Nano Information

Due to a crawling travel through Yorkshire, Northumbria and Scotland, Sports Amnesia missed all the excitement of the weekend of sports in America although did manage to catch a snatch or two of the EPL matches. However, pacing through what was missed, here are some of the stories, helter skelter tidbits both with and without comment and or merit:

Carlos Beltran - nears the 40-40 club to join Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez (what a divergent bunch) -- currently, he's stuck at 38 homers and 36 stolen bases - his last stolen base was August 30th -- legs might be getting a bit fatigued but he's still hitting .317 in September with a pair of homers and 4 ribbies, even though the Astros have done a

Cubs-Marlins - leaving Warwickshire on Friday, this was the most anticipated series of the weekend as hurricane detritus, last season's amazing Cubbie flop and a slew of games in a short span all combined to make what would be, according to the Sports Amnesia offices, the series of the weekend and the season. Meanwhile the Astros, who'd temporarily taken the wildcard slot, lost three of five to spin out of control. As for the Cubs-Marlins series, Wood was slammed in Game 1, Prior won Game 2, Cubs took Game 3 by scoring 5 in the last two innings off the Marlins bullpen and Game 4 was an 11-1 pasting by the Marlins to even those four matches out at two apiece. interesting to note that The Sammy is hitting .211 during this September push. If there were ever a least valuable player out there, Sammy just might be the poster child.

NL Wildcard - Meanwhile, the sneaky San Fransisco Giants by winning only 6 of 10, have managed to push their way, like the head of a cesarean baby, into the top spot of the NL Wildcard, a half game ahead of the Cubs and three games ahead in games played - that is: the Giants have played 144 and the Cubs have played 141. The Astros are still only one back (144 games played) and the Marlins, after after winning a home game in an AL park, are two games back having played only 140 games). You can say what you want about the Padres, only two and a half behind after 143 games, but this is a four team race that no one seems truly willing to grap hold of. Oh yeah, in sharp contrast to the Sammy, The Barry seems to be bringing it on for the playoff push. In September, Bonds is hitting .458 with 3 homers and 6 ribbies in 10 games with a .958 slugging percentage. Ding-a-Ling! Any clowns out there still want to make a case for anybody but Barry for the NL MVP?

The Marlins next four games are against Montreal, in Chicago. The Cubs have two against the Pirates and one against the Reds, the Astros have three at home against the Cardinals and the Giants play three in Milwaukee.

Fighting Irish Fans can breath a temporary sigh of relief. After being humiliated by the Mormons at BYU in an opening season loss, the Irish faced the "mighty" Michigan Wolverines in a match which all who winge'd thought would be the end of poor Coach Tyrone Willingham. Aye, not to be. Instead, as hoped, the Irish prevailed over Michigan to save their season, in a 28-20 must-win victory at South Bend to even their record at 1-1. Perhaps a bigger story still was emergence of freshman tailback Darius Walker, who rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns in the winning effort.

*****

Sports Amnesia College Football Poll

1. Oklahoma (2-0) defeated Houston, 63-13 to remain at one.
2. Florida State (0-1) lost to Miami, 16-10
3. UVA (2-0) defeated North Carolina, 56-24.
4. USC (2-0) defeated Colorado State, 49-0.
5. Georgia (2-0) beat South Carolina, 20-16.
6. California (1-0) game postponed due to Hurricane Ivan.
7. Michigan (1-1) to our great relief, lost to Notre Dame, 20-16.
8. Texas (2-0) defeated Arkansas 22-20.
9. Miami (1-0) defeated #2 Florida State 16-10.
10. Purdue (2-0) defeated Ball State 59-7.
10. Minnesota (2-0) defeated Illinois State 37-21.

New standings:

1. Oklahoma (2-0)
2. UVA (2-0)
3. USC (2-0)
4. Georgia (2-0)
5. Miami (1-0)
6. California (1-0)
7. Texas (2-0)
8. Purdue (2-0)
9. Minnesota (2-0)
10.Florida State (0-1)