End of the Line

"(So sorry it's over)
Time keeps moving on and on and on
Soon we'll all be gone"
--Man Overboard, Blink 182

Thus endeth one of the longer three-day periods in my entire life. Now, of course that's a figurative statement, because three days will be 72 hours no matter the content. In this instance, longer just means that there was much more for me to do, work-wise, within that time frame.
So here was the schedule: workout Friday morning then work from 7:30-6:30 (without question the busiest workday I've had since I joined the show), then to an lc football game (watching ben, pat and tom) with the morrises, then home and to sleep at midnight. up early saturday, at fox again to edit my baseball piece from 8:30-6:30, then to trader joe's (a wonderful place) and the market, a little reading and then to sleep by 11. Up sunday at 7, to fox at 8 for football (cbs games were much better), done at 4:45, just in time to grab a snack and head back over to the edit bay for a 5 p.m.-1 a.m. shift, finishing up the baseball piece. (Huge exhale).
So yes, I am fatigued, though I still made it to the gym this morning for a half-hearted workout. I'm thinking that I won't last until even 9 tonight, but we'll see. Before all logic escapes me, I have a few thoughts about sports this weekend...
Football: Sean Salisbury said something last night that is even more ludicrous than the things he usually says. If he would slow down and think about what he's saying during his ranting analyses (that's the plural of analysis, by the way), he'd realize how idiotic he sounds sometimes. Sports Guy mentioned the whole Tom Brady or Peyton Manning debate on Inside the NFL and how Dan Marino opted for Manning (because "famous QBs who can't win anything when it matters always stick together"), despite Brady's last three wins in the head-to-head matchups obviously don't mean anything. Well Salisbury last night called the Colts the best team in the AFC. WHAT!?!?!?! Do you watch football? Is your memory so short that you can't recall week one? Or the AFC championship game? Or last year's regular season matchup? How can they be better than the Patriots? They may defeat their arch-nemesis someday, but they haven't in forever--and yes, Sean, forever even includes THREE WEEKS AGO. He seems like a good guy, and he was thoroughly entertaining on the Dan Patrick Show, but there's a large percentage of the time where he just does not know what he's talking about.
Baseball: Has anyone outside San Diego even heard of Jake Peavy? It's criminal that this guy doesn't get more respect. 15-6 with a major league-leading 2.27 ERA; 173 strikeouts in 166 innings against just 53 walks. He's just 23 (his birthday is May 31, which makes him that much cooler) and will no doubt continue his ascent as the Padres' ace next season (a slam-dunk division title for the Pads). A quick comparison between Peavy and the NL Cy Young candidates:
PLAYER STARTS IP W-L SO BB OPP AVG
Peavy 27 166 15-6 173 53 .236
Clemens 33 214 18-4 218 79 .217
Oswalt 35 237 20-10 206 62 .260
R.Johnson 35 245 16-14 290 44 .197
Johnson should win it (and won't, because of the win total), but Peavy is right there with Rocket and with Oswalt, for sure. Next year, if he puts in a full 35 starts and the Padre offense improves a bit (hmm, think we should add some speed to play in the biggest freaking ballpark in the majors?), he'll be right at the top.
More baseball: Dodgers and Angels, that's pretty sweet. I am very much looking forward to this playoff season, despite the absence of my beloved Pads. Schilling facing the Angels and Santana against the Yankees tomorrow (plus the Dodgers and Cards), then Clemens v. Braves on Wednesday. All four series look quite competitive, and especially after what's happened the last three post-seasons (D-Backs, Angels, Marlins), it's anybody's guess. For what it's worth: Sox over Angels, Twins over Yankees, Sox over Twins...Cards over Dodgers, Astros over Braves, Astros over Cards...Astros over Sox. They're healthy and playing great baseball at the right time. Having Rocket and Oswalt 1-2 makes them tougher there than anyone except maybe the Sox (Schill and Pedro), but their momentum is gigantic right now. I'm sure I'll revise this a few times before we're through, but that's how I look at it the day before we get underway.
Basketball: Training camp really starts this week and reality about the Lakers will start setting in. Rudy T is actually the coach, Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant will be wearing the purple and yellow (sorry, forum blue and gold), and Shaq, GP, Fox, Mailman, D-Fish are all gone. This will be a tough one, but I think they'll be better than most prognosticators are speculating. One thing that's not hard to call: Christmas day is gonna be awesome--no matter Santa's provision, Shaq comes to town for the first time, and after all this "I'm not the one paying for love" stuff, it's gonna be on. The first time Kobe comes down the lane--look out. Magic dropped Isiah one time, and they were best friends. These two are far from it.
Work is about to begin--technically this is work too, since it's sports-related--so I'm going to see how long I last before I just pass out at my desk or something. Sleep will be so nice tonight. Peace.