Monday Morning Ramblings 2005, Issue XXIII

Michael Jackson not guilty on all ten counts. Wow, big surprise. Another rich defendant gets off, another D.A. is pissed and the beat goes on. I'm sure if I was charged with child molestation that people would be cheering for me during my trial.

Tale of two spring football leagues: over the weekend, the two spring football leagues that pigskin addicts have to hold them over until NFL Training Camp begins held their championship games. The Arena Football League held ArenaBowl XIX and it was a huge success. The game came down to the last play and was as exciting as the previous week's conference championship games. It was also the first ArenaBowl to be help at a neutral site: the Thomas and Mack Center in Vegas while the teams playing were Colorado and Georgia. The league, its teams and players as well as NBC have to be thrilled with this past season. Even in light of the tragic death of Al Lucas of the Los Angeles Avengers, the league had great success on and off the field this year.

On the flip side, the World Bowl XIII was held in Holland over the weekend to determine the NFL Europe League Champion. Although this game also came down to the last play, it just was a boring style of football. Watching the games that the NFL Network played during the season, it just didn't do anything for me. I rank the excitement of play up there with the NBDL and watching paint dry. Sure, NFL squads love the league because it's their minor league system if you will but there is a reason AAA baseball isn't on TV regularly.

One interesting thing I did not know is that field goal attempts of over 50 yards, if successful, count for 4 points. Very interesting rule but I'm not sure how much it comes in to play.

Afleet Alex, well, just give him horse of the year right now. What a dominating performance is the giant-killer 1 1/2 mile Belmont Stakes. Tom Durkin couldn't have called it better as A.A. did pass Giacomo like he was standing still. I had to watch a replay of the race just to see where the horse came from. Congrads to the local connections, both trainer Tim Ritchie (Ross) and jockey Jeremy Rose (Bellefonte) have local ties.

Off to Belmont again for the Breeders' Cup Classic? Only time will tell. One thing is for sure, at least according to the Daily Racing Form, Afleet Alex's next start will be the Haskell Invitational at Monmouth on August 7.

Who would have thought that the Pirates would be entering their interleague series with the Yankees actually having one less loss than the Bronx Bombers. The Pirates nearly swept the lowly Devil Rays over the weekend and previously took 2 of 3 of the Baltimore Orioles earlier in the week. They truly are playing the best ball the city of Pittsburgh has seen in quite some time.

Talk to you all next week, I'll have stories from my trip to Indianapolis and the United States Grand Prix. I'll also be taking in an Indianapolis Indians game, they are the AAA affiliate of the Pirates.