Sports this 'n' that

The Washington Nationals' sweep of St. Louis in the NLCS can be best described by an old axiom:

What goes around, comes around.

Almost exactly a week earlier, the Cardinals dropped 10 on the Atlanta Braves en route to a blowout win to clinch the NLDS. This time, St. Louis starter Dakota Hudson didn't get out of the first inning, as the Nationals rolled a 7 in the opening frame, and withstood the Cardinals' attempts to rally.

Now, the NL East runners-up have to wait a week before the start of the World Series, which begins October 22.

Meanwhile, the Yankees are down, 2-1, after dropping a 4-1 decision to Houston in game 3 of the ALCS Tuesday night. Rain threatens to push game 4 back to Thursday, and really gum up the works. Stay tuned.
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Less than four months after being hired as executive director of Smackdown, Eric Bischoff is out, his 2nd WWE tenure over before it really started.

For all intents & purposes, Bischoff was hired as a liason between WWE & Fox, but there are rumors that Fox wanted Paul Heyman, who instead is shepherding Monday Night Raw. After Smackdown's ratings took a predictable plunge after the October 11 episode, Bischoff was scapegoated out the door, replaced by Bruce Prichard, who was hired a few months before Bischoff. Prichard and Ed Koskey will serve as head writers for Smackdown going forward.

One of the biggest complaints about WWE's stagnating product is that they have, reportedly, more than four dozen writers, few, if any, of whom have been taught anything about the wrestling business, purposely, by Vince McMahon. The simple solution is to shear the fat off the meat, if ya will, and ditch most of these faceless, anonymous scribblers, and let the road agent/producers take over in the writers' rooms. Most of those agents are retired or semi-retired talents such as Shane Helms (aka Hurricane), Chris Park (formerly Abyss in TNA Impact and elsewhere), D-Von Dudley, and Dave "Fit" Finlay, who has been praised for his work with the women's division.

It would also help morale and the confidence of some current talents if they were allowed a significant amount of input in building their characters. Then again, common sense and McMahon severed their friendship a long time ago.
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Another week, and more officiating controversy in the NFL.

One crew, fronted by second generation ref Shawn Hoculi, pulled back on what would've been a pass interference or defensive holding call on Houston in their win over Kansas City, which led to the Chiefs' second straight loss. Picking up the flag on a foul committed against Chiefs TE Travis Kelce, didn't just benefit the Texans.

It also benefited the New England Patriots. Conspiracy theorists will contend that the Patriots will stop at nothing to ensure that they get the #1 seed this year, after winning the Super Bowl out of the #2 seed in the AFC last season, and that owner Bob Kraft is emptying out his fridge, if ya will, offering free cases of Velveeta, Miracle Whip, or whatever else he can find, in addition to greasing a few palms, to ensure the Patriots get every favorable advantage possible, fair or foul.

Monday, Green Bay benefited from a pair of bogus penalties called against Detroit's Trey Flowers (an ex-Patriot, don'tcha know) to eke out a one point win at Lambeau Field. However, the next day, NFL VP/operations Troy Vincent (another ex-Patriot) said that the 2nd foul on Flowers shouldn't have been called. Packer lineman Adam Bakihiati admitted he went to one of the officials and complained about Flowers.

We know coaches---and some players---will politick with the zebras to get calls. In the NFL, it's getting worse and worse with each passing week, and the league refuses to do anything about it, for fear that those conspiracy theories could actually be---gulp----true. We noted last week that current Director of Officiating Al Riveron is in Kraft's pocket, because how else to explain his inaction on several replay challenges regarding pass interference, be it offensive or defensive? The league is supposed to be listening to what their fans want, but certain well heeled power brokers don't want to break up the monotony.

Hmmmm, sounds a lot like the WWE, doesn't it?