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![Linsanely Overhyped? If you haven’t heard the story involving New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, you’re one of the few. In short, he’s the biggest story in the National Basketball Assocation right now, and probably in a long while. The 2010 Harvard graduate who went undrafted and who has been waived by the Warriors and Rockets in his short NBA career, has taken the Big Apple by storm. Since scoring 25 points February 5 against New Jersey, it’s been a 16-day media storm and Lin has continued to impress, contributing 28 points and 14 assists Sunday against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only four players since the NBA-ABA merger — Bernard King, Shaquille O’Neal, Brandon Jennings and Michael Jordan — have scored more points in their first eight career starts than Lin’s 200.
But it’s more than basketball. As one of the few Asian-Americans in NBA history, his story has become a global sensation. He’s already been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine (international edition) and more publications, featured on every major news outlet and even parodied on this week’s Saturday Night Live. Oh, and there’s that rumor that Kim Kardashian wants to date him (a rumor that Lin denies, but which Bodog has put 5/1 odds on before the end of the NBA finals, via The20’s @dhm).
As SI’s Pablo Torre put it in last week’s cover story,
“Nothing, anywhere, has ever resembled the ascendance of Jeremy Shu-How Lin, a legend seemingly pulled from the imagination of a goosefleshed David Stern, if not Disney’s most hyperbolic global marketing exec.”
But is Lin being overhyped? Philly sports analyst Garry “G” Cobb weighed in on his blog Friday, essentially saying that because Lin plays in New York City and ESPN wants to hype him up, he’s getting too much attention.
“I am telling you Lin is going to have his own update on the bottom line by next week on ESPN,’ Cobb writes. ‘Lin has just woke up from his nap and peed for 10 seconds. Then he had some Alphabets cereal right after.”
And Cobb is far from the only pundit in this conversation. Lin has played big minutes in only nine games to this point, and while his numbers don’t lie, is that too small of a sample size for all of this attention? Or is it deserved?
Weigh in below in the comments.
-LD
[ESPN, Saturday Night Live, @dhm, Sports Illustrated, GCobb.com]
Photo: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzpsfbVKLY1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Linsanely Overhyped? If you haven’t heard the story involving New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, you’re one of the few. In short, he’s the biggest story in the National Basketball Assocation right now, and probably in a long while. The 2010 Harvard graduate who went undrafted and who has been waived by the Warriors and Rockets in his short NBA career, has taken the Big Apple by storm. Since scoring 25 points February 5 against New Jersey, it’s been a 16-day media storm and Lin has continued to impress, contributing 28 points and 14 assists Sunday against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only four players since the NBA-ABA merger — Bernard King, Shaquille O’Neal, Brandon Jennings and Michael Jordan — have scored more points in their first eight career starts than Lin’s 200.
But it’s more than basketball. As one of the few Asian-Americans in NBA history, his story has become a global sensation. He’s already been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine (international edition) and more publications, featured on every major news outlet and even parodied on this week’s Saturday Night Live. Oh, and there’s that rumor that Kim Kardashian wants to date him (a rumor that Lin denies, but which Bodog has put 5/1 odds on before the end of the NBA finals, via The20’s @dhm).
As SI’s Pablo Torre put it in last week’s cover story,
“Nothing, anywhere, has ever resembled the ascendance of Jeremy Shu-How Lin, a legend seemingly pulled from the imagination of a goosefleshed David Stern, if not Disney’s most hyperbolic global marketing exec.”
But is Lin being overhyped? Philly sports analyst Garry “G” Cobb weighed in on his blog Friday, essentially saying that because Lin plays in New York City and ESPN wants to hype him up, he’s getting too much attention.
“I am telling you Lin is going to have his own update on the bottom line by next week on ESPN,’ Cobb writes. ‘Lin has just woke up from his nap and peed for 10 seconds. Then he had some Alphabets cereal right after.”
And Cobb is far from the only pundit in this conversation. Lin has played big minutes in only nine games to this point, and while his numbers don’t lie, is that too small of a sample size for all of this attention? Or is it deserved?
Weigh in below in the comments.
-LD
[ESPN, Saturday Night Live, @dhm, Sports Illustrated, GCobb.com]
Photo: Getty Images
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![Why the Eagles Season Is Far From Over. The Eagles season has been about as far from a dream as one could imagine (dare we say nightmare). You can read about the atrociousness everywhere today.
From Wilmington News Journal beat writer and The20’s @geoffmosher in his Monday Morning Leftover’s column:
“Yes, they commit ungodly turnovers. Yes, they roll out the red carpet for running backs. Yes, they have issues all over the map. But the bottom line is that the team just makes dumb decisions – from top to bottom – and having the team’s most veteran player on defense (see: Juqua Parker) thinking that Buffalo might actually run a play on fourth-and-one near midfield in a game they only lead by a touchdown illustrates how undisciplined they are.”
From Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, who lists Parker, Jason Avant and Jason Kelce as his only three goats of the week in his Monday Morning Quarterback look around the entire NFL:
“The Eagles are playing in quicksand. They make a little progress, make a couple of plays and then, week after week, do something really stupid to set themselves back. A strip. A penalty. An interception. An idiotic offside call when they can least afford it. Sloppy teams do dumb things like that all the time, and the Eagles right now are both sloppy and dumb.”
And from our own Birds Nest blogger Drew Magary, who detailed today why the Eagles might be the dumbest team in football:
“If you need a perfect example of how this season is going for the Eagles, you only need to look to the end of the first half yesterday, when the Eagles had eight seconds left on the clock and wanted to run one more play before kicking a field goal.”
But after all of that, the Eagles season is far from finished. Why? The rest of the NFC East has been almost as terrible (with respect to the Redskins, who had off this week). From Pro Football Talk:
“In any other division, the Eagles would need to go at least 9-2 over the final 11 games to have any hope of qualifying for the postseason — a very tall order given that they have upcoming games against the Cowboys (twice), Redskins (twice), Giants, Patriots, and Jets. But with the Giants looking sluggish and the Cowboys stuck at 2-2 and the Redskins still believed to be overachieving, the Eagles can win the division, perhaps without winning 10 total games. If they can win the rest of their NFC East games, and if none of the other three teams pile up wins outside the division, the Eagles could climb back into it.”
So relax, Philly. It was a terrible weekend but it’s not over yet. And hey, how about the undefeated Philadelphia Flyers and first-place Philadelphia Union??!
-LD
[Wilmington News-Journal, @geoffmosher, MMQB, Pro Football Talk, Birds Nest]
Photo: Getty Images](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsuvsgpoQM1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Why the Eagles Season Is Far From Over. The Eagles season has been about as far from a dream as one could imagine (dare we say nightmare). You can read about the atrociousness everywhere today.
From Wilmington News Journal beat writer and The20’s @geoffmosher in his Monday Morning Leftover’s column:
“Yes, they commit ungodly turnovers. Yes, they roll out the red carpet for running backs. Yes, they have issues all over the map. But the bottom line is that the team just makes dumb decisions – from top to bottom – and having the team’s most veteran player on defense (see: Juqua Parker) thinking that Buffalo might actually run a play on fourth-and-one near midfield in a game they only lead by a touchdown illustrates how undisciplined they are.”
From Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, who lists Parker, Jason Avant and Jason Kelce as his only three goats of the week in his Monday Morning Quarterback look around the entire NFL:
“The Eagles are playing in quicksand. They make a little progress, make a couple of plays and then, week after week, do something really stupid to set themselves back. A strip. A penalty. An interception. An idiotic offside call when they can least afford it. Sloppy teams do dumb things like that all the time, and the Eagles right now are both sloppy and dumb.”
And from our own Birds Nest blogger Drew Magary, who detailed today why the Eagles might be the dumbest team in football:
“If you need a perfect example of how this season is going for the Eagles, you only need to look to the end of the first half yesterday, when the Eagles had eight seconds left on the clock and wanted to run one more play before kicking a field goal.”
But after all of that, the Eagles season is far from finished. Why? The rest of the NFC East has been almost as terrible (with respect to the Redskins, who had off this week). From Pro Football Talk:
“In any other division, the Eagles would need to go at least 9-2 over the final 11 games to have any hope of qualifying for the postseason — a very tall order given that they have upcoming games against the Cowboys (twice), Redskins (twice), Giants, Patriots, and Jets. But with the Giants looking sluggish and the Cowboys stuck at 2-2 and the Redskins still believed to be overachieving, the Eagles can win the division, perhaps without winning 10 total games. If they can win the rest of their NFC East games, and if none of the other three teams pile up wins outside the division, the Eagles could climb back into it.”
So relax, Philly. It was a terrible weekend but it’s not over yet. And hey, how about the undefeated Philadelphia Flyers and first-place Philadelphia Union??!
-LD
[Wilmington News-Journal, @geoffmosher, MMQB, Pro Football Talk, Birds Nest]
Photo: Getty Images
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![Was Wednesday The Best Single Night In MLB History? If you didn’t catch what MLB was billing as “Wild Card Wins-Day,” you missed perhaps one of the greatest single nights in baseball history. The Rays and Cardinals clinched Wild Card berths, while the Braves and Red Sox completed historic collapses (see it all in this simple list with times describing the greatness).
The20’s @bydanielvictor directs us to a story from Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski, to which Victor says “If you like baseball or just good writing, you must read @JoePosnanski on last night’s happenings.” In it, Posnanski describes Wednesday night best in his last three paragraphs (below):
“Baseball, like life, revolves around anticlimax. That’s what you get most of the time. You stand in driver’s license lines, and watch Alfredo Aceves shake off signals, and sit through your children’s swim meets, and see bases-loaded rallies die, and fill up your car’s tires with air, and endure an inning with three pitching changes, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk.
But then, every now and again, something happens. Something memorable. Something magnificent. Something staggering. Your child wins the race. Your team rallies in the ninth. You get pulled over for speeding. And in that moment — awesome or lousy — you are living something that you will never forget, something that jumps out of the toneless roar of day-to-day life.
The Braves failed to score. Papelbon blew the lead. Longoria homered in the 12th. Elation. Sadness. Mayhem. Champagne. Sleepless fury. Never been a night like it. Funny, if I was trying to explain baseball to someone who had never heard of it, I wouldn’t tell them about Wednesday night. No, it seems to me that Wednesday night isn’t what makes baseball great. It’s all the years you spend waiting for Wednesday night that makes baseball great.”
So did you watch the insanity? Have you ever seen anything quite like it? It’s certainly got us all ready for the postseason to begin!
-LD
[ESPN.com, @bydanielvictor, Sports Illustrated]
Photo: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsaw0qXSDy1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Was Wednesday The Best Single Night In MLB History? If you didn’t catch what MLB was billing as “Wild Card Wins-Day,” you missed perhaps one of the greatest single nights in baseball history. The Rays and Cardinals clinched Wild Card berths, while the Braves and Red Sox completed historic collapses (see it all in this simple list with times describing the greatness).
The20’s @bydanielvictor directs us to a story from Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski, to which Victor says “If you like baseball or just good writing, you must read @JoePosnanski on last night’s happenings.” In it, Posnanski describes Wednesday night best in his last three paragraphs (below):
“Baseball, like life, revolves around anticlimax. That’s what you get most of the time. You stand in driver’s license lines, and watch Alfredo Aceves shake off signals, and sit through your children’s swim meets, and see bases-loaded rallies die, and fill up your car’s tires with air, and endure an inning with three pitching changes, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk.
But then, every now and again, something happens. Something memorable. Something magnificent. Something staggering. Your child wins the race. Your team rallies in the ninth. You get pulled over for speeding. And in that moment — awesome or lousy — you are living something that you will never forget, something that jumps out of the toneless roar of day-to-day life.
The Braves failed to score. Papelbon blew the lead. Longoria homered in the 12th. Elation. Sadness. Mayhem. Champagne. Sleepless fury. Never been a night like it. Funny, if I was trying to explain baseball to someone who had never heard of it, I wouldn’t tell them about Wednesday night. No, it seems to me that Wednesday night isn’t what makes baseball great. It’s all the years you spend waiting for Wednesday night that makes baseball great.”
So did you watch the insanity? Have you ever seen anything quite like it? It’s certainly got us all ready for the postseason to begin!
-LD
[ESPN.com, @bydanielvictor, Sports Illustrated]
Photo: Getty Images
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Chase Utley the Meanest Man in Baseball? According to an SI.com poll released in the September 19th issue, Utley is the second “meanest” player in the league (behind only A.J. Pierzynski and ahead of headcases like Milton Bradley, Carlos Zambrano and Vicente Padilla). The player poll surveyed 215 fellow MLB players, and offers no explanation for what “meanest player” actually means. According to dictionary.com, it’s “offensive, selfish, or unaccommodating; nasty; malicious.”
Back in 2006, SI named Utley baseball’s dirtiest player—for his often muddy uniform, not his demeanor. But how do you explain this one?
Maybe players around the league remember his 2008 “World F***ing Champions” rant? Maybe they just wish they were him and married to big True Blood fan Jen Utley? Can anyone explain these results?
-LD
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Paying Tribute to the Blue Horizon. The news hit this week that the legendary boxing venue on North Broad Street will officially be closing as it is converted into a hotel, and boxing may never be the same. The 146-year-old site that has hosted plenty of historic fights received a $6 million state grant for redevelopment as a hotel and restaurant, but is that a good idea?
From Marc Abrams, who was the boxing PR director at the Blue Horizon from 2006 until last year:
“You think of Yankee Stadium and Wrigley Field in baseball, the Blue Horizon is on par with those two legendary facilities in the boxing world. I traveled all over the world covering fights and was around fighters, and when they heard I’m from Philadelphia, the first thing they asked me is if I’ve been to the Blue Horizon.”
The20’s @dhm retweeted Philly native and SI writer @bryanagraham’s message from this morning that also linked to a great 1996 read from the national magazine, saying: “Gutted to hear Philly’s Blue Horizon is being turned into a hotel. Bill Barich, SI, 1996: http://bit.ly/ofxejB #longreads”
The plans to convert the historic venue have been in the works for quite some time, but they’re finally becoming a reality. Another victim of the economy and a struggling sport or a legendary venue that deserved to stick around?
-LD
[Philadelphia Inquirer, @dhm, @bryanagraham, Sports Illustrated]
Photos: Getty Images, Al Bello
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![Chooch Hits the Big Time on Cover of Sports Illustrated. Carlos Ruiz has had the best seat in baseball all season, catching the Legion of Arms and helping guide the team to the league’s best record. And now, our favorite Panamanian is getting some national love on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated (a great story from Gary Smith that will be online tomorrow).
Technically, as Philly native and Sports Illustrated writer @BryanAGraham (a great Twitter follow as well) points out, it’s Ruiz’s third SI cover, as he appeared twice during the 2008 World Series run.
The20’s @meechone couldn’t contain his excitement, tweeting in all caps:
The Fightins » CARLOS RUIZ ON THE COVER OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED!!!: http://bit.ly/ohYT4R (via @BryanAGraham)
How proud of Chooch are you, Philly?
-LD
[Sports Illustrated, @meechone, The Fightins]
Photo: via Fred Vuich, Sports Illustrated](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo87qdiqQP1qfnxkko1_500.jpg)
Chooch Hits the Big Time on Cover of Sports Illustrated. Carlos Ruiz has had the best seat in baseball all season, catching the Legion of Arms and helping guide the team to the league’s best record. And now, our favorite Panamanian is getting some national love on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated (a great story from Gary Smith that will be online tomorrow).
Technically, as Philly native and Sports Illustrated writer @BryanAGraham (a great Twitter follow as well) points out, it’s Ruiz’s third SI cover, as he appeared twice during the 2008 World Series run.
The20’s @meechone couldn’t contain his excitement, tweeting in all caps:
The Fightins » CARLOS RUIZ ON THE COVER OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED!!!: http://bit.ly/ohYT4R (via @BryanAGraham)
How proud of Chooch are you, Philly?
-LD
[Sports Illustrated, @meechone, The Fightins]
Photo: via Fred Vuich, Sports Illustrated
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![Phillies or Red Sox? Who’s better now? The Fightin’s welcome their friends from Boston into town tonight for a three-night series that many are billing as a World Series preview.
Since the Phillies assembled “The Legion of Arms” and the Red Sox acquired Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, it’s been a foregone conclusion that come October 2011, these teams will battle it out. The Phils enter tonight with the best record in baseball (49-30) behind expected great pitching, and the Sox, after a slow start, are 45-32 behind a potent offense.
As The20’s @Meechone posted on The Fightins.com this morning, “Cliff Lee doesn’t seem too concerned about the Red Sox.”
Why worry? The next three days should be telling, and they aren’t playoff games…
Weigh in on Facebook and tell us which team you think is better right now.
-LD
[ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, NBC Philadelphia, @Meechone]
Photos: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lni95ygJ9q1qfnxkko1_r1_500.jpg)
Phillies or Red Sox? Who’s better now? The Fightin’s welcome their friends from Boston into town tonight for a three-night series that many are billing as a World Series preview.
Since the Phillies assembled “The Legion of Arms” and the Red Sox acquired Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, it’s been a foregone conclusion that come October 2011, these teams will battle it out. The Phils enter tonight with the best record in baseball (49-30) behind expected great pitching, and the Sox, after a slow start, are 45-32 behind a potent offense.
As The20’s @Meechone posted on The Fightins.com this morning, “Cliff Lee doesn’t seem too concerned about the Red Sox.”
Why worry? The next three days should be telling, and they aren’t playoff games…
Weigh in on Facebook and tell us which team you think is better right now.
-LD
[ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, NBC Philadelphia, @Meechone]
Photos: Getty Images
![Linsanely Overhyped? If you haven’t heard the story involving New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin, you’re one of the few. In short, he’s the biggest story in the National Basketball Assocation right now, and probably in a long while. The 2010 Harvard graduate who went undrafted and who has been waived by the Warriors and Rockets in his short NBA career, has taken the Big Apple by storm. Since scoring 25 points February 5 against New Jersey, it’s been a 16-day media storm and Lin has continued to impress, contributing 28 points and 14 assists Sunday against the defending champion Dallas Mavericks. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, only four players since the NBA-ABA merger — Bernard King, Shaquille O’Neal, Brandon Jennings and Michael Jordan — have scored more points in their first eight career starts than Lin’s 200.
But it’s more than basketball. As one of the few Asian-Americans in NBA history, his story has become a global sensation. He’s already been on the cover of Sports Illustrated, Time Magazine (international edition) and more publications, featured on every major news outlet and even parodied on this week’s Saturday Night Live. Oh, and there’s that rumor that Kim Kardashian wants to date him (a rumor that Lin denies, but which Bodog has put 5/1 odds on before the end of the NBA finals, via The20’s @dhm).
As SI’s Pablo Torre put it in last week’s cover story,
“Nothing, anywhere, has ever resembled the ascendance of Jeremy Shu-How Lin, a legend seemingly pulled from the imagination of a goosefleshed David Stern, if not Disney’s most hyperbolic global marketing exec.”
But is Lin being overhyped? Philly sports analyst Garry “G” Cobb weighed in on his blog Friday, essentially saying that because Lin plays in New York City and ESPN wants to hype him up, he’s getting too much attention.
“I am telling you Lin is going to have his own update on the bottom line by next week on ESPN,’ Cobb writes. ‘Lin has just woke up from his nap and peed for 10 seconds. Then he had some Alphabets cereal right after.”
And Cobb is far from the only pundit in this conversation. Lin has played big minutes in only nine games to this point, and while his numbers don’t lie, is that too small of a sample size for all of this attention? Or is it deserved?
Weigh in below in the comments.
-LD
[ESPN, Saturday Night Live, @dhm, Sports Illustrated, GCobb.com]
Photo: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lzpsfbVKLY1qfnxkko1_1280.jpg)
![Why the Eagles Season Is Far From Over. The Eagles season has been about as far from a dream as one could imagine (dare we say nightmare). You can read about the atrociousness everywhere today.
From Wilmington News Journal beat writer and The20’s @geoffmosher in his Monday Morning Leftover’s column:
“Yes, they commit ungodly turnovers. Yes, they roll out the red carpet for running backs. Yes, they have issues all over the map. But the bottom line is that the team just makes dumb decisions – from top to bottom – and having the team’s most veteran player on defense (see: Juqua Parker) thinking that Buffalo might actually run a play on fourth-and-one near midfield in a game they only lead by a touchdown illustrates how undisciplined they are.”
From Sports Illustrated’s Peter King, who lists Parker, Jason Avant and Jason Kelce as his only three goats of the week in his Monday Morning Quarterback look around the entire NFL:
“The Eagles are playing in quicksand. They make a little progress, make a couple of plays and then, week after week, do something really stupid to set themselves back. A strip. A penalty. An interception. An idiotic offside call when they can least afford it. Sloppy teams do dumb things like that all the time, and the Eagles right now are both sloppy and dumb.”
And from our own Birds Nest blogger Drew Magary, who detailed today why the Eagles might be the dumbest team in football:
“If you need a perfect example of how this season is going for the Eagles, you only need to look to the end of the first half yesterday, when the Eagles had eight seconds left on the clock and wanted to run one more play before kicking a field goal.”
But after all of that, the Eagles season is far from finished. Why? The rest of the NFC East has been almost as terrible (with respect to the Redskins, who had off this week). From Pro Football Talk:
“In any other division, the Eagles would need to go at least 9-2 over the final 11 games to have any hope of qualifying for the postseason — a very tall order given that they have upcoming games against the Cowboys (twice), Redskins (twice), Giants, Patriots, and Jets. But with the Giants looking sluggish and the Cowboys stuck at 2-2 and the Redskins still believed to be overachieving, the Eagles can win the division, perhaps without winning 10 total games. If they can win the rest of their NFC East games, and if none of the other three teams pile up wins outside the division, the Eagles could climb back into it.”
So relax, Philly. It was a terrible weekend but it’s not over yet. And hey, how about the undefeated Philadelphia Flyers and first-place Philadelphia Union??!
-LD
[Wilmington News-Journal, @geoffmosher, MMQB, Pro Football Talk, Birds Nest]
Photo: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsuvsgpoQM1qfnxkko1_1280.jpg)
![Was Wednesday The Best Single Night In MLB History? If you didn’t catch what MLB was billing as “Wild Card Wins-Day,” you missed perhaps one of the greatest single nights in baseball history. The Rays and Cardinals clinched Wild Card berths, while the Braves and Red Sox completed historic collapses (see it all in this simple list with times describing the greatness).
The20’s @bydanielvictor directs us to a story from Sports Illustrated’s Joe Posnanski, to which Victor says “If you like baseball or just good writing, you must read @JoePosnanski on last night’s happenings.” In it, Posnanski describes Wednesday night best in his last three paragraphs (below):
“Baseball, like life, revolves around anticlimax. That’s what you get most of the time. You stand in driver’s license lines, and watch Alfredo Aceves shake off signals, and sit through your children’s swim meets, and see bases-loaded rallies die, and fill up your car’s tires with air, and endure an inning with three pitching changes, a sacrifice bunt and an intentional walk.
But then, every now and again, something happens. Something memorable. Something magnificent. Something staggering. Your child wins the race. Your team rallies in the ninth. You get pulled over for speeding. And in that moment — awesome or lousy — you are living something that you will never forget, something that jumps out of the toneless roar of day-to-day life.
The Braves failed to score. Papelbon blew the lead. Longoria homered in the 12th. Elation. Sadness. Mayhem. Champagne. Sleepless fury. Never been a night like it. Funny, if I was trying to explain baseball to someone who had never heard of it, I wouldn’t tell them about Wednesday night. No, it seems to me that Wednesday night isn’t what makes baseball great. It’s all the years you spend waiting for Wednesday night that makes baseball great.”
So did you watch the insanity? Have you ever seen anything quite like it? It’s certainly got us all ready for the postseason to begin!
-LD
[ESPN.com, @bydanielvictor, Sports Illustrated]
Photo: Getty Images](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsaw0qXSDy1qfnxkko1_1280.jpg)
![Chooch Hits the Big Time on Cover of Sports Illustrated. Carlos Ruiz has had the best seat in baseball all season, catching the Legion of Arms and helping guide the team to the league’s best record. And now, our favorite Panamanian is getting some national love on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated (a great story from Gary Smith that will be online tomorrow).
Technically, as Philly native and Sports Illustrated writer @BryanAGraham (a great Twitter follow as well) points out, it’s Ruiz’s third SI cover, as he appeared twice during the 2008 World Series run.
The20’s @meechone couldn’t contain his excitement, tweeting in all caps:
The Fightins » CARLOS RUIZ ON THE COVER OF SPORTS ILLUSTRATED!!!: http://bit.ly/ohYT4R (via @BryanAGraham)
How proud of Chooch are you, Philly?
-LD
[Sports Illustrated, @meechone, The Fightins]
Photo: via Fred Vuich, Sports Illustrated](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lo87qdiqQP1qfnxkko1_1280.jpg)
![Phillies or Red Sox? Who’s better now? The Fightin’s welcome their friends from Boston into town tonight for a three-night series that many are billing as a World Series preview.
Since the Phillies assembled “The Legion of Arms” and the Red Sox acquired Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez, it’s been a foregone conclusion that come October 2011, these teams will battle it out. The Phils enter tonight with the best record in baseball (49-30) behind expected great pitching, and the Sox, after a slow start, are 45-32 behind a potent offense.
As The20’s @Meechone posted on The Fightins.com this morning, “Cliff Lee doesn’t seem too concerned about the Red Sox.”
Why worry? The next three days should be telling, and they aren’t playoff games…
Weigh in on Facebook and tell us which team you think is better right now.
-LD
[ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, USA Today, NBC Philadelphia, @Meechone]
Photos: Getty Images](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lni95ygJ9q1qfnxkko1_r1_1280.jpg)
