Celebrate the Phillies’ win: Have a cheesesteak and a Yuengling

This is tough for a baseball fan to admit, but I completely missed tonight’s half-game conclusion to what turned out to be the final game of the 2008 World Series. I was either finishing my bike ride home or hunting for pot lids in the kitchen when Brad Lidge recorded the final out. I had […]

Phillies follies: Winter caps on the diamond

Until the other night, I had never seen a baseball cap with cold-weather earflaps. But there was Jimmy Rollins on national TV, doing a postgame interview. Although I actually think the cap is cool in a this-is-weird kind of way, it also underscores a major flaw of the baseball playoffs. They come too damn late […]

Hockey night in Canada — tres bien!

One great Canadian ritual is the Saturday evening “Hockey Night in Canada” broadcast. Except for the fortunate few in border states where CBC plays on cable, Americans miss out on the fun. I was thrilled to get a call this evening from my daughter, who with her husband was on her way to the arena […]

Winners and losers at Fenway Park

The Boston Red Sox pulled off another stunning comeback tonight, overcoming a 7-0 deficit to defeat Tampa Bay 8-7. Even if they don’t get to the World Series, the Sox proved they are winners. The losers tonight? Not the Rays, who are still up 3 games to 2 in the American League championship series. To […]

Great online caps source: Ebbets Field Flannels

A great source for baseball stuff is Ebbets Field Flannels, a Seattle-based online retailer that specializes in minor league replica jerseys from days gone by. If you want a Sacramento Solons or Seattle Rainiers jersey from the heyday of the Pacific Coast League, this is the place to go. My wife sports a fun Nevada […]

The grand game of hockey

This is a great time of the year, when baseball is deciding its champion in the playoffs, the college and NFL football seasons are in full swing, and the hockey season is beginning. Tonight, I turn my full attention to hockey, the great Canadian sport that has evolved at the pro level into the most […]

The new-look Tampa Bay Rays

The Tampa Bay Rays dropped the “devil” from their name and redesigned their uniforms for 2008. The result: They had their first winning season, first division title and are headed into their first American League championship series. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The redesigned Tampa cap has a straight-ahead look that, to me, is more […]

Red Sox defeat Angels, thanks in part to blown call

The Boston Red Sox defeated the Los Angeles Angels tonight to advance to the American League championship series against the Tampa Bay Rays. One of the key moments of the game came in the top of the 9th inning, when Erick Aybar missed a squeeze bunt and stranded Reggie Willits between third base and home. […]

The dreaded Dodger, Manny Ramirez

On a TV broadcast on one of the last games of the regular season, there was a quick shot into the stands at Dodger Stadium of a fan wearing an LA skull cap with dreadlocks attached. I don’t know whether it was a home-built job with a wig, or whether the kid wearing it had […]

Brewers vs. Phillies, and bratwurst vs. cheesesteaks

Of the division matchups in the baseball playoffs this year, the only one I can illustrate with a pair of caps I own is the Brewers-Phillies series. I’m already on record in expressing my devotion to the Brew Crew. Their place in the playoffs this year takes me right back to their last appearance, when […]