So the Dolphins beat the Panthers tonight to get their record up to 5-5 with 6 games remaining. Next week it’s the Bills, then the Pats. If the Dolphins win those two, they will win the division and make the playoffs for a second straight year (tell me that in week 3 of last year and I’d think you’re absolutely insane). To be fair, I wouldn’t mind if the Dolphins could win a little prettier. Tonight it was only assured after the last flailing pass of Jake OfTheMan fell to the ground as time expired. The Dolphins had a chance to put it away 45 seconds earlier when Tony Sparano decided to go for it on 4th and 3 at the 27 instead of kick a field goal.

Now I’ve read Gregg Easterbrook plenty, and I agree with his “You should go for it a lot more than conventional offenses do and practically never punt” strategy (to a point) but I think in the Dolphins’ situation tonight, they best play was to kick the 45 yard field goal, make it a 10 point game, and end the game that way. Sure, a Carolina block could tie it up, but up 7, you’re not going to lose the game, simply send it into overtime. A missed field goal gives Carolina 7 yards, but given the need to drive 75 yards, saving 7 yards isn’t that huge of a help (under 10% of the remaining field, I always was good at math). However, it worked out for the best even though the Dolphins didn’t get the first down.

That doesn’t mean that I avoided my weekly heart attack. Carolina drove down the field and was about 27 yards out with 6 seconds to go before OfTheMan threw a heave into the end zone that had no chance of being caught by a Panther as soon as it was released. The Dolphins will do their best to try and snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory, and a few times this year (Indy, New Orleans), they’ve succeeded.

In my quest to find an adequate viewing facility for the Dolphins game tonight, I spent about half of my afternoon trying to find a sports bar near my work that had High Definition TV, and a sports-like atmosphere that I could heckle my two co-worker Panther fans. I didn’t realize it was going to take me 15 phone calls. If you’re running a sports bar, why would you not have the most top of the line product out there? Why not just make a sports bar with a bunch of radios that let you listen to the game? You know why? Because nobody wants to enjoy football on a medium of technology when there’s a much better medium that’s easily available. I’m not asking for much, I have HD service in my house (and NFL network, could’ve just made it easy), and it’s not like there’s any shortage of TVs in many sports bars, but almost a dozen flat out said “no” when I asked “This may sound silly but do you guys have HDTVs?” another three failed to answer. Finally we were given a sports bar on a recommendation, but upon arrival, there was no game audio. *sigh*

In other news, the Coyotes took a game from the Wild last night and lost in OT to St. Louis tonight. A 3 point road trip, which I would call a success. The team really needs to succeed on the ice if it is going to remain in Phoenix for more than 3 years. I, unfortunately, don’t think that Glendale is a long term solution for the Coyotes franchise.

Apologies for the lag in between posts, I’ll do my best to get one out on Saturday as well.

Johnny Damon after tweaking his leg and pulling himself out of Game Six of the 2009 World Series.

I’m sorry, Yankees fans. I love to watch you suffer. Maybe it’s because I grew up in Boston. Maybe it’s because I’m an Orioles fan. Maybe it’s a combination of the two. Maybe it’s the 1996 ALCS. Hint: It’s the last one. It’s presently 4-1 in the Top of the 5th and the Yankees are 12 outs from winning title number 27. It’s the ultimate case of schadenfreude… I love watching New Yorkers suffer. I take solace in the fact that there is a 9 year old kid somewhere in New York asking his father what it was like for the Yankees to win the World Series, ignoring the fact that I’ve never seen (any of) my team(s) win a championship, and I’m nearly 25. I’d love to rationally explain why I hate this team so much but I just can’t put it into words. It’s the Yankees. It makes sense to me.

7-1 now. Congrats to the Yankees on #27. That’s all I have to say about that.

So my coworker Kipp would not let me get by without posting this, but it’s only fair. Purdue got absolutely blanked by Wisconsin today, 37-0. It was horrendous. On Halloween, nonetheless, I suppose it was simply a preparation for the amount of gore that I’d see later in the day. There was nothing positive to take away from it. Purdue football at its ugliest. Even I turned it off, and I watched all 60 minutes of the Dolphins losing to the Jaguars 62-7 in the playoffs a few years ago. I made my parents sit through a 18-2 Blue Jays over the Red Sox win a few years ago because of the chance of comeback. And even I couldn’t take any more Purdue football today.

In less depressing news, the Phoenix Coyotes are starting the season on an absolute tear. 18 points through 12 games, putting them anywhere from 2nd to 6th in the conference depending on the night. The main reason for this has to be the spectacular play of Ilya Bryzgalov, who has 3 shutouts already this year. We’ll see if it continues.

Dolphins vs Jets tomorrow, big game for the Fins.