World Series crap: Red Sox Nation, Beckett RULES, Dustin Pedroia is small, pink Varitek jerseys, Papelbon's Riverdance, YOUUUUK!

That, my friends, is what we "in the business" call SEO (Search Engine Optimization). I'm not really sure what "the business" is, but I'm pretty sure that post title will get me four cents on Google AdSense. Count it.

I really don't like the Red Sox, in case that's not already clear, and it's making me realize what a spiteful, hateful little man I truly am.

But at least I have company. Homertuck, who guest blogged here a while back, has started up his own operation called I Probably Hate Your Team.

If there's anyone who that rings more true for than me, it's him.

So sticking with that theme, back to the World Series.

I said before the thing started that the best result would be the BoSox going up 3-0 in the series and then losing the next four just to shut Red Sox Nation up (I wasn't lying when I said I'm a spiteful person).

So even though it's killing me right now that the Rockies aren't putting up much of a fight, it's giving me hope for the ultimate Schadenfreude scenario, just like I asked for.

But let's be realistic. The Rockies are going to be swept (did I mention I'm also a pessimist? ... at least when it comes to sports) and we'll have to hear about how the Sox haven't lost a World Series game in 89 years or some such stupid crap that will undoubtedly go on a t-shirt that I'll then have to see 45,000 of at Camden Yards next year.

Enjoy your weekend.
 

I've moved to Redskins country

And just by putting Redskins in the post title I've tripled my search engine hits.

That's right, after two years in the football limbo known as Columbia, where you might see a Washington Redskins bumper sticker next to a Columbia Ravens youth football logo and where the Champs in the mall proudly hangs Portis jerseys right next to McNair jerseys, I've moved to "North Bethesda" (shhhhhRockvilleshhhhh) -- decidedly Redskins country.

I've come to terms with that. My only real beef with the 'Skins -- besides the blatantly racist team name -- is that in the past I had to deal with several super annoying 'Skins apologists quite often.

Now the only 'Skins fans I regularly deal with are fairly subdued and prefer hockey to football, so if the Redskins ever do come up I can quickly redirect the conversation by kvetching about the Capitals power play or Glen Hanlon's line combinations.

I may even root for the Skins a little bit, but only in the reserved way I semi-root for the Nationals. You probably know this feeling: "It'd be nice if not ALL the area teams sucked horribly, so go team! ... just as long as you're not better than my actual favorite team."

So on that note, I'm off to hop on my newly-adopted Red Line to the Verizon Center.

I'll miss you Green Line. The Metro ride just won't feel right as I'm going by the Zoo and Dupont Circle instead of PG Plaza and West Hyattsville... :*(

Why do I find myself cheering for the Yankees tonight?

So after enjoying a weekend that included a Terps win (barely), a pair of GREAT Caps wins and a Ravens win (OK, and the Redskins demolished the Lions, which I would have lost a lot of money on if I was gambling), I find myself conflicted in a game that has nothing to do with local teams.

Here I am watching TBS (not in HD because I suck and don't have an HDTV ... seriously ... I wasn't lying when I said I suck), finding myself HAPPY that the Yanks have blown the game wide open in game three of the ALDS against the Indians.

I'm sure part of that is my hatred of the Red Sox, but the majority of it is because of my hatred of the five-game series.

I was rooting for the Cubs (disappointed) and Phillies (disappointed) yesterday, and here I am again rooting for a team in a 2-0 hole in a five-game series.

And it's all because I can't stand the thought of a team playing a 162-game regular season, getting into the playoffs, then finding themselves on the golf course four or five days later.

I'm also critical of the NHL's 45-year playoff setup where every team is guaranteed to play at least 12 playoff games as long as they meet the salary floor (that's all fake), but baseball's playoff system is one of the most hypocritical things in sports.

Why do you play a grueling, marathon, other-words-that-mean-really-long 162-game season with the intent of really weeding out the BEST teams in the league only to let the combatants in the League Championship Series (plural) get decided by a five-game crapshoot?

I'd love to see Major League Baseball go back to a setup where the AL's regular season winner plays the NL's regular season winner in a nine-game World Series -- or at least dump the third division and the Wild Card and jump straight from regular season to the LCSes (that's gramatically poor) -- but TBS and Fox have money and damnit, the MLB's going to get more than nine games worth.

But, please, at the very least, can we dump this five-game crap and have seven-game divisional series?

Basketball made the change, and how dare you question David Stern? You don't dare, that's how.

It's not like the Yankees, Red Sox, Angels, Indians, Cubs or Phillies are going to have trouble filling their stadiums for that ONE WHOLE EXTRA HOME PLAYOFF GAME that they stand to gain in a seven-game series (yeah I can't speak for the Rockies or the University of Maryland Student Newspapers).

And besides, if you're going for the cash dollas with an extra playoff round, why not go the whole nine and add another game or two or three or four in each of those series?

That's right. Logic. I use it.

Make it happen.
 

Capitals Season Preview (Just in time)

I'll be covering the Caps from the press box this year for DC Sports Box, and in the eleventh hour I got my Capitals preview in to the site. So here's the first few paragraphs from that, and you'll have to actually go there to read the rest (it's long). I'm also told there's a site redesign coming soon to DCSportsBox.com and I'm really excited to see what the Web guru over there has cooking.

As the Capitals get ready to kick off the 2007-2008 regular season, it's anyone's guess as to where they'll end up.

Last season the Caps jumped out quick and looked like a real competitor for the first two and a half months - on pace for 95 points with 50 games remaining after beating Philadelphia on December 16. But injuries exposed the team's lack of depth – especially on defense and in goal – and the Caps went 13-30-7 to close out the year.

Majority owner Ted Leonsis said repeatedly this offseason that the rebuild is over, and backed that up by putting up the money to bring in veterans that should address what I'll call "areas of concern."

And when you're coming off back-to-back 70-point seasons – finishing in the bottom five in the NHL both times – there are plenty areas of concern.

Read the rest at DC Sports Box.