All right, guys, let's talk about Units

What does this post have to do with Michael Kramer's infamous declaratory faux pas from the first floor meeting of our sophomore year in Taylor Tower (nerds!)? Not a damn thing. But since this post has no unifying theme, topic, or sense of fashion, I decided to title it with one of my favorite inside jokes from our personal lexicon. Deal with it.

First of all, I avoided talking about the Tigers during their KimProbable run because I'm a superstitious bastard and an idiot. Just a couple of bullet points after the fact, about shit I thought or think or both now that everything is said and done:

• All that "Team of Destiny?" bullshit the media was spouting before the World Series began really pissed me off. I feel like it was cheapening the accomplishment the Kitties made in going from abysmal to AL champs -- it was good pitching and timely hitting, which is the exact formula that, let's see, yes, EVERY TEAM THAT EVER GETS TO THE DAMN FALL CLASSIC USES. Claiming that it was some kind of divine plan is a cop-out that lessens what the team was doing. Also, it looked totally stupid once the games actually started being played.
• Thanks to Todd and Evan for asking how I felt about the Series. I said it to them and I'll say it again: I appreciate the ride, and it was unexpected (I was just hoping they'd be .500 this year and play meaningful games late in the year) and a helluva lot of fun, but ... well, it would be one thing if they made it that far, but their best foot forward, and just gotten beat by a better team. But boy oh boy did that not happen. The guys pitched and played like crap after a friggin' full week of rest, and let an inferior team sneak in and lay the smack down on them. Ridiculous errors, a return to their free-swinging ways of the regular season, and an astonishing amount of bad luck conflated to bog the Tigers down in a melange of strikeouts, overthrowns, and slips. So, I'm glad they got this far, and I enjoyed it. But they were probably better than St. Louis, and the number of times you get to the World Series and are relatively clearly better than your opponent are few and very far between.
• It was, like, the lowest-rated World Series of all-time. No one watched, and I've noticed a few ESPN shows try and talk about this fact. Mike & Mike were marvelling at the low ratings going into Game 5, and said that if baseball has gotten to the point where no one will watch if the Yankees or Red Sox aren't involved, then that's pretty sad. Well, I agree, but I would also say that if we have indeed gotten to that point as a baseball culture, the blame should go squarely on the metaphorical shoulders of the WorldWide Tyrant, the media giant most responsible for SHOVING THE RED SOX AND YANKEES DOWN OUR THROATS FOR OVER FIVE CONSECUTIVE YEARS. People are stupid, and an astonishing number will watch what ESPN tells them to watch and think what ESPN tells them is true (which is one reason why LD's constant analyzation of The Network's college football coverage is so vital), and you idiots tried to make the entire sports world jack off all over the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry for years on end. Do not be mistaken into believing that YOU aren't responsible for this monster.

There will be no Michigan-Ohio State talk on here -- at least not from me -- until and if we get to the week of the game and both teams are undefeated. Until then, I am mum. Except to say that yes, I think the two teams are relatively clearly the two best in the country.

Going into the season I firmly believed that Louisville was a better team than West Virginia. After the way the Cards have played the last several weeks and the Bush injury and the receivers and everything, I have to say that I think the 'Eers are gonna win somewhat comfortably Thursday night. I think it will be very interesting to see what the winner of that game will do in the polls if they win it in a semi-blowout.

Lastly, fun Halloween-ish stuff, from The 614 and the Passion of the Weiss. "And Frog." NOW GIMME SOME CANDY.