MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / October 13, 1999

Thoughts that floated through my mind while watching the Monday night snoozer between the Jaguars and the Jets…Looks like the Cleveland Indians go to the same school as the Saints do on how to preserve leads. Up 2-0 in the American League Division Series, theIndians pitching went south like a pack of migrating geese. At least thebirds will be in a nice, warm place for the winter. The Indians will have acold one.

Speaking of the Indians, in Game 5, they walk Nomar Garciaparra to load the bases for Troy O’Leary. O’Leary follows with a grand slam. A fewinnings later, they again walk Garciaparra to bring up O’Leary with runners on first and second. O’Leary hits a three-run shot to give Boston a 11-8lead. Do you sense a pattern here? (They did finally walk O’Leary in theninth inning – after Garciaparra had doubled in a run.)Hey, at least Boston could have blamed the Curse of the Bambino. What’sthe Indians’ excuse? And did you notice something about the respective League Championship Series? The furthest west team is Atlanta. But hey, aren’t the Falcons inthe NFC West in football? Let’s see, first it was the Raiders. Then the Rams. Now the expansion teamends up in Houston. Do you think the City of Angels could write the book onhow to lose franchises? It looks like the goons who were in the galleries at the Ryder Cup have moved down the coast to Philadelphia. What kind of lowlifes cheer aplayer lying on the field not knowing if he is paralyzed or not like the Eagle fans did when Michael Irvin was injured Sunday? The Eagles finally won a game this season. Unfortunately, some of their fans are still losers. Speaking of Irvin’s injury, when is someone finally going to do something about the concrete that passes for artificial turf at Veteran’s Stadium? This is the same field that saw Wendell Davis blow out both of his knees.

Football is a dangerous enough sport without it having to be played on dangerous surfaces.

Want a bit of irrelevant irony? In 1991, LSU lost to a Florida team (Florida State) in a downpour at Tiger Stadium. The next day, the LSU Band went tothe Superdome to perform for a Saints game. The Saints lost to the Bears,20-17. Eight years later, LSU lost to another Florida team (Florida) in adownpour at Tiger Stadium Saturday. Sunday, the LSU band went to theSuperdome to perform for a Saints game. The Saints lost to the Falcons by,you guessed it, 20-17.

Return To Sports Stories

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher