the mad sports man

homer no-no in pittsburgh homer bailey of the cincinnati reds just put the finishing touches of a no hitter, shutting out the pittsburgh pirates 1-0.  bailey threw  115 pitches, 74 of them strikes.  congrats to homer bailey.

washington and atlanta in the nationals and braves are already in the playoffs after the braves wrapped up their spot with a win over miami.  the nats clinched their spot a few days ago.  they will battle for the east division.  oh yeat the nats are making their first postseason trip since moving from montreal to washington in 2005.

border security on tv national geographic has a program called border security based on work at three different stations - vancouver international airport, douglas land border and one other (i forget which).  it's interesting the work that is done from people coming into canada illegaly to suspicious bags.  good show i think.  check it out.

giants win west - national league style the giants won the n.l west with an 8-4 win coupled with the dodgers losing 6-0 to the reds.  like the reds, the giants won it with 10 games to spare.  the leads in the remaining four divisions are within 6 games.  thats now two divisions down and 4 divisions and four wild card spots left..

cincy takes n.l. central with a 6-0 win over the l.a. dodgers, the cincinnati reds are the first team to win their division, winning the n.l. central with 10 games to spare.  one dow and 5 divisions and 4 wildcards left.  let the run to the playoffs begin.

happy autumnal equinox as of 8:49 am this morning (almost half an hour ago)  fall began.  doesnt feel like it at all.  it has been summerlike the last two or three days and its supposed to get to 25c today.  with october almost here, it should feel like fall soon.  the pennant races in baseball are heating up.  october baseball lurks.

a good couple of days coming up looking forward to the next couple of evenings.  tomorrow night is the season premiere of the rick mercer report.  tomorrow's episode has him in sylvan lake flying around with water jet packs and in vancouver at a science fair.  check out www.rickmercer.com for more info.  i think its got the correct info for tomorrow's episode.  on wednesday it's the season premiere of dragons den AND survivor phillipines.  you can check out www.cbc.ca/dragonsden for that and www.cbs.com for survivor.

1987 canada cup revisited the lsat three nights (tonight included)  tsn has been showing the 1987 canada cup.  wow 25 years already.  players like larionov, fetisov, krutov makarov, semenov, mylnikov, and gusarov playing gretzky, messier, tocchet, lemieux, fuhr, coffey et al.  pretty exciting series.  all three games finished 6-5.  soviet union won game one in o.t., canada won game two in double overtime and won game three in regulation.  quite the series then.

opening sunday in NFL its the opening sunday in the NFL.  13 games today capped of with teh pittsburgh steelers in denver to play the broncos.  tomorrow is the annual monday night football doubleheader - featuring cincinnati bengals at the baltimre ravens at 5pm and the san diego chargers at the oakland raiders at 8:15. this past wednesdat the dallas cowboys beat the new york giants 24-17 to open the season.

more summit series along with moose and squirrel finished watching game four of the summit series with therussians winning 5-3 in vancouver 9after canada won game two in toronto 4-1 and tying at four in winnipeg - that one was a good one by the way)  the soviet union contolled the game here.  the series took a two week hiatus before resuming on the 22nd in moscow and the luzniki ice palace. after picking this up on tuesday, i finally started watching rocky and bullwinkle show.  i have the complete series,lastiung 5 seasons from 1959 to 1964.  i remember watching the show on reruns in the a few years back.  saw it in hmv on tuesday and decided to get it. one episode done and 162 left.

punt return into the record books chris williams of the hamilton tiger cats just returned his 6th punt return for a touchdown.  gizmo williams, keith stokes and one other player had five in a season.  chris williams still has half a season left to add to it.  argos currently lead 7-6 (hamilton missed the convert). update:  toronto 33 hamilton 30.  edmonton at calgary is on now with calgary up 7-0

rider bombing and 40th anniversary beginning on labor day sunday the saskatchewan rough riders massacred the winnipeg blue bombers 52-0.  nuff said there.  all riders today. today marks the 40th anniversary of game one of the summit series between the soviet union vs canada.  game one was in montreal and the former ussr won 7-3.  canada had an early 2-0 lead, but the longer the game went the russian controlled the game and skated circles around a canada team that looked tired by the end.