Memo to Lawrence Phillips: You made the call of the day
A couple of random thoughts while watching the Tigers/A’s last night (sorry to go Peter King on you... expect a diary of my colonoscopy next week.).  First, watching a playoff game in Oakland is so comforting.  I can’t exactly pinpoint why, maybe it’s the fact that the sun is still shining for the first five innings, or maybe it’s because it reminds me of being a kid watching Tony LaRussa’s A’s underachieve in the early 1990s.  (How that group of players only won 1 championship is beyond me.)

Second, I’m all for celebrating America, but the theme in the new Chevy spot and Budweiser commercials in general are hilarious.  Budweiser acts like their beer cures cancer and the Chevy commercials proclaiming “this is our country” seem to boast that fact while showing clips of misery in our nation’s history.  This is our country… look at there, my house is floating away and my aunt’s house in California just burned down.  This is our country.  This is Beer. 

Oh, and while we’re on the subject of playoffs and media, kudos to ESPN.com for running the headline “Broom Service!” upon the Twins being swept out of the playoffs by the A’s.  That’s the same snappy headline the site used when the Yankees swept the Sox in 5 games earlier this year (the fact that I know that probably says a lot about me). 

-- Note from reader Chris V. who points out there were 7 baseball stories on sportsline.com’s baseball section this morning.  Of those 7, 4 of them were about the Yankees/Joe Torre, 1 covered the ALCS, 1 about the Twins and 1 about Scott Rolen’s health.  Give it up already, guys.  There are no scapegoats you can create, Joe Torre is staying so find something else to write about.

-- Finally, here’s your Gillete Fusion Call of the Day, brought to you by Cinemax:

Phillips in the I formation, he takes the handoff and he is buried at the line of scrimmage!  Holy Cow!  What a hit on Lawrence Phillips and he… he… he’s running away.  Phillips has a crazed, deranged look on his face and he’s incredulous.  He’s beside himself as he sprints toward the parking lot!  Where's he going?  He’s… he... he just hopped in his Bronco and he is… OH MY GOD!  WHAT THE HELL!  LAWRENCE PHILLIPS IS DRIVING HIS TRUCK ON to THE FIELD!  NO, NO, NO!  THE DEFENSE NEEDS TO GET OUT OF THE WAY.  GET OUT OF THE WAY!  HOLY %$#^, PHILLIPS JUST RAN THEM OVER.  PHILLIPS JUST RAN THEM OVER!  THAT’S GOTTA BE A 15 YARD PENALTY!