THE GAMES
Congrats to former MVRL football owner Dan Mings and his Mighty MTV RAMS. At 6-0 they have defeated two Belleville schools, one chicogo playoff school in that crummy city, toppled Triad at Troy or Troy at Triad (Ever since the Anaheim mess, I'm a geography dunce), and trampled Marion and C'dale. And they're not done yet. Keep it up Coach Mings and the RAMS.

Congrats to Mr. Pujols on his 200th home run and 40th of the season. I'm glad big mac was there to see it. What a female part mcgwire is. It's shameful, no doubt. And a lot of Cardinal fans feel the same way. But what about the cub fans and soso? Never a whimper, never any remorse or honest admissions by them. In fact, have you ever heard a cub fan say anything nice about a Cardinal? Me neither. And soso joked about Flintstone vitamins in his locker. He's probably worse than not-so-big- anymore mac. How about sammie's comment this summer that he couldn't speak English very well; ergo, he couldn't testify at the steroids hearing?

My predicts are in a bluhing pink because of last week's performance. I stand at 1-2.

1. RAMS + 3 over NYG The Rams play everybody close. And I'm not sold on that whole Giant org from Eli down. I do like the Jacobs guy, but Asst. Anderson says, "he's a dollar a dozen."
2. BILLS EVEN over the NY/AZ/SAN AN/ Saints I like this pick so much that I'd say I have two number one's this week. Stevie says, "The Saints, well they just Ain't."
3. Niners + 2 over AZ. Even in Mexico the Cardinals are the Cardinals. Stevie says, " I don't care for the niners' franchise at all, but they're not as bad as folks think. I see a double digit win over our local boys."

And that's it. Have a great weekend of football, guys.

WAHOOS CAN DOS
You better believe it. Two wild card teams in the World Series. Man I hate that, being the traditional purist I am in baseball. Of course that's different from the pure traditionalist, but I'll explain that at another time. I'll also have some more Busch Stadium memories, too. Yet some will be the same since I shared so many great times there with Scott and Derek. I'll even throw in my best Marlins, cubs, Tigers, Rockies, Royals, DBacks, Padres, Mets, Yankees, and red sox home stadium stories.
Back, or as they say in chi-town baaayyyck to the predix. Angels fall to the Indians in 5. Too much pitching for the Tribe. Maybe even better than the Cardinals during the regular season. Anyway, it's on to the ALCS for the Cleveland Indians from Lake Erie Not Too Far From Canada, and back home to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Surrounding Clime.
The Yanks mop up on the other sox who were simply happy to hang on to the AL Central and represent chicogo with emphasis on heavy g sound to the southsiders near the Taylor Projects. Back to the Bronx for the championship.
It goes the full 7 but the Yanks fall to the Indians on a Sizemore homer in the 8th.
Your World Champions; The Houston Astros in 5.
Man, I hope I'm wrong, but on this sunny 100 degree day in Scottsdale, that's the QT.
Sidebar predict: USC 41 ASU 21.

GIVE THE CROWN TO HOUSTON
In a column or bloggem I hate to write, I'll prognosticate the baseball playoffs as I see them. First, my beloved Cardinals will fall in the first round to the Padres. I'm afraid the magic of Tony is over. First, he tried too hard to cement post season awards to his deserving superstars, Mr. Pujols and Chris Carpenter. Over 241 innings for Chris--are you kidding me! And the Cardinals clinched just after the All-Star Game. And Mr. Pujols never rests. "He'd rather play if at all possible," Tony says. My two children would have rather played than rested, too, when they were growing up, but somebody's got to be in charge.What about the plight of Matt Morris? Who knows? Mark Mulder and Jeff Suppan seem to be the only reliables heading into the playoffs and Mulder's coming off an inning + outing. Padres in 4.
Braves and Astros. Well, you know the Braves are going to lose sometime in the playoffs. Fourteen division titles in a row and 1 World Series? Amazing. Are there a bunch of Cooter Bartman's in Dixie that I don't know about? What gives? Astro pitching and a healthy Berkie and Bigie and Lanie and good guy Ensberg spell victory for the Stros.
Astos and Padres. Astros sweep. That simple. Yep, once again the Wild Card heads to the Series. And what does the regular season mean? About the same as in hockey. Not much.
Tune in tomorrow for the AL. or as I love to disrespect and call them, The Junior Circuit. (If you've ever known an American League fan, that usually gets to them.) Both of them.

STEVIE ANDERSON JOINS OWLS STAFF

After a stirring round of golf today at Club West in the Southwest with former New York Jet and Arizona Cardinal wide receiver Stevie Anderson, Ted Quinn owner of the Burrowing Owls inked the erstwhile wide receiver to a contract with the Owls. Anderson will serve as special assistant to Quinn and help with advance scouting of wide outs.
"It's a heckuvan opportunity for me, " replied Stevie (don't call me Steve or I'll crush your hands.) "I have my own biz, but it takes care of itself, for the most part. Hey, would you do me wrong?" At 6'7'' and 0% body fat, Stevie makes his point. "All I've been doing is working on my golf game, and planned to play more golf with TQ anyways, so why not try to help?"
"That Kevin Curtis cat coulda been an Owl; we had first rights to him, but TQ is so proud of the 4 wide receivers we have, that he played it close to the vest, and I can dig that. But I'm telling you KCurt can catch 'em with the best of 'em."

Next week's foursome may include Pastor Rob Wagner along with Stevie and TQ and the Peach man( yup--there's another Peach out here and he "spells it like it is," Troy and Ryan.) Each is in the running for an additional staff position. Rob had a tryout with a Colorado pro soccer team (kicking scout) and Peachie has missed 4 home football games at Arizona State in 35 years (assistant to the assistant + what a help on draft day selections.)
It seems as if the Burrowing Owls are serious about their run for the title in the MVRL Football League this season.

NEW TERRITORY FOR ME
Not that the franchise hasn't had some success with a 1999 MVRL Football Championhip for the now defunct Camelotters, but a TQ-owned team has never been ranked first in the WW (Wes Williams) Power Ratings! That's almost as good as a championship. But what I want to know is how are the Puffins ranked 9th? They stand at 2-1 and scored a ton of points in their big win this weekend. Oh well, I still like the WW Ratings better than the BC or BSC or simply BS Ratings in college football.
And you know what? They're better than the clowns that run the NCAA. They are concerned about the Fighting Illini. Give me a break. Let's look at programs that cheat like (fill in the blank, because we all know cheaters on high school or college tests.) But then they allow the tomahawk chop Seminoles of Florida State to kept their moniker. The NCAA 's like a good old boys club that allows its favorites leeway while clamping down on those not in the club. Oh swell.
And then there's the last week of the season in MLB. I'm making no predix (at least not today) because of my poor pix in NFL sucker bet football. Yup, I only got 1 out of 3 right in picking my choices for all the games. I'm hoping for a Yankee title, an Indian title, an Angel title and White Sox wild card. For the NL, my favorite Cardinals are in, a Padre title, a brave title (I guess) , and an Astro wild card.
Finally, a look at the NFL after 3: As Scott said, the Bengals look for real, the Chargers at 1-2 look good, the Rams look good. Can Barron be that good? Is all that hitting by the defense really the Rams? Will Kevin Curtis move ahead of Ike B as a number two? Can Stephen Jackson punish tacklers? Can mike martz coach? Oh hell.