This was an article posted over at yahoo sports' bigleaguestew.com

For those of you not familiar with Yoonew.com, it's a pretty nifty website that allows fans to buy and sell the rights to tickets as if they were shares in a stock market.

Think at the beginning of the season that your team is going all the way? Pick up an option on postseason tickets at a cheap price in April.

Believe your team won't keep it going all the way into October? Sell that option high in July.

In fact, as you read this, the Yoonew exchange is busy with speculation over World Series tickets for the Red Sox (up) Rays (down) Phillies (down) and Dodgers (up). It's fascinating to follow.

Anyway, because I was masochistic curious enough to see a graphical representation of the Cubs' quick fall against the Dodgers, I asked Yoonew to send along their Cubs data from the optimistic beginning of the season all the way to the bitter end. As expected, the end days came so quickly for those foolish enough to invest in the Cubs that even a busted-out employee from Lehman Brothers has to look on the bright side — it could be worse.

The dollar figures you see above were for one (1) premium ticket to the first game of the World Series at Wrigley Field. Asked to describe the last few days of the Cubs' ticket market, Yoonew analyst Claudio Cabrera paints a scene of blue-clad ledge-jumpers:

"Based on chat conversations I had on the blog, many Cubs fans decided before the (Dodgers) series that they were getting out, because either they knew something was going to go wrong, Joe Torre does well against Lou Pinella, or they always play tight when expectations are high.

"Many traders then only needed the Game 1 loss to show them they need not get greedy and just take the profits they had on the site. Many of our users just took the Cubs profit and didn't hold on to their seats before and after Game 1 because they had no reason to — or because they sensed danger as a Cubs fan — and didn't want their money to go to waste."

So, yeah, if you're looking for an easy and safe way to make money, you'll buy into the Cubs early next April, wait until they put it on cruise control in what should be an easy NL Central again and then start to sell once everyone decides in August that a title in the 101st year sure has a nice ring to it.

A big BLS head nod to Claudio Cabrera for sending along those numbers.

So I was watching a Colts game with a buddy this weekend and I decided to do a play by play of the last 5 minutes of this game which can be produced into a movie one day. Absolutely incredible. Check out my blog at yoonewverse.com

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Four minutes and 4 seconds left in the game. I thought it was over. I really did. Not only the game, but our season. If we were losing to the Texans, I knew any Colts fan's hope was dimming - damn near diminished. It doesn't get lower than the Texans. Wait...It doesn't get lower than Sage Rosenfels behind center for the Texans and defeating you.

After watching him pick our “old” defense apart, I began replaying our NFL title in 06. Man those were good memories. Then, I came back to reality - Texans leading 27-10.

I was ready to throw my Manning jersey at the tube. We were about to be three games down to undefeated and “overrated,” Tennessee. It made me sick. Then, it happened. I was about to turn off the game, when I saw a drive reminiscent of Peyton two seasons ago. He drove us all the way to the Houston 7 yard-line and threw a strike to Santi down the middle for a touch-down. 27-17. Four minutes left. No onside kick. Dungy is much smarter than that. I think deep down inside he knew he could force Sage into some mistakes and that we did.

For some unknown reason, Sage still thought we were in August and the Olympics were on when he began attempting flips in the middle of the field, when he got popped, fumbled, and Gary Brackett danced his way into the Texans end-zone with a 68 yard return. Touchdown. 24-20.

You can just see the look on the Texans face – Priceless. This reminded me of their classic let-down against Frank Reich and Buffalo 16 years ago when they were steamrolling the Bills with Moon, until the 2nd half was totally different. But could this have been worse if we completed it? I mean, we came down from 17 in 4 minutes. They had 30 minutes to come back from 34. Do the math.

So the Texans have 2 minutes to drive us into the ground and run out the clock. Rosenfels snaps, scrambles, and Mathis slaps him on the arm, causes him to fumble and Hallelujah, we recovered.

The sideline is going crazy. My family is telling me to keep it down. Manning drives and drives. He then throws a fade into the corner endzone where one of the best receivers in football, Reggie Wayne, has a corner on him like glue and still catches the ball with 1 hand for a TD. It goes to review and you couldn't see this replay enough. It was absolutely beautiful and one of the top catches of the year. 31-27 our lead. Houston...we have a problem.

The Texans have one last chance and we collect a game-ending interception from Rosenfels who threw the ball no-where near a Texans receiver.

A clutch win by a veteran team and one that could be looked upon later this year as the turning point in our season. This week, we have Baltimore at home who's been struggling and expect our first home victory in Lucas Oil. That will take us to 3-2 and with Tennessee on the horizon in 2 weeks, we can easily be back amongst the AFC's elite where we belong.

The Tampa Bay Rays are a great story for baseball, but they are a potential nightmare for bookmakers.

The Rays’ rags-to-riches tale holds great jeopardy for bookmakers.

Jay Kornegay and his staff at the Las Vegas Hilton sportsbook thought nothing of putting the Rays’ World Series odds up at 200-1 before the season.

And why not?

After all, the Rays had never won more than 70 games during their previous 10-year history. They averaged a puny 64.5 victories prior to this season.

But now through 150 games, the Rays are 90-70 and leading the American League Eastern Division.

“Usually we need the favorite in the futures,” said Kornegay, the race and sportsbook director at the Hilton.

That’s the case again this season. The New York Yankees missing the playoffs for the first time in 13 years is bad for bookmakers because they opened the Yankees with very low odds.

Open a team at 200-1 and liability can add up real fast. Every 10 years or so bookmakers get blindsided by a long shot underdog. Nevada sportsbooks lost millions in 1999 when the St. Louis Rams came out of nowhere to win the Super Bowl despite losing their starting quarterback, Trent Green, during preseason.

Before that, in 1991, Nevada bookmakers lost in the $15-20 million range when the Minnesota Twins beat the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. Both were 100-1 shots.

No team draws more money to win the World Series than the Chicago Cubs. So not only are bookmakers rooting against the Rays, but they also are trying to dodge a bullet on the Cubs.

The house has history on their side. The Cubs last won a World Series a century ago. They haven’t even been in a World Series since 1945.

But that doesn’t mean bookmakers aren’t going to do some heavy sweating. The Cubs have a long gory history of choking, but they also have the best record in the National League.

They clearly are the best team in the National League. In a short series, though, the best team doesn’t always win.

Like every sportsbook, the Hilton opened the Cubs with fairly low odds at 12-1. That didn’t keep the large Cubs fan base from backing their team like they do every season. It’s become a rite of passage every spring in Las Vegas – betting the Cubs on the future book.

“The number of tickets and volume on the Cubs has created liability,” Kornegay said.

Anybody for a Rays-Cubs World Series? Now that would be bizarre.

Check out my blog at yoonewverse.com and turn your sports knowledge into money.

Peter King said he said it. So did Deadspin. So I might as well go with it.

Welcome to "Words of Wisdom from Al Davis," also known as Saw 1,2,3,4, and 5 which is coming to thearters later this month.

"I'm healthy. You're going to have to have me around for a while. I'm fine, really. I take all the tests four times a year. I get a checkup on everything, echo and all those things. All the blood work, I do that four times a year. My mother, you know, she lived a long time, 103. I hope nothing happens. Because disease is the one thing, boy, I tell you, it's tough to lick. It's tough to lick those diseases. I don't know why they can't. It bothers me they won't let us use - and it doesn't mean that I'm Republican or Democrat - the stem-cell. I think it could help.''

I'll do a T.O, Drew Rosenhaus on this one and say: "No Comment."

Check out my blog, yoonewverse.com.

http://blog.yoonew.com/2008/10/atleast-someone-in-detroit-can-make.html

Because my pathetic Lions sure can't.

Another butt-whopping by a divisional opponent is not sitting well with me. The Bears destroyed us 34-7. We made Kyle Orton look like Troy Aikman. We couldn't get our hands on Hester and allowed Marty Booker, who's 800 years old to make circus catches.

Take a look at the video. I guess this Roy Williams fan drunk himself to near death and the Detroit police had something to say about it.

If the Yankees are Pedro's "daddy", then Joe Torre can be called Lou Pinella's "padre." That's Italian and Espanol by the way. He literally is.

The fear of many Cubs fans I spoke to entering this series, wasn't fear of the Dodgers' hitting or their young pitching, but the match-up in the dugout. The match-up where Joe Torre has beaten Lou Pinella in handily. Many fans don't even look at trends such as how the managers does against the other lifetime. They just look at the lineup, pitching and blurt out: "We're better." Not so fast.

Now, Lou is a certified Hall of Famer. He was a solid ballplayer, managed the Reds to an unpredictable World Series title, and had successful regular seasons' in Seattle and Chicago. Notice I said "regular season." Ever since the 1990 upset win over the Oakland Athletics, Lou hasn't been able to get his team over the hump. He just hasn't.

Now, he's been a great manager in between his arrival in Seattle and his new job in Chi Town. He's led them to 7 playoff appearances. The Mariners have only been to the playoffs 2 times aside from the Lou era. So we could say that he's the best manager in Mariners history.

But the one thing that always stood in the way of Pinella and his best teams' hopes for a championship has been Joe Torre. Every...single...year. He even came from the AL to haunt him in the NL. Thanks alot Hank.

I'm starting to think Joe secretly takes pleasure in torturing his dear friend. Remember the 2000 playoffs? The ALCS? That was the year Clemens threw that 15k, 5-0, 1 hit complete game shut-out. It was quieter than Chad Johnson in Dallas yesterday in Safeco.

Then came 2001. The Mariners won 116 games. Kudos to Lou on that. They then went down 2-0 to open the ALCS to the Yankees. Doom and gloom was on the face of all Seattle-ans. Is that what you would call them...Seattle-ans? Whatever. After losing the first 2, Lou came out of nowhere and said they'd go to Yankee Stadium and win 2 out of the next 3 games and take the series back to Seattle. He was right about someone winning the next 2 out of 3 and that wasn't Seattle, but the Yankees. They won the series in 5 games and sent Lou packing again.

After Seattle, Lou escaped to Tampa Bay and kept getting beat in the head by Torre. Of course, we can grant Pinella a pass as the Rays were atrocious at that point. But then Sweet Lou left for the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. He made the playoffs his first year and lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a first round sweep for the ages.

Lou entered the 2008 season with expectations to go much farther and the Cubs won the NL Central again. But let me take you to a few emails I got from friends who live in Chicago. One that follows the Cubs and one that follows the White Sox right before the Dodger series began.

The 1st email:

"I can't wait to see the Dodgers destroy the Cubs. The Cubs are just like the Angels, they haven't played a meaningless game in months, and you'll watch how LA does like Colorado and steamrolls through everybody and makes us south-siders happy."

The 2nd email:

"They are a NL West team and they are coached by Joe Torre. Last time Lou faced both, he lost and badly. That gives me enough reason to fret."

Well, I guess both of them were right. The Cubs just looked tight as hell in this series. I'm not sure whether it was overconfidence or they just couldn't deal with the expectations. But, a lot of people want to give Lou a pass for this series. Why? He's supposed to have his team ready to play. I know he can't control Soriano going 1 for 14 or Aramis leaving 19 players on base, but he could have sat them down. He could have blown up on his team or motivated them. What happened to that Lou? "We just have to play better." That's all I heard from him. To me, that's not enough, especially when your reputation shows that if I were to put money, after Game 1, you would've lit a fire under this team like you tore into TB all those losing years.

We saw it with Jones and Tarver. We saw it with Malone and Jordan. We saw it with Kelly and Aikman. Sometimes, someone just has your number. That's exactly what Joe Torre has. And we can't expect the Cubs to just win the division every year. The Reds have solid starting pitching, the Brewers are a force, the Cards still have Albert, and the Astros came on strong at the end.

Next year, as much as you may not like to hear it, will be the beginning of the "Lou on the firing line" whispers arriving and then I can guarantee you see him blowing up consistently throughout the season.

Check out my blog, yoonewverse.com, if you guys ever get a chance. I'll be writing a piece on why the Yankees should pass on Sabathia soon.

If the Yankees are Pedro's "daddy", then Joe Torre can be called Lou Pinella's "padre." That's Italian and Espanol by the way. He literally is.

The fear of many Cubs fans I spoke to entering this series, wasn't fear of the Dodgers' hitting or their young pitching, but the match-up in the dugout. The match-up where Joe Torre has beaten Lou Pinella in handily. Many fans don't even look at trends such as how the manager does against the other. They just look at the lineup, pitching and blurt out: "We're better." Not so fast.

Now, Lou is a certified Hall of Famer. He was a solid ballplayer, managed the Reds to an unpredictable World Series title, and had successful regular seasons' in Seattle and Chicago. Notice I said "regular season." Ever since the 1990 upset win over the Oakland Athletics, Lou hasn't been able to get his team over the hump. He just hasn't.

Now, he's been a great manager in between his arrival in Seattle and his new job in Chi Town. He led the Mariners to 7 playoff appearances. The Mariners have only been to the playoffs 2 times aside from the Lou era. So we could say that he's the best manager in Mariners history.

But the one thing that always stood in the way of Pinella and his best teams' hopes for a championship has been Joe Torre. Every...single...year. He even came from the AL to haunt him in the NL. Thanks alot Hank.

I'm starting to think Joe secretly takes pleasure in torturing his dear friend. Remember the 2000 playoffs? The ALCS? That was the year Clemens threw that 15k, 5-0, 1 hit complete game shut-out. It was quieter than Chad Johnson in Dallas yesterday in Safeco.

Then came 2001. The Mariners won 116 games. Kudos to Lou on that. They then went down 2-0 to open the ALCS to the Yankees. Doom and gloom was on the face of all Seattle-ans. Is that what you would call them...Seattle-ans? Whatever. After losing the first 2, Lou came out of nowhere and said they'd go to Yankee Stadium and win 2 out of the next 3 games and take the series back to Seattle. He was right about someone winning the next 2 out of 3 and that wasn't Seattle, but the Yankees. They won the series in 5 games and sent Lou packing again.

After Seattle, Lou escaped to Tampa Bay and kept getting beat in the head by Torre. Of course, we can grant Pinella a pass as the Rays were atrocious at that point. But then Sweet Lou left for the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. He made the playoffs his first year and lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks in a first round sweep for the ages.

Lou entered the 2008 season with expectations to go much farther and the Cubs won the NL Central again. But let me take you to a few emails I got from friends who live in Chicago. One that follows the Cubs and one that follows the White Sox before the start of the Dodger series.

The 1st email:

"I can't wait to see the Dodgers destroy the Cubs. The Cubs are just like the Angels, they haven't played a meaningless game in months, and you'll watch how LA does like Colorado and steamrolls through everybody and makes us south-siders happy."

The 2nd email:

"They are a NL West team and they are coached by Joe Torre. Last time Lou faced both, he lost and badly. That gives me enough reason to fret."

Well, I guess both of them were right. The Cubs just looked tight as hell in this series. I'm not sure whether it was overconfidence or they just couldn't deal with the expectations. But, alot of people want to give Lou a pass for this series. Why? He's supposed to have his team ready to play. I know he can't control Soriano going 1 for 14 or Aramis leaving 19 players on base, but he could've sat them down. He could've blown up on his team or motivated them. What happened to that Lou? "We just have to play better." To me, that's not enough especially when your reputation shows that if I were to put money, after Game 1, you would've lit a fire under this team like you tore into TB all those losing years.

We saw it with Jones and Tarver. We saw it with Malone and Jordan. We saw it with Kelly and Aikman. Sometimes, someone just has your number. That's exactly what Joe Torre has. And we can't expect the Cubs to just win the division every year. The Reds have solid starting pitching, the Brewers are a force, and the Astros came on strong at the end. Next year, as much as you may not like to hear it, will be the beginning of the "Lou on the firing line" whispers arriving.

Check out my blog over at yoonewverse.com. Thanks fellas.

Bills Seasons Sold Out

The enthusiasm in Buffalo hasn't been this high since the Jim Kelly era. The Bills currently lead the AFC East by 1 1/2 games at a 4-0 clip.

In addition, The Bills are one of the most sough-after teams on yoonew.com this NFL season. They hold a Category A "Team Fantasy Seat" price on the yoonew exchange of $680.00.

The sad part is that I had to hold seasons for them, but gave them up this year because of finances. Now these bastards decide to put up a 4-0 record.

Haslanekiffinbeenfired.com popped up a few weeks ago when the back and forth "you will/won't get fired" mental duel Saw 1,2,3,4,5, also known as Raiders owner Al Davis had going on in his head regarding his "beloved" coach Lane Kiffin.

Finally, after weeks of posturing, Lane Kiffin has been fired. What followed was one of the most entertaining news conferences of our time.

Check out yoonewverse.com for further info on the story.

A new video from Beck and Marbury

The saga continues. This is just pure comedy. Check him out after the bee lands on his lap. It is just hilarious how this guy only really cares about money and nothing else. He acts like he wants to stay in NY, but he doesn't want to be here and has no business here. Donnie please get rid of this T.O. like cancer. That's exactly what he is.