Press Coverage: October is Great for Sports, Favre, Blogs & Charity

Baseball playoffs are upon us, and with the Twins hosting the Tigers in a one-game set tomorrow night, we’re even getting bonus baseball in October. There’s been debate that other months might be better than October on the sports calendar. People point to March, what with all the Madness. But there’s no football in March. People look at January, with the NFL playoffs, the Super Bowl (sometimes), college bowl games that actually matter and basketball and hockey in the thick of their seasons.

For me, and any rational sports mind, there’s no better month than October. The NFL is in full swing. College football has started its conference schedule and games are really starting to matter. Hockey season has started and basketball season is just behind. Even college basketball has Midnight Madness in October. Surely, the battles of October are the highlight, from the first round of the playoffs to the World Series. Yes, I know that the World Series can actually go to November 5th this season – should be a blast if two northeast teams, or even Colorado, make the Series – but the World Series starts in October this year, and that’s good enough to make the month the best on the sports calendar.

Pardon my somewhat waxing nostalgic there. After all, it was just a year ago that the Phillies won the World Series, and despite their up-and-down season in 2009 and complete lack of faith in their bullpen, the defending champs actually head into this year’s playoffs with a better record than last year’s World F. Champions. The Phillies host the Rockies to start TBS’ coverage of the postseason with a 2:37 p.m. local start this Wednesday. That’s just after noon in Denver. But with three games on Wednesday and Thursday, one series has to draw the short straw each day.

It just so happens, that MLB and TBS decided the Phillies-Rockies series will get that straw both days. The defending champions get two home games in the middle of the afternoon to start their playoff defense of the title. Talk about respect. TBS and MLB have decided that the AL East is a far bigger draw, putting either the New York or Boston game at 6:07 p.m. on Wednesday, depending on whether or not the Yankees pick the short or long series. (Note, it makes little sense for the Yankees to give their opponent an extra day of travel and rest, so expect the Yanks to start on Wednesday). The Dodgers will host the Cardinals at 9:37 p.m. that night.

Regardless of which day the Yankees play, it’d be difficult for the Red Sox and Angels to play a game in Anaheim at 11:37 a.m. local time, so the league had to put the Red Sox in the 6:07 p.m. or, as they have for game two on Friday, the 9:37 p.m. slot. But there are only two games on Friday, so the Yankees are guaranteed at least one 6:07 p.m. start time. The Phillies and Rockies – or more specifically their fans – are getting hosed. If you’re in one of those cities, and you don’t work from home, let’s hope you have an understanding boss. Or hop on Twitter, where I’ll be live-tweeting the game, I’m sure.

Record Breaking Favre
I’m sure by now you’ve heard that ESPN2’s SportsNation is planning to break the World Record by saying the name Favre more times than any other show in history. According to reports, the people at Guinness World Records have been looking through tapes to find the current record. How is this even something they’d waste their time with? Aren’t there giant pizzas to measure or hot dogs to devour? Why would two people on a cable sports show saying a name warrant validation by the Guinness book of records?

And how is this going to play out? Will SportsNation stop their normal conversation every few seconds with a ‘Favre Bell’ that rings and both hosts have to say the name before going back to whatever actual sports content – or whatever they talk about on that show – they were discussing?

Could this be a Smurf situation? Where they change every verb, adjective and adverb to the word Favre? I’ll give it a try. This is the Favrest Idea I’ve ever Favring Favred. Whoever thought of this should be Favred. Clean out your Favre. You’re Favred. There. What do I win?

Schefter Defending His Turf
We know that ESPNers aren’t supposed to go back and forth with one another, especially on the world-wide tweets, but kudos to Adam Schefter for calling out Rick Reilly this morning:

On April 10, ESPN's Rick Reilly said if the Rockies made the playoffs, he'd tongue bathe the capitol dome in Denver. Time for a tongue bath. There's really no reason, no good reason, that Denver's capitol dome now shouldn't be the shiniest capitol dome in the country.

Schefter, you know, worked as a reporter for the Denver Post for 15 years, the same paper that once employed Reilly. A native New Yorker, it’s good to see Schefter hold the Coloradoan accountable. As I said in reply today on Twitter, I’d happy throw in $20 bucks for the crane rental. I’ll even operate it for Reilly, if he’d let me.

Blogs with Balls
We’re less that two weeks away from Blogs with Balls 2.0 in Las Vegas. You may have seen Shoals’ interview with Jalen Rose over at the Baseline. Consider this my plug. Go. Get a ticket and go. ESPN kicked in a ton of money to give those in attendance a solid price break and the tickets for the event are definitely affordable. The flights aren’t bad and the hotel rooms are dirt cheap if you know where to look. And The Sporting Blog will be all over the joint. I’m moderating a panel. Shanoff is moderating a panel. Shoals is on a panel – and if you were at the first one, you know Shoals is an entertaining panelist. Even former TSBers Spencer Hall and Chris Mottram will be there. Tell them to buy you a drink on SB Nation’s tab.

Oh, and speaking of free drinks, there is an after party at ESPN Zone on Thursday October 15th. Friday the 16th, I’m hosting a charity poker tournament at the Hard Rock. 100-person tournament, including many of the top sports bloggers in the country (some of the names above included) and 10 or more of the top poker professionals in the country. And it’s for charity. Annie Duke, Jen Harman, Marco Traniello, Jeff Madsen, Joe Sebok, Karina Jett, Chip Jett, James Van Alstyne and Layne Flack are scheduled to play, with hopefully more names to come. The folks at Carbon Poker have generously underwritten the cost of the event so we can donate as much money as possible to Ante Up for Africa – with cash and prizes for the winners as well. For more information, click here, or email me if you want in.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.