FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Well, baseball season ended a couple weeks ago, and for the second time in as many years, the Cardinals didn't make the playoffs. Still, for the second year in a row, they've shown they have just as much moxy as any team in the league. Picked to finish fifth or sixth, they ended up ten games over .500, in it until the last month of the season.

 Personally, I'm hoping for the Dodgers to make it to the World Series. I've always respected Joe Torre, and I'd love for him to silence his critics, who say he only won because of the Yankees. Nothing really against the Phillies, I just don't think they're as interesting.

 As far as the American League, I think everyone but Boston wants Tampa Bay to go to the series. It'd be a great story, and I like the composition of the young team. But it's gonna be tough to get by Boston. Having said that, seeing Boston-LA wouldn't be too bad, since we'd get to see how people react to Manny being back in Boston.

Maybe we can get a professional football franchise someday.

Kidding. I think the Rams are heading in the right direction now that Linehan's gone. Benching Bulger was a huge mistake, as was releasing Fakhir Brown.

Go Mizzou. This weekend and next weekend will make or break their season. If we can win tonight, which I think we will, we will be in the driver's seat next weekend. Beating Texas would be huge; even if we lose, if we can play them close, we'll be good to go. Every other team in the North has lost, and the only close team is Kansas, who lost to Southern Florida. As for my prediction for tonight, I'm going to say 45-31 Mizzou.

Finally, I love hockey season. Baseball is by far my favorite sport for its suspense and strategy, but there is no more exciting sport to me than hockey. Football's got lots of action and hitting, but play is stopped every four seconds. Hockey goes for minutes at a time, and nothing's prettier than someone deking a defenseman out of his pads and netting one.

Losing Johnson for the season was a huge blow to the Blues, but I'm hoping they have enough defensive depth to get through this year. Remember, Barrett Jackman was rookie of the year a few years ago, so as long as he can stay healthy, maybe he can find his old form. Pietrangelo needs to stay with the Blues the entire season. Imagine how scary next year's blue line will look with Johnson and an experienced Pietrangelo as the top line. The next Pronger-MacInnis?

The offense looked good last night, with four power play goals. I think this year leaves no room for mediocrity. As the rookies/young guys on the team will either sink or swim, so will the team. Without Oshie, Perron, Pietrangelo, and Berglund doing well, this team has no chance. Boyes, Tkachuk, and Kariya can only handle so much. Hopefully Mason can do well backing up Legace this year; I remember last year Hannu Toivonnen (sp?) started off hot, then sucked after November.

Well, I guess that's all for now. As always, comments/questions welcome.

Sidenote, I didn't have a chance to write any random thoughts, due to time constraints. Next time.