DL467: Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo! Big League Stew Recaps The World Series

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Kevin Kaduk of Yahoo’s Big League Stew, fresh off a plane and back playing with his dog in Chicago (not a euphemism) joins the show to recap the World Series.

Kaduk mentioned during Game One that AT&T Park was his favorite park in the country, so we run down some of his other favorites and wonder why he still thinks that Baltimore is better than Philadelphia (I’m a homer, sue me).

Kaduk compares the two World Series ballparks — and atmospheres — and we talk about the feeling in Dallas the morning after. Happy to have been there and more upset about the Cowboys?

The show vacillates between recapping the season and looking into the future, both at the Hot Stove that’s already heating up and a quick look into 2011. Basically, we talk about how in the world THIS Giants team won a World Series and if there’s any chance magic like this can happen again.

We talk about Barry Zito as an albatross and Pat Burrell as a cheerleader. We talk aboutREAD MORE

Call of the Day: Joe Buck Calls The Final Out of the World Series

I’m fascinated by the public’s reaction to Joe Buck over the last 10 or so years. I can see why football fans don’t like him: he’s kinda smug, cutesy and grew up a “baseball guy” whose now calling their game.

Is it safe to assume that baseball people turned on Buck when he became super-saturated at FOX, doing not just baseball but football, the football pre-game show, commercials for beer…and rental cars…and showing up way more on our TVs than the traditional Saturday afternoon baseball announcer ever did?

So is it that? Did people turn on him when he told Colin Cowherd he doesn’t really like baseball anymore? Or is it just the fact that he’s kinda boring in the booth? If it’s the last one, there are about 200 other play-by-play guys who are just as, if not more, boring than Buck. Did you happen to watch TBS’s coverage this season? People lauded Brian Anderson’s work but he’s just as boring as Buck. Don Orsillo? The guy sounds like he’s calling the action in a mausoleum.

YetREAD MORE

DL465: Anniversaries, World Series, Cliff Lee, Dallas Freakout, McNabb Benching & Notre Dame

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Usually on a busy day I’ll put up a Photoshop collage of all the things Nick and I discuss. Today, you’ll have to listen and read. Sorry.

First, it’s my seventh wedding anniversary today. Time flies when you’re (insert joke here).

We talk about the student manager who died at Notre Dame and what the team should have done (and school will have to do) in the wake of this accident. Nick was a basketball student manager so he adds some insight into the situation from that perspective.

We discuss the World Series and how a bunch of good pitchers, rookies and spare parts are a game away from a parade. It’s inexplicable. Can Cliff Lee save the day in an elimination game in the World Series two years in a row? Will it matter for the Rangers?

We talk about Dallas’s football situation and wonder if people care more about the Rangers this week because they knew the Cowboys were already dead. Still, losing to the Jaguars, who are maybe the worst 4-4READ MORE

DL462: Dave Brown Talks MLB Playoffs. Plus, How Jury Duty & CNN Make You Go Insane

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Dave Brown from Yahoo’s Big League Stew joins the show to talk about the MLB playoffs and why 60 of the 64 Phillies blogs out there now hate me. More on that later today, folks.

Does it make you less of a baseball fan if you don’t watch the World Series after your favorite team got knocked out in the LCS? Should Phillies and Yankees fans watch the Series just because it’s baseball, or is it okay for us to be too upset to tune in? Would you go to your ex-girlfriend’s wedding? That’s how this feels.

That turns into a conversation about the localized nature of baseball and if that eventually hurts the ratings for the playoffs. Aren’t most people fans of their team way more often than fans of “baseball” as a sport?

Brown and I talk about some of the big storylines in the World Series, including the fact that the two teams everyone expected to get in are now playing golf and the fact that Bengie Molina is guaranteedREAD MORE

DL460: Tannenwald and I talk Phillies, Newspaper Commenters & More. Then: A Comment on Wash Post & B/R

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Schedules are made to be broken. It might just be the show today, so take your time. Jon Tannenwald talks from the airport about the Phillies loss to the Giants and what it means for the commenters at Philly.com. Are there any lifeboats left?

Plus, after Jon’s gone, I give a little more commentary on Washington Post’s new affiliation with Bleacher Report.

Thanks for listening.

DL458: Cliff Lee, AJ Burnett, Cole Hamels, Wayne Rooney, Sepp Blatter, Dexter Morgan & Don Draper

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The show starts like this:

Me: “The world belongs to Clifton Pfieffer Lee.”

Nick: (groaning sound).

It’s not that we don’t like Lee, and that we aren’t grateful for his time in Philadelphia, but we both have a serious case of Lee Fatigue, so much so that we’ve been rooting FOR the Yankees. Seriously, this is for no other reason than the Phillies fans hammering home how terrible it was to let Lee go. The man has done nothing wrong, but other fans have ruined him for us. It’s an odd feeling, but we don’t think we’re alone.

We preview the games today, including the crazy idea that AJ Burnett still might pitch game four and if Joe Girardi’s name swirling around the Cubs job may have something to do with his decision. There really is no pressure on Girardi right now, so maybe he does go with Burnett. Crazy.

SPECULATION STATION, SOCCER EDITION:

Jon Tannenwald from Philly.com’s The Goalkeeper joins the show to talk about Americans invading the EPL and if the English fans will everREAD MORE

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

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

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.