Hey Hey Tampa Bay!

What a great weekend for sports in the Bay area. A marathon 5 plus hour win for the Rays and then a complete ass whipping by the Bucs over the Kitty Cats from Carolina.

A few observations from the Bucs game.

Jon, you must be reading the blog. I wrote yesterday about the lack of attempting to stretch the field in the passing game, and just like that, there were 5 plays of over 20 yards today. The Bucs came into today averaging a paultry 5.6 yards per attempt, and today, we saw 8.7 yards per attempt. Much improved.

As I've said all season long, this OL is the best we've had in Tampa in 30 years. I was overjoyed today to watch the Bucs wear down and gas the DL of the Panthers in the 3rd quarter. 32 rushing attempts versus 20 passing attempts. No turnovers. Brilliant!

Skids Jackson. He didn't fall down today, but he did run backwards on one punt return and gave up nearly 20 yards. I'm not sold on this kid yet. And, I damn sure wouldn't trust him if we make it to the playoffs to handle return duties.

There are STILL two issues I have serious concern with.

First, clock management. Once again the Bucs used a time out on the first series three plays into the game. What can be so important 3 plays into a game you must burn a timeout?
And, as much as I love Graham, he made a bad judgement call with 53 seconds remaining in the 1st half. The Bucs had 1 time out remaining and he took a screen pass up the east sideline and turned back into the middle of the field instead of going out of bounds. Sure, we ended up with a field goal, but if we had been behind, wouldn't have been a smart play. Suck it up guys.

Second- penalties. STUPID penalties. After every turnover the Bucs created today, the defense was penalized a 15 yard penalty. Granted the taunting call on Jackson was questionable at best, but Javon Haye doing cartwheels? Hey dumbass, you just got over a groin and hamstring injury, what the hell are you doing cartwheels on the field for?

On a final note this week for the Bucs, regular blog readers know the key to victory for the Bucs is to score 26 points or more. Search through the achieve to read my column on that, the numbers speak for themselves.

A few observations from the Rays game.

I'm still tired. I don't know how many of these 1:30am games I can take. A 52 minute inning in the 5th? Josh Beckett. You work so slowly that you might slip into a coma at any point. If your ass ever caught fire, you'd spontaneously combust before you realized what was happening. Speed it up son, It's okay to throw a pitch more than once every 3 minutes.

Oh Papi!! The Big Papi, and I reiterate BIG Papi, has no homeruns through 52 post season plate appearances. The law of averages says the big guy is going to let loose one of these at bats, we better just hope no one is on base.

Has someone locked the doors at the Trop yet? Because I swore the ESPN announcer reported an hour ago that Dustin Pedroia just scored another run. Jesus,this guy is about as annoying as a deer fly eating at your neck when you are flats fishing. The Rays better hope this guy gets some bad chowda today or tomorrow. And then again he's another one of the Red Sox players with this facial hair issue out of control. Grab a trimmer. Get a freaking razor.

Anyone have a dentist on speed dial? Those of us who weren't fortunate enough to be in the Trop last night, were treated to the TBS announcers which enlightened us with the information that BoSox manager Terry Francona chews 72 pieces of Double Bubble Bubble Gum a game. Last night he ran out of gum in the 8th inning. Did he make a call to the pen? Is there reserve gum? Quick estimates, removing spring training and post season games, 162 regular season games times 72 pieces a game, thats 11,664 piece of Double Bubble Bubble Gum for the entire regular season. . Is this a publicly traded corporation? The economy is in the tank, we need investment ideas. And Francona better have a good dental plan.

BJ Upton, are you Andrew Jones? BJ, you have so much talent, but when I watch you play in the outfield, I can't help but see the comparisons to Andrew Jones. Quit reading the papers about how great you are going to be, and just go out and play, and play the ENTIRE game. Sure, you hit two homeruns against the White Sox and you hit a homerun last night and drove in the winning run with a sac fly, but your bonehead shallow play in the outfield makes me nervous. Just embrace what is happening to the Rays right now and management will deal with you in the offseason.

Just a few random observations-

During the AL playoffs, TBS has been hawking this new gloom and doom series coming up on CNN, Planet in Peril, narrated by the most objective "journalist" Anderson Cooper. Another crisis series. Cooper is offering up his attempt at energy reduction by telling folks to turn their lights off at home during Game 4 of the ALCS. (folks should think about Jimmy Carter telling everyone to wear a sweater) Why stop at turning your home lights off? Lets turn them off nationally. Let's turn them off in Fenway. Why not? Pitch by candlelight.
You just want me to turn my lights out so you can send folks in to steal my McCain/Palin yardsign. Let's not forget, Obama said we should inflate our car tires.

And finally, I read a story this week about a divine intervention virgin birth. A female blacktip shark in captivity in a Virginia aquarium gave birth to babies this past week. Marine biologists are amazed that she conceived without any contact with male sharks and delivered a few pups. Female sharks, along with some reptiles like snakes and lizards are able to undergo a process called parthenogenesis, which is basically unfertilized eggs becoming fertilized without the actual process of male fertilization. Has Ellen heard of this?
Scientifically, I understand what happened here. This shark was housed in an aquarium in captivity in Virginia. The shark was housed against it's will. Virginia is a state which is in play this year for the election. Messiah Obama paid a visit to to the tank, laid his hands upon the walls of the tank, and before you know it, viola! live birth without sex. Won't that be a great plan for the democrats to expand their voter registration! Illegals, convicted felons, ACORN registrations and now Divine intervention, Pelosi must be beside herself.