It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags collumn

Chags to Dirt Dogs for coming up with this great song. If you know Tubthumping then you'll enjoy this song;
We'll be singing
When we're winning
We'll be singing

He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down

Pissing the game away
Throwing to the wrong base

He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
His agent tries to remind him of the good times
He's been in games that remind him of the better times:

"Oh Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe, Derek Lowe..."

He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down

Pissing the game away
Throwing to the wrong base

He drinks a whisky drink
He drinks a vodka drink
He drinks a lager drink
He drinks a cider drink
He sings the songs that remind him of the good times
He sings the songs that remind him of the better times:

"Don't cry for me, George Steinbrenner..."

He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down
He gets knocked down but he gets up again
You're never going to keep him down

We'll be singing
When we're winning
We'll be singing




Chags to me for continueing my climb on the WP.com college football Pick'em, I miss a few games and I still climb the ladder, I'm now in third place.




Chags to Hopkins for beating De La Hoya




Zags to the Yankee fans on my floor for rubbing in the fact that the Yanks won yesturday, when we win this series Sox fans will be classy and not rub it in your face




ZAGS to Yahoo for saying that the Cardinals have clinched their division when their magic number is 1, wow amazing Yahoo is incorrect




ZAGS to Bonds, we know I hate you so stop hitting the home runs.




ZAGS to Yankee Announcer Michael Kay, I have a ton of respect for you and I think you are one of the top 5 announcers in the game, but Bonds won't hit 900 home runs.




By the way the top 5 are Joe Buck, Sean McDonnough, Jerry Remy, Don Orsillo and then Michael Kay




Zags to our Ryder Cup team, Europe is up 11-5, this is pathetic, another great dream team




Now let's move on to Football Central




Last week I got 12 picks correct; here are my picks for this week




DAL over CLE
HOU over DET
GB over CHI
TEN over IND
CAR over KC
NO over SF
WAS over NYG
STL over ATL
DEN over JAX
PIT over BAL
SEA over TB
NE over AZ
SD over NYJ
OAK over BUF
CIN over MIA
MIN over PHI




That's the blog for today, leave some so I know that people are reading this.
Take care,
~Chag

What are the Rangers thinking

First off before today's blog I want to wish a very happy birthday to one of my readers, Happy Birthday Anna. now on to today's Blog



Happy Tuesday, and before last night I've never heard of Monday night Fights. Last night in Oakland looked like a scene from Monday Night Raw as ball players were throwing chairs into the stands. I've looked at my ticket from Fenway and it says beware of flying bats and balls that may fly into the stands, but nowhere does it say beware of flying Chairs from maniacs. I'm sorry but i don't care what a fan says or does to you but Rangers reliever Frank Francisco was out of line when he tossed a chair into the stands sending a fan to the hospital. Baseball hasn't seen anything like this since game 3 of the ALCS when the infamous bullpen fight happened at Fenway. Network Coliseum looked like Madison Square Garden and it wasn't baseball that I was watching but wrestling. If I didn't know better I would have thought that the lady who was hit was being paid by Vince McMahon and the person throwing the chair was Triple H. I can't believe that Joe Morgan had the gaul to say that it's the stadiums fault for having the stand right above the bullpens. Thankfully the Rangers have a very classy owner as Tom Hicks was quoted as saying, "On behalf of the Texas Rangers, I want to apologize for the conduct of some members of our club last night in Oakland. Their behavior, especially the injury to a fan, was unacceptable. Even in a difficult or abusive environment, players should never be provoked into such actions. I have been in contact with the Commissioners' office to determine the next appropriate steps." The Rangers were complaining about how the fans were acting, God this kills me to say this but do the Yanks ever complain when they come to the best ball park, Fenway, and get heckled. Or the Cubs when they go to Busch Stadium. Fans are apart of the game and these teams should be happy that they have fans, you have a Marlins game that happened to take place in Chicago and nobody came. Or the classic Yankee game from last Thursday when about 500 fans showed up for the start of the game. And Oakland announced that if any fan went onto the field then Oakland would forfeit the game, what is up with all the forfeits in the game today. The Yanks wanted a forfeit when Tampa Bay decided to stay with their families during a natural disaster but this is insane. The last forfeit I remember is when the dodgers had to forfeit because the fans were throwing food, drinks, and the Nomo bobblehead dolls onto the field, after a blown call. There must be a feud that we don't know about between the A's and the Rangers because last year a fan threw a cell phone at Carl Everett, even through he needs to have a few things thrown his way but anyway it seems that this is a feud that has taken on a whole new meaning. I didn't realize that fans in Oakland have to dress like Raiders fans to protect themselves from flying chairs.




Thats the blog for today, leave some
~CHag

It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags collumn

Greetings it's Sunday so let's recap the week with Chags and Zags




Zags to the New York Yankees for attempting to get easy wins over the D-Rays because they were stranded in Florida. Godforbid they wanted to stay with their families during a hurricane. Last I checked doesn't Georgie have a house in Tampa, he grew up there plus the Yanks have spring training there. A huge Zag goes your way Yanks.




Zags to my English teacher for sending me this email
"All this is probably more than you ever imagined possible from writing. Yet you can witness portions of it, and when you do, your writing will improve tremendously, which is saying much since you right well already."




Chags to the Patriots for winning yet another game, Dolphins record here we come




Zags to the Cubbies, won't you fall out of the race already, go and believe in your horriable, pathetic Billy Goat curse.




Zags to the Cardinals for dropping a few games this past week, but they're still in first.




Chags to Sanders for coming out of retirement to play football, he's one of the few who can retire and come back and still play well. Unlike somebody like MJ who tried to come back with the Wizards and well we know how much that flopped.




Chags to Notre Dame for their upset over Michigan.




Zags to the NHL, I'm guessing there won't be any hockey this year, go AHL and go Manchester Monarchs




Zags to SI for putting Schilling on their latest cover. We're on a streak so you use your curse against us, when did the Yanks buy you.




Chags to Kuznetsova for beating Dementieva to win the women's US Open




zags because nobody has heard of them.




Good luck to Federer as he takes on Hewitt in the finals today




Zags to Bonds for breaking the single season walk record, we know I hate him that's why it's a zag.




Well that's the blog for this Sunday, leave some
~Chag

Since when does ESPN step in to demand a forfeit for the Yanks

Below is a column by espn.com's Jayson Stark

It's always fashionable to blame the Yankees for just about anything and just about everything these days. Traffic. Inflation. Bad haircuts. Whatever.


So why not the weather?


Why not a hurricane?


Why not a headline that looked something like this:


HURRICANE FRANCES RAVAGES FLORIDA. STEINBRENNER BLAMED.


OK, it never quite came to that this week. But it did come to this:


DEVIL RAYS DELAYED BY HURRICANE. YANKEES DEMAND FORFEIT.


If you weren't paying attention, that looked like the clear seven-word summation of what happened Monday at Yankee Stadium, when the Tampa Bay Devil Rays failed to show up on time for a doubleheader without a valid note from their mothers.


But of course, it's more complicated than that. And as best we can tell, after hearing all sides in this fiasco, it isn't the Yankees who deserve to take the heat on this. Or the Devil Rays.


It's the poobahs at Major League Baseball, who must have been the only people on the planet not watching the Weather Channel over the weekend.


Does anybody out there really believe the Yankees are so desperate to hold onto their lead over the rampaging Red Sox that they tried to squeeze a forfeit out of a team caught in a hurricane?


Come on, friends. George Steinbrenner may believe that the goal in life is to go 162-0 and sweep the World Series by a score of 57-1. But he isn't that inhumane.


All the Yankees were really doing, in requesting that forfeit ruling Monday, was asking the commissioner's office, in that diplomatic way of theirs: Why the heck were we forced to wait around all day for a team that had no more chance of arriving in New York by 3 p.m. than it did of swimming from Tampa Bay to the Bronx?


Why were they there? Not because they wanted to be. They were there because MLB's COO, Bob DuPuy, assured them repeatedly all weekend that the Devil Rays would show up in plenty of time to play.


As early as Friday, Yankees president Randy Levine told ESPN.com, the Yankees called the commissioner's office and said: "There's a hurricane coming. What do you want us to do (about Monday's doubleheader)?"


"If they had just told us Friday, 'The Devil Rays are not coming,' all of this would have been avoided," Levine said.


But that isn't what the Yankees were told. They were told by DuPuy on Friday they should prepare to play, Levine said. They were told the same thing on Saturday. They were told again on Sunday. They were reassured yet again Sunday night, despite forecasts that showed the storm had slowed in the Tampa Bay area.


So all the Yankees did was what they were told. They prepared to play. They showed up to play.


And when game time rolled around (a couple of different game times, in fact) and there was nobody to play, they got slightly annoyed. Can't blame them.


There should have been a simple announcement Sunday, if not earlier: "The health and safety of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and their families is more important to us than any Labor Day doubleheader. Therefore, we're postponing both games." How complicated is that, huh?


But what were they doing there? Why were they told to play? Why did MLB even think it was possible to play? That still isn't clear.


DuPuy didn't return two calls for comment. But MLB spokesman Rich Levin says baseball was assured by the Devil Rays "that they would be there on time." Which is interesting, since the Rays themselves say they never had any intention of leaving until the storm had passed and they knew their homes and families were safe.


"We'd do it again tomorrow," said Rick Vaughn, the Devil Rays' vice president of public relations. "There's no way we wanted to come up during that storm."


Even the Yankees admit that Devil Rays GM Chuck LaMar talked to Yankees GM Brian Cashman as early as Friday and told them just that. They even relayed that message to MLB.


But Levine says the Yankees were then told by the commissioner's office: "That's not true. We're telling them to get up there."


There have been intimations that it was Devil Rays owner Vince Naimoli who told DuPuy his team would show up Monday right on time, ostensibly because it planned to leave Sunday.


But Vaughn says that while there was some preliminary talk about trying to fly out Sunday night, the forecast continued to worsen. So "by Friday night, when we left the ballpark," Vaughn said, "our traveling secretary told me, 'We'll leave Monday morning, unless you hear (otherwise) from me.' "


The commissioner's office, however, would not confirm that Naimoli had sent DuPuy a different message -- or, in fact, that he had told them anything about anything.


"We're not going to talk about what conversations we had with the Devil Rays," Levin said. "We were led to believe the Devil Rays could make it there in time for the game. As far as who said what to whom, we're not going to get into it."


The other bizarre aspect of this story is the Yankees' suggestion that the Devil Rays took their time getting out of Tampa on Monday, when they could have flown out first thing in the morning.


"Let me tell you about our day," Vaughn replied. "We got to the park at 7:30 in the morning, because the bus was supposed to leave at 8. And we were ready to go. But the airport in Sarasota was closed.


"So then we tried to fly out of Fort Myers. But there were tornado warnings along I-75. And Chuck said, 'I'm not going to jeopardize these players' safety by trying to drive 2½ hours (to Fort Myers) in this weather.'


"Finally, around 11:30, we heard that the Tampa airport would be open around noon. ... But the bridge was flooded, and they only had one lane open, and it took us an hour just to get across the bridge. So there was no way we could leave Tampa until 3 o'clock.


"We left Tampa at 3 and played a game -- in New York -- at 7." Vaughn said. "I never heard of anybody doing that. But we did it. We walked in, put our uniforms on, went out, stretched and started the game."


The Yankees, on the other hand, say they were told at one point that the Devil Rays would leave Saturday, before the storm even hit -- then were told Monday that the Tampa airport was open all morning.


With all these different stories flying around, of course, who knows what any of us should believe. So Levine said the Yankees didn't demand they be handed this win by forfeit. All the Yankees asked MLB to do, he said, was "investigate."


"What we said to Major League Baseball was, 'Do an investigation,' " Levine said. "If you determine that Tampa Bay was supposed to leave and it didn't have a valid reason for not leaving and not showing up, then the rules say there should be a forfeit."


But MLB's "investigation" didn't exactly last as long as the Iran-Contragate hearings. Before Monday night's game was even over, Bud Selig had issued a statement saying MLB believed in determining the outcome of its games by playing them, not forfeiting them. And by Tuesday afternoon, MLB had rescheduled the postponed game as part of a Wednesday doubleheader.


The Yankees had asked for that game to be rescheduled for after the season and only played if necessary. But MLB rejected that argument, too.


"We try to play all our games," Levin said, speaking for Selig. "Things like hurricanes do happen. When they happen, you have to make an adjustment. And we made an adjustment."


That, however, isn't the Yankees' beef. They understand there was a hurricane. They understand that created issues for a lot of people. They understand why the Devil Rays didn't want to leave until the storm had headed elsewhere.


"We're not objecting to any of that," said the Yankees' president. "What we're objecting to is: That's not what (MLB) told us. ... If (the Rays) couldn't get there -- or baseball was telling them they didn't have to get there -- why didn't (MLB) just tell us that? If they'd come to us Friday, Saturday or Sunday and said, 'This is not going to happen,' why would we have opened the gates?"


Uh, good question. And one that could have been easily answered, too, had anyone from the commissioner's office just taken a good look at the Doppler, considered all the human issues involved and thought this through.


There should have been a simple announcement from Selig or DuPuy on Sunday, if not earlier: "The health and safety of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and their families is more important to us than any Labor Day doubleheader. Therefore, we're postponing both games and we're telling the Devil Rays to wait out this storm. We'll stay in constant communication with all sides. And when it's safe for them to leave for New York, we'll have a further announcement on rescheduling these games."


How complicated is that, huh? But instead, the Devil Rays probably will be fined and/or disciplined. Lucky them.


And all that forfeit hoopla has probably led most of the continent to think the Yankees' official hurricane policy was something to the effect of: "We deserve that forfeit. And oh by the way, we don't care if your power stays out till November."


Ridiculous.


But when in doubt, blame the Yankees. It's been a can't-go-wrong formula for 80 years. No reason to abandon it now.

Jayson Stark is a senior writer for ESPN.com.

Jayson tell me that you're kidding me. How heartless are you if the Rays wanted to stay home with their family to make sure that their families were safe. What a surprise an ESPN writter is pro-Yankee, this is something that has never happened before. They just give us more reason to dislike ESPN, one thing about ESPN I like, besides living 15 minutes away from it, is Jim Caple, and one letter he had in his report today was classic.

Commissioner Selig,


This letter is a formal request for Major League Baseball to award the Yankees a victory by forfeit due to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' failure to show up on time for a scheduled Labor Day doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. The Devil Rays claim they could not reach New York on time due to Hurricane Frances. We do not consider that excuse sufficient.


The infamous Hurricane of 1938 that struck New York and New England killed 700 people, left 63,000 homeless and registered winds as high as 120 miles at the Empire State Building. But it didn't postpone the Yankees game or stop Lou Gehrig's playing streak. Granted, the Yankees were playing in Chicago that day, but the point remains: A hurricane wasn't enough to stop Gehrig and the Yankees then, and it isn't a sufficient excuse to postpone a Yankees game now.


A hurricane may be reason enough to take a day off for a losing team that has never finished anywhere but last place, but it is not the Yankees' way to postpone games due to climactic conditions hundreds of miles away. The way of a true champion is to play on, no matter what the weather conditions are anywhere else.


There are hurricanes, tornados, cyclones, typhoons, monsoons, floods, avalanches, tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions all over the world, but the Yankees play on. There are starving children in Ethiopia, Liberia and Sudan who would be happy to play in a hurricane, and thus are inspired by the manner in which the Yankees take the field each night despite their suffering. There are wars all over the world. Our brave troops are risking their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. Reserve units are being forced to extend their service time for month after trying month.



Derek Jeter and the Yanks play through rain, snow, sleet and hail.
And the Yankees honor their sacrifices by suiting up every night.


The U.S. Postal Service does not deliver on Sundays and holidays, but the Yankees play. USA Today does not print on weekends, but the Yankees play. There are entire weeks during which the New Yorker and Sports Illustrated don't publish, but the Yankees play.


We played the night that NBC aired the final episode of "Friends." We played the night that Mariah Carey's movie "Glitter" opened. We played the night "Cats" closed.


And the Devil Rays cannot overcome a hurricane?


We played the time Don Zimmer couldn't get through the stadium's metal detectors. We played the night David Wells drank all the beer in the concession stands. We played the night Darryl Strawberry snorted the third base line.


And the Devil Rays can't show up on time?


We played the night Alex Rodriguez's limo broke down on the Major Deegan. We played the night Jason Giambi cut the cheese on the team bus and everybody had to get out and walk the rest of the way. We played the night Ruben Rivera stole Joe Torre's hubcaps.


And the Devil Rays can't get to the airport on time?


We played the day the air conditioning didn't work right in the team hotel. We played the night Derek Jeter couldn't find his little black book. We played the day there were those really bad solar flares and we couldn't get decent cell phone coverage. We even played that one night it looked like it was going to rain really, really hard only it didn't.


And the Devil Rays don't reach the ballpark until six hours after the original scheduled start?


The facts of the case and your decision are clear. You must issue a forfeit. Baseball teams cannot willy-nilly decide on their own not to show up for scheduled games just because it is slightly inconvenient. The Yankees do not play that way and they expect no less from their opponents.


Indeed, Kevin Brown got a bad night's sleep and woke up in a very bad mood this morning, and yet the Yankees have no plans to cancel our current homestand.


Sincerely,


Randy Levine
President
New York Yankees

Yankees give it up, you're running scared and the Red Sox Nation loves it. The Sox are only 2 games back and the Yanks are going nuts. Well it's thursday and it's Football season so what does that mean, my weekend picks.


NE over IND
SEA over NO
SD over HOU
DET over CHI
STL over ARI
CIN over NYJ
TEN over MIA
BAL over CLE
TB over WAS
JAX over BUF
OAK over PIT
ATL over SF
PHI over NYG
MIN over DAL
DEN over KC
GB over CAR

And NE's score is going to be 28-10 in a game that will start to prove that the Colts will not make the post season, that's right the Colts won't make the post season. And when this happens I will no longer have to call one of my readers "The Princess"

How about the sox 2 games back and a 5 game lead on the Wild Card. And why is Agassi still playing, he's so old and I hope that Roger Federer beats him, at press time Federer is up 2 sets to 1.

Well that's the blog for today, next update will be on Saturday, enjoy the Pats game tonight, oh and the Sox will take 3 out of 4 from Seattle.

Leave some,
Chag

The New York WAAAAAAAAAAAANKEES

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Yankees withdrew Tuesday their request that a postponed game with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays be forfeited, and Major League Baseball announced the game would be made up as part of a doubleheader Wednesday.

``It was the only option unless you wanted to play it at the end of the regular season,'' Yankees manager Joe Torre said Tuesday.

On Monday, the Yankees asked the commissioner's office to award them a forfeit over Tampa Bay after the Devil Rays failed to arrive in time for a scheduled doubleheader because of travel problems due to Hurricane Frances.

ADVERTISEMENT


Commissioner Bud Selig made it clear that he had no intention of awarding a forfeit.

``We appreciate the continuing accommodation of the New York Yankees and their fans and apologize to them for any inconvenience that the delays may have caused,'' Bob DuPuy, chief operating officer of the commissioner's office, said in a statement Tuesday. ``As the commissioner made clear, it is critical that the outcome of the pennant races be determined on the field.''

The Yankees were 2 1/2 games ahead of Boston in the AL East heading into Tuesday night's games.

DuPuy added that any issues involving the Devil Rays' travel was a matter of review between the commissioner's office and the team only.

``Obviously, I didn't want to play a doubleheader tomorrow. I'm sure (Tampa Bay manager Lou Piniella) didn't want to play a doubleheader tomorrow,'' Torre said. ``The only thing that bothers me about the whole thing is that we were ready to play a doubleheader yesterday. We had our guys out here all day.''

The teams were originally scheduled to play two games Monday starting at 1 p.m., but the start time was pushed back two hours on Sunday. Because of the delay in Tampa Bay's arrival, the commissioner's office told the teams to play one game at 7 p.m. and said it would decide later on when to reschedule the second game.

Wednesday's doubleheader is scheduled to begin at 4:05 p.m, though rain is in the forecast. Esteban Loaiza (9-7) will start the first game for the Yankees against Mark Hendrickson (8-14). Brad Halsey (1-2), recently recalled from the minors, will pitch Game 2 against Tampa Bay's Dewon Brazelton (6-6).

Excuse me did I hear one quote correctly

``We appreciate the continuing accommodation of the New York Yankees and their fans and apologize to them for any inconvenience that the delays may have caused,'' Bob DuPuy, chief operating officer of the commissioner's office, said in a statement Tuesday. ``As the commissioner made clear, it is critical that the outcome of the pennant races be determined on the field.''

I did, how did the Yanks accommodate the situation by demanding a forfeit. And who is Joe to tell us what Lou thinks, according to ESPN Lou was blue in the face when that comment was said.

D-Ray delay
may stall twin bill





Despite being ordered by Major League Baseball to travel to New York on Friday night or yesterday morning to avoid weather issues caused by Hurricane Frances, the Devil Rays were unable to do so and now may wreak their own havoc on the five-game series with the Yankees, which is scheduled to begin tomorrow.
The Rays remained in Tampa last night, saying they couldn't secure hotel rooms in New York, and were hoping to arrive late tonight or tomorrow morning in time to play a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium at 1:05 p.m. tomorrow. MLB officials spent yesterday trying to get the Rays out of Tampa.

"We've been working with the Devil Rays all day in an effort to get them a charter," Katy Feeney, MLB's vice president for scheduling and club relations, said last night. "But the problem now is the storm and how it's going to affect everyone. There's also a concern for the players and their families."

For their part, according to sources, the Rays spent yesterday trying to have the games moved to Thursday or rescheduled for later in the season, but the Yankees, who have sold 45,000 tickets for the twin bill, informed MLB that if the Rays don't show up, they'll seek a forfeit.

That, of course, would throw the division race between the Yankees and Boston into chaos and would surely cause even more ill will on the part of the Red Sox: A forfeited game, according to MLB rules, would result in an automatic 9-0 Yankee win over the Devil Rays for each game not played.

Can I get somemore WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA's. Ok I know that some of my readers are going to say, Chag, if you weren't in Boston then you would see this another way, well here is what a NY Paper had to say.

Yankees squall over forfeit,
but come off as blowhards





The last time Randy Levine, underboss to George Steinbrenner, looked like this kind of yahoo in public, it was during the last American League Championship Series. Levine is president of the Yankees, and a crucial part of his job description is saying what Steinbrenner tells him to say. So after Pedro Martinez put Don Zimmer to the ground and there was that big fight in the Yankees bullpen, Levine stood sweating in front of television cameras afterward and made Fenway Park sound more dangerous than Baghdad that day. Which it certainly was not. Anybody who sat in the stands that day, as I did, knew it was a lie.
The truth is that the only person unsafe on that particular Saturday was a Fenway Park groundskeeper, who got jumped by some of Levine's baseball players.

Yesterday Levine was back, demanding that the Devil Rays should forfeit the first game of what was supposed to be a doubleheader because they weren't able to get out of Florida because of Hurricane Frances.

"The rule states that if your team is here and ready to play, and the other team isn't here and not ready to play, there should be a forfeit, and we believe there should be a forfeit," Levine said yesterday.

Levine doesn't just sound cheap here, he sounds desperate. If the Yankees are still 10-1/2 games ahead of the Red Sox, do you think he would actually go out in front of the public and beg for a forfeit?

If the Yankees were still way ahead, do you think Levine and Steinbrenner would have been screaming at representatives of Major League Baseball - as they sure were in private yesterday - demanding a forfeit from a Devil Rays team that arrived at the Stadium, when it finally arrived at the Stadium, sixteen games under .500 and 24 games out of first place?

All day long, until the Devil Rays finally got off the St. Petersburg Bridge and over to the airport and up to New York, the Yankees actually worried, out loud, that rescheduling a game against a stiff team like this would put them at a "competitive disadvantage." So they kept saying they wouldn't reschedule the game, even though the Devil Rays are here tonight, and tomorrow night, and Thursday night.

"There are no plans to reschedule any games until this issue is worked out," Levine, the underboss, said.

Did the commissioner's office suggest to Vince Naimoli, the Devil Rays owner, that he ought to get his team out of Tampa before yesterday morning? It did. Did Naimoli, one of the worst cheapskate owners in baseball, mislead the commissioner's office about his plans? It looks now as if he did. Does all that merit a forfeit in the middle of what has become a terrific pennant race in the American League East between the Yankees and the Red Sox? On what planet?

The Cubs and Marlins had an extremely important series blown away by Frances over the weekend. They're playing a doubleheader on Friday to catch up and a doubleheader on Sept. 20, and they're going to do it without the kind of public whining produced by the president of a team that worries about a competitive disadvantage with a payroll of $194 million.

Did the Yankees do anything wrong yesterday, at least before Underboss Levine opened his mouth? They did not. They had first moved the first game of yesterday's doubleheader from one o'clock to three o'clock to accommodate the Devil Rays, when the Devil Rays still thought they could get out of Florida at 9 in the morning. An awful lot of Yankee fans didn't know the time of the game had been changed, and showed up at the Stadium early, and the Yankees were gracious enough to open the gates. And later they gave out free hot dogs and soft drinks to the people who hung in there all of Labor Day afternoon. Very cool.

Then they try to steal a game.

If Steinbrenner really wants a free game off Lou Piniella, he must be completely hysterical about his starting pitching. Schedule a doubleheader for one of the next two nights and shut up about it. It's not enough that they had five games scheduled with a stiff team this week when the Red Sox are in Oakland, now they want freebies.

The only losers yesterday were the fans who couldn't wait around eight hours for the game to start. Here was John Imbriani of Miller Place at a few minutes after 1 o'clock yesterday, with his son John Jr., sitting 11 rows behind home plate, the best seats the two of them have ever had for a Yankee game. The boy wore a No.2 Jeter jersey. Father and son had gotten on the Long Island Expressway at Exit 63 at 10 minutes to eight, but as they pulled into the parking lot, they started hearing that there was a problem even getting the Devil Rays to the airport.

"We come once a year," Imbriani said. "A friend of mine who's got a partial season-ticket plan gave me the tickets. I'm close enough to the plate to call balls and strikes, and now I may not see a single pitch."

When they still thought the doubleheader would start at 1, they figured they could see all of the first game and some of the second before they had to be home. See the Yankees in Yankee Stadium from 11 rows behind home plate. They stayed in the ballpark for five hours and finally went back to Miller Place.

"But I saw all those pictures from Florida this weekend," Imbriani said before he left. "So it's tough for me to cry about missing a baseball game."

The only crying in baseball yesterday was from the people who run the Yankees.

Ok so see it isn't only just me. And do you think that if the Sox weren't 2.5 games back that Georgie wouldn't have pushed the issue. They're saying this because they're running scared of the Sox. Yanks just shut up and play the game, just because you think that you have the most money you can push people around. Thank You Bud for making a good call.

~Chaggy
Some material was taken from the Associated Press

It's sunday so it's time for a pure Chags and Zags collumn

Zags to wearyellow.com, I know that it's a great cause but they wouldn't let me use my Visa checkcard to make a purchase. Calling all readers out there if you have an extra one I'll buy it off of you.

Cheers to Jim Edmonds for getting career home run number 300, way to go Jim

Cheers to Kobe Bryant for getting that case thrown out, we all know that you had sex with her but most of us agree that you didn't rape her. THe only person who won in this case was your wife who got all that gold from you.

Cheers to LSU for winning their season opener in overtime, but we all know that USC were the real champions last year

Zags to the NCAA for staying with this BCS format after last year we saw how much it sucks.

Zags to ESPN for only having Flute's hail mary being the number 9th moment of all time, that had to be higher than #9 because nobody expected that to happen, go Eagles.

Zags to my "wife" Maria Sharapova for being ousted in the third round of the US Open, I'm glad that I didn't buy tickets for the US Open finals.

Chags to De La Salle High School, even through their winning streak was snapped it was still a 12 year winning streak. YOu talk about a school owning a sport well this town owned Washington football.

Chags to this picture, it gives a whole new meaning to Yankees Suck.
Thanks to Curtis for the picture

Zags to people out there who think that the Jets have a chance of making the playoffs, the Patriots will be the only team coming from the AFC East

Chags to the Cardinals for yet another impressive win last night, the magic number is down to 12 Baby!

Zags to yahoo for this statment

LSU gets lucky, barely beats Beavers

A lot of times it better to be lucky than good.

Zags to TV Guide for putting Curtis Martin on the cover in the Boston Market of Conn. Where is Brady?

In a funny note Mike Wallace was arrested after he lnged at two police officers asking why his limo was double parked, the nerve of these officers. Why won't they arrest Barbra Walters or anybody else on the view besides Hasselbeck.

That's the Chag and Zags for Sunday, Catch you guys on Tuesday after the holiday, have a safe Labor Day.

~Chag

Yankees Don't look now, the Red Sox are coming Part II

FIrst I'd like to thank a friend for sending this in.

"Chag, Sorry if you've received this a dozen times in the last few minutes. Apparently he (Kevin Brown) was so angry after being removed he punched a wall and broke his (left) hand! I've seen a Yankees message board where they're going nuts... Andrew"

Well thanks Andrew. And now for 2 quick jokes that aren't really a joke.

Jake  What happens to preachers when they grow old?

Chelsea  Oh that's easy, they're put out to pastor.







It's wise to remember how easily this wonderful technology can
be misused, sometimes unintentionally, with serious consequences.

Consider the case of the Illinois man who left the snow-filled
streets of Chicago for a vacation in Florida. His wife was on a
business trip and was planning to meet him there the next day.
When he reached his hotel, he decided to send his wife a
quicke-mail. Unable to find the scrap of paper on which he had
written her e-mail address, he did his best to type it in from
memory.

Unfortunately, he missed one letter, and his note was directed
instead to an elderly preacher's wife, whose husband had passed
away only the day before. When the grieving widow checked her
e-mail, she took one look at the monitor, let out a piercing
scream, and fell to the floor in a dead faint.

At the sound, her family rushed into the room and saw this note
on the screen:

Dearest Wife,

Just got checked in. Everything prepared for your arrival
tomorrow.

PS. Sure is hot down here.







Now let's Chag and Zag it



Well Chags to the Red Sox for winning their 10th straight game.


Chags to the Cardinals for yet another win, Magic number is now 13 baby


Now Chags to this image




Zags to Kevin Brown, as much as I hate you how can you go breaking your hand down the stretch, but Red Sox Nation now loves you but only if you can't pitch.


Zags to a reader, I told you to put a curse to destory the cubs not have it rain so they can't play.


Zags to a reader, well let me tell you today is Saturday not Sunday


Zags to me, why do I keep taking cheap shots at people when they don't take them at me in their blog


Well that's the blog for today, leave some.
~Chag



And one last thing for the princess, to prove that I know everything,
Now you can know everything! just read...


*Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.

*Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.

*There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.

*The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.

*A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

*There are more chickens than people in the world.

*Two-thirds of the world's eggplant is grown in New Jersey.

*The longest one-syllable word in the English language is
screeched."

*On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the
Parliament building is an American flag.

*All of the clocks in the movie "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on
4:20.

*No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange,
silver, or purple.

*"Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters
"mt".

*All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln

*Memorial on the back of the $5 bill.

*Almonds are a member of the peach family.

*Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.

*Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.

*There are only four words in the English language which end in
"dous":
tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.

*Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina
de los Angeles de Porciuncula"

*A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.

*An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.

*Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.

*In most advertisements, the time displayed on a watch is 10:10

*Al Capone's business card said he was a used furniture dealer.

*The characters Bert and Ernie on Sesame Street were named after
Bert the cop and Ernie the taxi driver in Frank Capra's "It's a
Wonderful Life."

*A dragonfly has a life span of 24 hours.

*A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.

*A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.

*It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.

*The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.

*In England, the Speaker of the House is not allowed to speak.

*The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar
tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.

*Mr. Rogers is an ordained minister.

*The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.

*There are 336 dimples on a regulation golf ball.

*"Stewardesses" is the longest word that is typed with only the
left hand.

Yankees Don't look now, the Red Sox are coming

Anybody who knows anything about baseball probably did what I did 2 weeks ago when the Sox were 10.5 games back. "Well we had a nice run let's worry about the Wild Card." 2 weeks later and a 9 game winning streak and now we're only 3.5 games back.


Wow, did I just read that right


Wow, I guess I just did, the Yanks lost that badly to the mighty, mighty, Indians. This isn't the same Cheif Wahoo team that won all of those division titles in a row. This isn't even close to the team that went to the World Series in 1997, when they lost to the Marlins.


ANd now for a joke that isn't a joke

Lazy Louis  I'm so nearsighted, I nearly worked myself to death today.

Anna  What does being nearsighted have to do with working yourself to death?

Lazy Louis  I couldn't tell if the boss was watcing me or not, so I had to work the whole time.



Ok so maybe that wasn't a good joke. Let's Chag and Zag it


*************************************************************

Chags to the Red Sox for winning their 9th straight last night. In August they tied for the best record with my Cardinals.

Cheers to david Letterman and his staff for telling all of us what we already know.



Zags to the Patriots for losing their third straight preseason game, but we need to keep inmind that the Patriots sat every starter they had and none of them played at all

Zags to a reader who thinks that she can win the bet we made

Chags to everybody for making this the 516th most read blog

That's the blog for today, leave some




And one last message