Waist-Deep In The Hoopla...

...that's where I'll be the weekend of the 27th during my upcoming road trip to Colorado, thanks to their local baseball team's advancement to the World Serious last night after beating the Arizona Diamondbacks.  I started planning this little excursion long before the Rockies went on their recent tear where they've won 21 out of 22 games, the likes of which no one has seen since our then-mighty Royals won 24 out of 25 games some 30 years ago in '77.  "South Park" was barely a year old the last time I visited Elway country, and I have been wanting to get back there for a while now.  This new development certainly spices things up, and I plan to set up shop at one of Denver's finest sports bars on the night of the 29th, because of the very real possibility of Game 5 of the World Series AND Monday Night Football taking place in Denver on the same night, as the Broncos are scheduled to play the Packers at home.  The Mile High City may never be the same...

And if the Wockies (as they're known in Fudd-ese) do manage to win the whole shootin' match, I'll be in Denver no matter when and where they do it, thus giving me a chance to experience a World Series title celebration in person for the first time since 1985.  This would also help me atone for whiffing on the opportunity to do so last year in St. Louis when the Cardinals won it all, as I out-smarted myself by assuming the series-clinching game was going to be rained-out and deciding to wait and go down the next day, but much to my chagrin, there was no next day!

ALMOST GOT MY GOAT!
Okay, I'm not terribly superstitious, but legend has it that it's bad luck if a black cat crosses your path.  Does that also apply to white goats?  Hope not, because I was driving home just before dark this evening in a rural area just outside my city limits when this rascal comes prancing across the road in front of me.  I kept waiting for the AFLAC duck to come along chasing him...

ELTON JOHN CONCERT POST-MORTEM
According to local news media, Opening Night at Sprint Center went pretty smoothly overall, and the much-feared parking hassles for the new arena never materialized, as evidently all 18,000 Elton John concert attendees negotiated their way around downtown without any problem.  About the only real snag was the long delay for folks to just get in the building itself after the doors opened.  When I saw the long lines on TV, I wondered if security people were doing full cavity searches, but apparently the lines were so long because most people were unaware that there's more than one entrance to the arena, and the doors on the east side of the building were hardly even used.  As for the show itself, Captain Fantastic got excellent reviews, and seems to have given the people their money's worth by playing 26 songs in a Springsteen-length set of two hours, 45 minutes, during which EJ leaned heavily on his '70s repertoire.  The building acoustics got mixed reviews, but overall, the show went swimmingly, and I wish I coulda been there.

MORE ON THE OBAMA FLAP FLAP
Great column by Kathleen Parker this week that states my feelings almost a tad better than I did on the Obama lapel pin hoop-de-doo.  Parker is one of the few conservative columnists that I actually enjoy reading on a regular basis, and she nailed this Obama thing right on the head.

THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST?
Here are Terrell Owens' stats from Sunday's game: 6 catches for 66 yards. Seems only fitting...

SPEAKING OF ANTI-CHRISTS...
Why did NBC feel the need to add the ever-pompous Keith Olbermann to their NFL coverage this season?  I used to like Olbermann when he was on ESPN, and even though Bill O'Reilly is a frequent target of KO's verbal bazooka, he comes off as a smarmy arrogant ass on his current MSNBC show with all his snarky commentary, not unlike Dennis Miller—another guy I used to really like until he wore out his welcome with me when he decided that being a conservative garnered him better TV ratings.  Olbermann adds nothing to the already-shaky chemistry of the NBC Sunday Night Football crew, and is every bit as irritating as a canker sore.

A MISSED OPPORTUNITY
I was hoping the NFL would have coordinated this year's schedule a little better to allow for an all-AFL weekend featuring the original ten AFL franchises playing each other as a tribute to late Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt.  Some teams have already worn their '60s throwback uniforms this season, like Buffalo did last Monday night, and the Jets in their New York Titans uni's on Sunday—wouldn't it have been cool to see Chiefs vs. Raiders, Chargers vs. Broncos (with the latter in their old orange "horses's ass" helmets, as I like to call them), Patriots vs. Bills, etc., all in their old AFL uniforms on the same weekend?  Could've been one helluva tribute to Mr. Hunt...

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS...
...if you go to Lowe's!  During a visit to Lowe's hardware emporium tonight, I couldn't help but notice they already had their Christmas decorations up for sale.  It's two weeks before Halloween, from crimeny's sake!  They might as well leave the shit up year-round...

WHATEVER WILL WE DO, NOW?
I got a chuckle out of the blurb on ESPN tonight about the National Lacrosse League cancelling its 2008 season because of a labor dispute.  So much for George Carlin's favorite "faggot college activity"...