DL457: Playoff Baseball, College & Pro Football, Injuries, BCS & Soccer Scandals

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This is a Monday where we can’t get to half the stories we want. We talk about this:

• MLB playoffs, including the Phillies win over the Giants, fans over-reacting to Ryan Howard going to the Eagles game, Cole Hamels being the best Phillies pitcher in the last few months & if the Yankees will really start AJ Burnett in game four if they lose tonight.

• NFL, including the quarterback controversy in Philadelphia and if one of them should get traded. We also talk about the injuries around the league which leads to the awful news that Rutgers defensive lineman Eric LeGrand was paralyzed from the neck down this weekend. Is there anything to stop this from happening in football? With that happening on Saturday, we still saw a ton of helmet hits on Sunday. Players can’t stop themselves. Is the protection — helmets, pads, etc — too good? Do players now think they are actually invincible? Whatever the answer, it’s awful.

• We somehow spin that to more college football, includingREAD MORE

DL456: Yahoo’s Jeff Passan on Death To The BCS, MLB Playoffs, Absinthe & The Best Roast Pork In Philly

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Usually when we have a guest like Jeff Passan — inexplicably his first time on the show, by the way — I like to write an enormous recap of every single thing we discussed. That won’t be this recap. Instead, spend that time reading an excerpt of Death to the BCS, the new book Passan co-authored with Dan Wetzel and Josh Peter.

We talk about Wetzel’s intimidation factor and, for lack of a better term, aggressive style of writing and reporting and how that translated into this book.

We discuss the fascinating financials involved in just how much money the bowls make, yet the teams going to those bowls lose, in the current system. We discuss the book’s model for a viable playoff system and why some coaches may be against that idea. It seems illogical for anyone to be against a playoff that, as Passan explains, could be worth 530 million dollars more in TV revenue than the current bowl system. But if everyone agreed, there wouldn’t be a book, would there?

ThereREAD MORE

Charlie Manuel Is A Stylin’ & Proflin’ Son of a Gun, Drops Flair Quotes in NLCS Presser

Do you want to know why Charlie Manuel is the greatest manager in baseball? No other manager would say, in the middle of his NLCS press conferences, “it’s like going to Space Mountain…what the hell.”

Nobody. Nobody would drop Ric Flair references in the middle of his presser. Ric. Flair. Space Mountain. To be the best you gotta beat the best! Wooooo!

I know Meech from The Fightins agrees with me — he gave his kid the middle name Fuqua for crying out loud — but there’s not another person in sports that I love more than Uncle Cholly. And look, I was one of the people who thought the Phillies should have gone in a different direction in 2008. But since that season, he has been, and always will be…the man.

If you don’t like it, learn to love it. READ MORE

DL455: Craig Calcaterra From NBC’s Hardball Talk Previews the LCS

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Lots of baseball talk today with Craig Calcaterra from NBC’s Hardball Talk. We cover a lot, so here’s a quick recap of most of it.

We talk about the Josh Hamilton Ginger Ale bath and wonder if the Rangers will remove all the alcohol should they beat the Yankees. It was a great gesture to use soda for a recovering addict, but why not remove the alcohol altogether? Has the beer and champagne become THAT synonymous with winning in baseball…and if so, what does that say about the sport?

Of course, it all comes down to sponsorships as Budweiser is all over those locker room celebrations. Calcaterra points out that once they get a Ginger Ale company to throw in some cash, maybe they’ll lose the alcohol.

That all said, will Texas see another celebration anyway? Can they beat the Yankees in a seven-game series? We try to break down the possibility, which seems to hinge on CC Sabathia. Even though the Yankees SAY AJ Burnett is starting game four, does that mean they’llREAD MORE

DL454: Jon Tannenwald of Philly.com on Soccer, Charlie Davies and Phillies, Eagles & Popularity

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Here’s Jon Tannenwald’s line to end our show today:

We forget, sometimes, that Philadelphia is the fourth largest media market in the country. And we forget, sometimes, how much influence…I can have.

That’s fantastic, and for those who don’t know, it speaks to the fact that Tannenwald’s job at Philly.com is to layout the site from 6p-5a. Trapped miners on the front page…that’s him. Phillies get top billing on the sports page over the Eagles? Blame that guy.

Or thank that guy. But either way, he does have a fair amount of power at the regions top news site. We get into the Eagles v. Phillies debate, in which I compare Eagles fans who comment on Philly.com and call into sports talk radio to the Tea Party movement. We also talk about the traffic to philly.com for each team and how people pay more attention to the Phillies next opponent than what the Flyers are doing. The Big Four in town has become the Big Two. So which is the Big One of those two?READ MORE

Is Philly A Baseball Town or Football Town? The Ratings May Surprise Some (An Endless Debate)

Nick and I hijacked half the show today debating if the Phillies would have more viewers than the Eagles in Sunday night’s head-to-head matchup between Philadelphia’s two sports darlings. More people than not told me they expected the Phillies to get a better number, with the game being a series clincher and the Eagles losing a ton of juice with their’s being on the West Coast in a non-rivalry game without Michael Vick.

I couldn’t believe that. The Eagles were on NBC and the Phillies were on…what channel again…oh yeah, TBS. How would this be even close? I expected the Eagles to win the ratings in a landslide (and remember, I’m the one who says Philly is a baseball town.) Well, via John Ourand of SBJ, here’s our answer:

Phills outrated the Iggles in Philly DMA last night. TBS pulled a 27.7 rating for Game 3; NBC got a 24.1 rating for Eagles game in Philly.

Well, then. The “Phills” won the night, despite being on TBS and despite being in a game that, while a series clincher,READ MORE

DL452: Baseball Playoffs, College and NFL Football, Gambling, Other Stuff

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It’s 11am and the show still isn’t up. A college game program I’m working on has to get to the printer ASAP and my hard drive is full. Do you really need a recap? Here: Nick and I high five about the Phillies, talk about the Eagles ratings in comparison to what the Phils will get then high five some more about the Phillies.

We break down the rest of the MLB playoffs, which includes a huge apology to Jimmy Traina for doubting the Yankees “tank to succeed” plan. Then we talk about football, Kolb, Favre, and gambling.

Hope to have posts later today. You win this round, computer.

Reverse Jinx: Dave “Soup” Campbell Totally Called Halladay’s No-No

The old saying in baseball is that you never talk about a no-hitter while it’s going on. The media totally screws with baseball karma all the time by mentioning it. Jerks.

Wasn’t there always an unwritten rule that you never mention the words “no-hitter” when a player has one going? Get creative, guys. It seems national guys don’t even care about that jinx anymore.

Well, last night, no amount of jinxing could stop Roy Halladay from hurling just the second playoff no-hitter in history. Not even this comment from ESPN Radio’s Dave Campbell — which was actually pretty creative, in retrospect (sent via ESPN PR):

Following a Reds strikeout during the fourth inning, Campbell said, “I wonder if Don Larsen is watching.” Larsen famously threw the only other no-hitter in MLB postseason history, a perfect game during the 1956 World Series.

LISTEN TO THE AUDIO.

Look, when Shane Victorino scored in the first inning, I assumed the game was basically over. When it was 4-0 after two, there was no chance the Phillies were going to lose. I’m serious, theREAD MORE

Call of the Day: “Wait, I Just Saw Halladay Smile”

Was there any other choice for the Call of the Day? Cliff Lee went out in the first game of the 2010 MLB playoffs and, after a few bumps early on, shut down the Tampa Bay Rays to steal game one of the ALDS for Texas.

Everyone in Philadelphia, despite a Cy Young-worthy season already this year, had to watch that game and wonder if Roy Halladay was going to be as good as Lee in the playoffs. Could he continue to erase the memory of Lee carrying the Phillies to the World Series last season?

In a word…yes. Halladay tossed a complete game, no-hit, one-walk performance for the ages. Halladay faced one over the minimum against the best hitting team in the National League. He had eight strikeouts and, most importantly, got a win for his team in game one of the NLDS.

WATCH EVERY SINGLE OUT OF HALLADAY’S NO-HITTER AT MLB.COM

Halladay’s no-hitter is only the second in the history of the MLB playoffs, following Don Larsen’s perfect game FIFTY YEARS AGO.

Here’s the audio call of PhilliesREAD MORE

DL449: Kevin Kaduk of Big League Stew Previews the MLB Playoffs

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Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew joins the show to preview the MLB playoffs which FINALLY start today.

Kaduk and I go league by league and series by series to try and guess which teams will come out of the LDS round. After all that prognosticating, we eventually get into a conversation about how stupid prognostications are and how nobody should hold us to any of our picks.

(Except one pick, maybe. Image via Phillies Twitter feed)

That being said, I think I’m going with the Yankees only because I picked them at the beginning of the season and I want to be right. I think I actually “feel” like the Twins are the better team, and with home field, will win the series. So I’m on the fence. Kaduk is not, as he’s going with the Twins.

Neither of us give the Rangers much chance after Cliff Lee, who has to go against the Rays ace David Price.

In the NL, we talk about the Phillies and Reds and whether or not the youngREAD MORE