The Czech Republic

Hey, the Cubs had been sucking even more than the White Sox. I, too, am wary of the Cubs doing well, because they usually find a way to mess it up. So yeah, Reinsdorf has both teams performing better than ever. This could be interesting.

Cincinnati is now 2-0 under their new manager, beating St. Louis. The Cubs can narrow the cavernous, expansive, gargantuan gap between them and St. Louis with a win against Milwaukee, bringing it back to 7.5 games back. I never understand when Mariotti and folk say to "aim for the wild card." How do you aim for second place? You should try to come in first.

I care about the White Sox fuck the Cubs, Only reason fans go to Wrigley is because its event and baseball is secondary. If it wasn't for the Tribune owning WGN White Sox would get a fair amount televised games around here. I get tired of Cubs getting all attention but yet the White Sox have better seasons than them. Thats okay cuz the Sox will get all up the Cubs ass this weekend AGAIN!! <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That's the eloquence and coherence you only find from a White Sox fan. As for WGN, they're showing less baseball across the board this year than last, thanks to Comcast taking all the games. Ideally, the White Sox could have CSN all to themselves and the Cubs could get all the national coverage. That's fair.

It's because the biggest part of the Chicago press owns the Cubs. Also, nobody really cares about the White Sox.

That was disgustingly off colour. Oh, relax.

It'd be a first.

That's pretty stupid. I'd rather be John Stockton, Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, or Karl Malone than Darko. Well ideally, I could be one of them, but have the name "Darko" anyway. Even better, I could be all five of them at once. I'd be a little white boy point guard with a weird-shaped head and a penchant for good interviews, all the while hunting little Mexican girls. Yeah. That's livin'.

Carolina has a rivalry with its market. It took them like four years to get TV and radio coverage

Also, you could have Atlanta vs. Nashville in the battle of late 90s southern expansion teams with ugly-ass sweaters and lame-ass names. Dany Heatley has a rivalry with streets. Streets lead the series 1-0.

Calgary stole Atlanta's first hockey team, so I guess that's one. I hope somebody steals their second.

DARKO HAS A RING. HE MIGHT EVEN GET A SECOND! Does that make him better than Reggie Miller?

Therein lies the problem. It's played in America, but that's not where it's viewed. I read some article after the Devils beat the Senators and Canadians were interviewed about whether they were pulling for the team from suburban New York, or the team from suburban L.A. Oh Bettman. You genius. Anyway, I don't think Canadians are treated as foreigners even with the NHL's Americanization. Remember the old North America vs. The World format for the ASG?

How can they be foreign to their own damn sport?!? Maybe it's just me, but I don't look at Ed Belfour, Steve Yzerman, and Joe Sakic as some of the great foreign NHL players. Jaromir Jagr is a foreign player. Mario Lemieux is not. On some old Leafs-Hawks game from '94, I heard local boy Chris Chelios speak with a thicker Canadian accent than some Canadian players. Must've picked it up playing with the Habs, because he didn't have it when he dropped by the Cubs announce booth.

I think, even with the rapid expansion, you still have more North Americans than Europeans. But I'll agree that Generic Finnish Man and Some Branch Of Slavic Dude don't really help the marketability cause. For every Teemu Selanne and Jaromir Jagr there are about twenty wholly interchangeable Eastern Europeans that are just there. There's no reason why they can't be marketed to some extent, though. Esa Tikkannen was pretty good at being a wiseass, IIRC.

First game 7 in 11 years. Well thank you, Bad Boys.

No wait, it's the O'Brien trophy. See! I shouldn't have to know that!

The NBA markets the Whatever The Hell That Goofy-Ass Trophy Is Called better then the NHL markets the Stanley Cup. I still can't comprehend that.

This is going to go down as the Forgotten Finals, I think. Man, I wish the Spurs would win tonight so this can just end already.

I must be the only one who doesn't give a rat's ass about HD. I'm not a TV junkie, my bedroom televisions are usually close to my own age. Yeah, it's cool and all, but it's nothing really essential for me. I'm getting by. That said, my only concern is getting more Cubs games on WGN. I don't understand how the Cubs are making more money broadcasting half their schedule to a much smaller audience.

Dempster had a loooooong 9th, but Cubs win it 4-2 at Wrigley North. Too bad we couldn't hit the goddamn Yankees or we would still have an outside shot at passing St. Louis!

In hockey news, the Blackhawks fired Brian Sutter. As if zero wins were his fault.

What is quadruple A <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Quadruple A is a term given to players who are thought to be good enough to merit promotion from AAA, but not good enough to succeed in the majors. Graman is no prospect. He's 27 right now, and his peripherals are good, but not outstanding. Still, he could be an average major league pitcher somewhere. Or of course, if given a shot in relief he could surprise people. The bigger problem is that people like Francesca look at a player's first few major league games, and when that player fails, they assume the player will NEVER succeed in the major leagues. Minor league statistics are every bit as useful as major league statistics in determining future performance if you know how to translate them. Sean Henn started the season at AA, before advancing to AAA. He struck out 34 in 48 innings at Columbus. That is not a strikeout rate that indicates a pitcher ready to succeed in the big leagues. The problem isn't that Henn is a AAAA pitcher, or that he can not handle the pressure. The problem is that he is simply not ready to pitch at the highest level. If I were the Yankees, I would give Graman another shot. They do not need a world beater, just someone who can keep the game close. That the Yankees' defense is terrible does not help matters. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Here I thought his A key got stuck.

Good to know that the show that inspired the Everest Scale is ushering in more similar programming for ESPN.

Hey look! The NBA did something right that the NHL did wrong! Stop the f'n presses@

No amount of good managing is going to come from Phil Garner, either. He can't handle a double switch.