We'll have a load of college football tomorrow, and remember the mailbag.
From the "Talks too much" studios, it's go time.
Baseball brinks
And with a lopsided Tuesday, a potential great Wolrd Series matchup was replaced with the cold, hard realization that we'll get the Brett Saberhagen/David Cone match-up of Kansas City and New York in a few days.
The resilient Royals posted a 14-2 whitewash of Toronto for a 3-1 lead in the ALCS.
The opportunistic and pitching-rich Mets scored the winning run on a strikeout and passed ball in a 5-2 win that staked them to a 3-0 lead over the sentimental Cubs in the NLCS.
It's really all over but the shouting, and the takeaways of the almost certain series winners are clear.
The Royals battled at the plate as well as any team in recent memory. They never take a postseason at-bat off, even up 10 runs late Tuesday. It's a trait that works over and over, especially in postseason series in which every pitch matters. Plus with the erratic nature of the umpires calling balls and strikes (and that's a completely different discussion since baseball umpires secretly want to be the star of the show and act accordingly apparently), the Royals plate presence is amazing.
They will need it against this Mets team, who have allowed five runs in three games to a Cubs lineup that was ferocious for the second half of the season.
It was fun Cubs - and the irony of the lovable losers being bounced today on the actual day of the "Back to the Future II" landing is palatable - and you are built for the long haul. Go find another arm and let the young bats improve.
That said, this story makes the interesting point that the only other baseball team to rally from down 0-3 also did so against a curse and with Theo Epstein prominently involved.
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ESPN cutting back?
According to this report, ESPN could announce major layoffs as soon as today.
It's terrible news on the personal level for any one who loses a job. It's an awful process, especially in a lay-off scenario when people at various levels pay the price for things that are either a) out of anyone's control because of the market place or b) because of questionable leadership decisions.
This Sept. 16, 2013 photo shows the ESPN logo prior to an NFL football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers, in Cincinnati. ESPN on Monday, April 27, 2015 filed a lawsuit against Verizon in an escalating clash over how the popular sports channel is being sold in a discounted pay-TV package. (AP Photo/David Kohl) In this case, there may be some of each causing ESPN to adjust since its cable projections have failed to meet expectations.
For the market, a greater-than-expected number of viewers dropping cable and going to other forms of connectivity has hurt the bottom line. ESPN makes more per cable payment than any other non-premium channel, so it also loses more with each cancellation.
Those flat-lining expectations hurt. So does the plan that the ESPN believes it needs to cut as much as nine-figures in expenses to be ready to bid on the upcoming NBA TV deal in 2017.
It's the first tangible sign that the perceived never-ending hydrant-type flow of cash from TV deals may have a ceiling.
This comes, too, as various leagues and even independent teams are looking for ways to connect directly with fans. Because if the NBA Network or any of the others short of the NFL Network ever figure out how to monetize their product as efficiently and productively as using third-party contractors, then who knows what the next frontier will be. (Side note: The NFL Network will never be able to match the TV deals they have because the bidding networks knowingly overpay because of the opportunity cost of free commercials for their other shows with huge audiences.)
And sadly, the professionals at ESPN caught in the crossfire of this will soon be without a job.
It also makes you wonder how Fox Sports 1 and some of the other networks are going to make an in road against someone like ESPN, which is almost admitting the future may not be as bright or as lucrative as they had hoped.
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Tiger
Tiger Woods met the media on Tuesday.
That used to be headline news.
No more.
That said, the one bright spot of that interview was it finally sounds as if Tiger and his people are finally willing to take as much time as he needs to get healthy.
That may be the single most important factor to determine if he wins another major championship.
We know Tiger will never be Tiger again. Heck, no one will be the early 2000s Tiger ever again.
We fell all over ourselves with the great year Jordan Spieth had, and it was awesome with a record-total in golf earnings and two majors.
Tiger won multiple majors in four seasons from 2000 to 2006, including three majors in 2000 on his way to the Tiger Slam.
If Tiger allows himself to get healthy, he could contend again, and that would be great for all of us.
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This and that
- In addition to the Louisville book that blows up the recruiting brothel, Ray Lewis released his autobiography Tuesday and it includes his thoughts on the night in Atlanta when two dudes were murdered. Ray writes that he was too dressed up to fight, but that fancy suit was never found and part of the reason he pled guilty to obstruction of justice.
- Thought this was a well-reasoned discussion against instant replay in sports. Very interesting.
- Longtime Charleston columnist Ken Burger died Tuesday. He was 65.
A shelf of soft drinks are shown in a refrigerator at K & D Market in San Francisco, Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2014. A tax on sodas and other sugar-laden drinks that voters and courts in other parts of the country have rejected is on the November ballots in San Francisco and Berkeley, two cities that have been open to such social-engineering initiatives in the past. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu) - Man this was interesting. Yahoo.com ranked the worst sodas for your body and Fanta Grape was worst. How sweet-saturated is the Fanta Grape? Liquify a bag of Skittles and you'd still need 6 more grams of sugar. Sierra Mist was rated the "healthiest" soda, and it still has 30 carbs and 29 grams of sugar in a 12-ounce can.
- Now the NFL Network is really trying to become a top-rated cable channel. Beyond the best access to the biggest pop culture entity in this country, now the NFL Network has brought nudity. (It was a mistake of course and they have already apologized, but at least one player asks appropriately, "Why are they allowed in the shower areas?"
- Interesting golf story here, where Rich Beem gave his sponsor exemption to Ian Poulter. It was a kind gesture so Poulter could get his 13 starts needed to qualify for the 2016 Ryder Cup team. Side question: If Poulter, who has been a beast in team golf competition, makes the team and continues to flummox the American side, can we call him Beem-adict Arnold?
- This is a golf trick shot gone terribly wrong. "Fore. Maybe he should have yelled two."
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Today's question
FILE - In this June 24, 2015 file photo, American television personality Kim Kardashian poses for photographers as she attends the Cannes Lions 2015 in Cannes, southern France. The Food and Drug Administration says Kardashian’s social media posts promoting Diclegis, an prescription anti-morning sickness drug, violate federal drug promotion rules because they don’t mention potentially dangerous side effects and drug interactions.. (AP Photo/Lionel Cironneau, File) Strange day this Oct. 21. It's the exact day that Marty McFly arrived in the future in Back to the Future II.
It's the day that Kim Kardashian was born in 1990, and her rise to such fame is a painful and embarrassing discourse on what it takes to be famous in today's world.
In happier times, it also is William Zabka's 50th birthday. You know William Zabka. He was only the greatest 1980s villain this side of Jaws (both the shark and the Bond character). He was 'that' guy in "One of the Guys" and "Back to School" and was great.
But he took 1980s villainy to Pacino heights with his turn as Johnny Lawrence, the head-band wearing leader of the Corba Kai who tormented Daniel LaRusso in "Karate Kid."
Let's go Rushmore of 1980s movie villains. Go - and remember the mailbag.