first Rays played like the downtrodden Devil Rays from the past decade.

Even so, the gap between the Phils and Rays wasn't enormous. Had Evan Longoria's late, long drive off Jamie Moyer in Game 3 not been blown back by the wind, the teams might still be playing.

This game was suspended Monday night a batter after Carlos Pena's tying, two-out single in the Rays' sixth. By then, the field had become a quagmire, with the foul lines washed out, home plate turned into a puddle and every ball an adventure.

Despite a shaky forecast, Game 5 began in the rain. Shane Victorino hit a two-run single off Scott Kazmir in the Phillies first, and the Rays scored in the fourth on Pena's double and Longoria's single.

The poor conditions made even routine plays difficult. Rollins blinked back raindrops and dropped a wind-blown popup, and umpires didn't invoke the infield-fly rule on another pop because there was no guarantee it would be caught.

Notes: Burrell went 1-for-14 in the five games. ... Howell put down the first sacrifice bunt of his career.

Fucke them They cost me 50 ucks and took out the Dodgers. Fuck them for years to come. Bunch of losers.

Nah, they were the best team in the NL and now in baseball.

It's almost next year now.

F#ck the Phillies! I hate them. Not as much as the Yankees, but I hate them.

LOL at the Phillies haters. The Dodgers are posers. Not only in the wrong city, the wrong coast. Bring them back to Brooklyn where they belong.

Send you bacl to Northern Italy, where you belong, Ultra!!

Send whom to Northern Italy?

you, Dunkin nutcase.

Falc,

It's Election Day and I haven't forgotten about ignornat baseball pandering:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index ... -pandering

Ah yes, and then there's always the NFL (Negro Felon League)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3733021

New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress has told the team that he accidentally shot himself Friday night

couldn't he have aimed at his head ?

"Sloppy Seconds"

THE CANADIAN PRESS

CALGARY -- Sean Avery may have irreparably damaged his relationship with the Dallas Stars.

Sports teams often defend their players when they get into trouble, but the Stars have refused to bail out their super pest after he landed in hot water once again.

The Stars publicly denounced Avery's crude comments to the media that referenced the girlfriend of Flames defenceman Dion Phaneuf, and supported the NHL's indefinite suspension levied on Avery.

"Sean crossed that line," Stars head coach Dave Tippett said.

The league imposed the ban "following inappropriate public comments, not pertaining to the game made by Avery earlier (Tuesday)."

Avery threw a verbal bomb after getting the attention of television cameras before the Stars' 3-1 win over the Flames in Calgary.

"I'm really happy to be back in Calgary. I love Canada," the Stars forward said. "I just want to comment on how it's become like a common thing in the NHL for guys to fall in love with my sloppy seconds.

"I don't know what that's about, but enjoy the game tonight."

Avery's ex-girlfriend, actress Elisha Cuthbert, is dating Phaneuf and had been romantically linked to Mike Komisarek of the Montreal Canadiens. Avery also dated model and actress Rachel Hunter, the girlfriend of Los Angeles Kings centre Jarrett Stoll.

"My thoughts were that it was a very disrespectful comment and the league took action and I definitely agree with the way they took action today," Phaneuf said following a 3-1 loss to the Stars.

Tippett had defended his abrasive forward since the Stars signed him to a US$15.5-million, four-year contract in July, but he dropped his shield Tuesday.

"I think everyone in our room believes there is an integrity that has to go along with the game, respect for the game and respect for your opponents," he told reporters prior to the game.

"I think the words, the words and disrespect for an opponent like that is something ... there's lots of trash talking that goes on on the ice, but that to announce something like that for everybody to hear, to me that crosses the line and the league and our ownership felt that too."

When asked if Avery's relationship with the Stars can be saved, Tippett responded "time will tell" and assistant captain Mike Modano wasn't sure either.

"It's going to take some time," Modano said. "It's a situation we'll have to address when that time comes, if it does."

Stars owner Tom Hicks released a statement saying that he fully agreed with the league's decision.

"Had the league not have suspended him, the Dallas Stars would have," said Hicks. "This organization will not tolerate such behaviour, especially from a member of our hockey team. We hold our team to a higher standard and will continue to do so."

Dallas concludes a two-game Alberta swing in Edmonton on Wednesday, but Avery will not be with the team.

"He won't continue with us on the trip," Tippett said. "We've always professed that there is nobody that's ever bigger than our group or bigger than the team."

The ban may have saved Avery from on-ice retribution from Phaneuf, who is one of the fiercest hitters in the NHL, but Phaneuf would not comment on what he would have done had Avery played.

The suspension is indefinite pending a hearing with commissioner Gary Bettman. The fact the league moved so quickly indicated the NHL may have wanted to head possible trouble in Tuesday's game off at the pass.

Flames winger Craig Conroy said Avery, his former Los Angeles Kings teammate, demonstrated the wrong sense of humour.

"He made stupid comments and it bit him," Conroy said. "I think he probably thought it was funny and the league didn't think it was funny, the Dallas Stars didn't think it was funny and nobody thought it was funny.

"I thought he might say something on the ice, which is fine. It happens out there, if he says it to Dion or whoever, but to say it to the media, that's uncalled for."

The Stars knew what they were getting when they signed the 28-year-old from Toronto because he'd already established a reputation of being a talented player who constantly pushes the envelope.

The Stars are his third team in as many seasons and fourth overall. While playing in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York, he showed an ability to score and get under the skin of opponents but also frequently found himself in hot water..

Avery criticized Flames captain Jarome Iginla for being "boring" in an ESPN interview earlier this season

"Nobody cares about Jarome Iginla and guys like that," Avery said. "They're just not exciting enough. They don't bring enough to the game."

Avery is wearing out his welcome in Dallas. Veteran forward Modano spoke out last month after watching Avery and Steve Ott become a sideshow during a game in Boston.

"It was one of the most embarrassing things I've seen," said Modano. "If that's what we're going for, then they need to find me an office job."

Stars goaltender Marty Turco says Avery's pre-game comments were a distraction for the club Tuesday.

"The talk before the game, that's something you have to talk about," he said. "As players and teammates, you can't just bury it."

The NHL put in a so-called "Avery Rule" after he set up in front of New Jersey goalie Martin Brodeur and blocked the goalie's view by waving his hand and stick during last year's playoffs. He's also previously been fined for diving and criticizing NHL disciplinarian Colin Campbell.

Just a few months removed from an appearance in the Western Conference final, the Stars are among the worst teams in the league. They're riddled with injuries to key players, including captain Brenden Morrow, who is out for six months with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Avery didn't help their cause when he broke one of sports' unwritten rules -- you don't give the opposition extra incentive to beat you.

"We've had lots of discussions about how we need him to be a good player on our team and the stuff that follows him around off the ice, the less distraction the better," Tippett said. "It has been limited, other than some stuff that had been said this summer, it had been pretty limited until today.

"Sean said some thing that just doesn't paint our organization in a good light and appropriate steps are being taken."

Avery has never shunned the spotlight. A clothes horse, he spent time as an intern with Vogue magazine this summer. New Line Cinema has even commissioned a script about his double life.

Asked the best thing about his reputation as a pest, he told the New York Times: "It's better than being known as soft."

Newsweek dubbed Avery "the human equivalent of jock itch."

The next meeting between the Flames and the Stars is Feb. 3 in Dallas.

I heard about that. Avery is an idiot but his punishment is a joke. How can an indefinite suspension be justfied on that basis. Let them settle it on the ice like real hockey players.

bineaz,

the thing is that Avery took it outside the ice, in front of TV cameras, in front of sponsors and peoople who ultimately pay for him and his fellow players salaries. Let alone his alleged "rock 'n' roll" attitude that was perhaps "cool" in New york where not that many other than hockey inbreds give a damn about hockey anyway, a considerable part of them might think it reeks a bit of....well. Not perhaps in line with the policy america have gone out to defend.

(yes, I am aware of that there is a lot worse said on ice and I am certainly not with a puritan background or easily offended, but again, Avery took it outside all by himself...why should NHL be expected to hand out diapers?).

Bineaz

You've misunderstood the term "indefinite". It was called this until he had his meeting with Gary Bettman. It's now been set at 6 games.

True, worse things are said ON the ice, but this is not the point here. When the Dallas Stars were arriving at the arena in Calgary, Avery was asked by a member of the PR staff if he was going to talk to the media. He said 'no'. And the media weren't even gathered around him so he went out of his way and called them over for a scrum.

I glad he's being condemned for this.

Avery looks a a bit like someone having a bit too much mileage to drop the sort of comments he did.

Paki troops have arrested what they believe is the mind behind the attack in Bombay. Usama is still on the run though