College Football

Another good solid win against CSU 45 - 21. Now comes the tough part of the schedule. This is the stretch that in past years AF has gone 0'fer and missed out on a bowl game. This weekend Wyoming, then a quick week and Thursday game against New Mexico, then Army, then at Notre Dame, and finishing with San Diego. I see at least 3 wins which would put us at 8-4 and a decent chance to go bowling. Not for sure which Wyoming team will show up this weekend. They have had some good wins and then some not so good wins. Good coach but just haven't been getting it done. Vegas started the line at 3.5 and it moved to 2.5 by this weekend. Obviously Vegas isn't giving AF any love at home. I will be attending the game so I will bring some luck...ha! Air Force leads the series 23-20-2. We first played the Wyoming Freshman back in 1955. And who could forget the 1977 0-0 tie. I predict a close one at home tomorrow with an AF victory - 21 - 14.

2000 51 - 34 W
2001 24 - 13 W
2002 26 - 34 L
2003 35 - 29 W
2004 26 - 43 L
2005 28 - 29 L
2006 31 - 24 W
2007 ???

The Carolina battle ended with a South victory last weekend and the LSU and Kentucky did turn out to be an interesting (and exciting) game.

Games of interest this weekend...Which USC shows up in South Bend this weekend? Michigan St continue to make No. 1s miserable this weekend in Columbus? Boy how far have Miami and Florida St fallen...this game isn't getting any pub! Northwest battle of Oregon and Washington.

Artist Feature - Darwyn Cooke

Who is Darwyn Cooke...well obviously an artist. I like to lump him into the "Art Retro" style. He has a particular all his own type art which when looking at his work fits in very well. Best known for his "DC: The New Frontier" and his re-introduction of Catwoman and somewhat his Batman Ego series he is a no nonsense artist. I had seen his work, was drawn (pun intended) to his New Frontier series but other than that didn't know alot about him. While at the store I noticed "The Comics Journal" No 285, October 2007 and picked it up. It has a wonderful interview of Darwyn and my respect for his work both has an artist and writer grew immensely. First off is the fact that he is the total package. Seeing an artist write to his work his unbelievable. Standard package of a separate writer and artist sometimes clicks but often can lead to disastrous books when obviously they don't see eye to eye. Obviously Lee and Ditko had it and Claremont and Lee (and Bryne) and to be frank most artist just can't write (McFarlane). What also nice about him is his outspokenness...he doesn't hold back...he ripped Miller's DK2 and thinks the main stream companies are doing a horrible job promoting the industry (I agree). Comments included, "...don't see any long-term plan..." and "...abandoning print for the monthly product and using the Web for deliver system." Some interesting quotes and observations from someone who is kind of an outsider (having started in animation and hence the writing capability). Anyway like the look and the feel that this guy brings.

His most notable work as been his New Frontier series. To be honest I don't remember it coming out in single issues. When it got the absolute treatment it entered my sights. Had to dig deep to find the collected TPB. When I got them they did not disappoint. Some great writing and art. A lot of the characters were unknown to me and their interactions were strange but the overall book was intense . I really like the Hal Jordan angle (a great hero and history but I really have no ideal where to start on that one...I've tried, tough character to try and get to know). I like the Wonder Woman characterization and like how the JLA come in at the end. There are some terrific one page spreads with big art and ideals. Overall a great read and something for my permanent collection.

Haiku Wednesday

Anticipation

On the starting line
Last chance field goal, ninth inning
Will I cheer or cry?

Colorado Rockies - NLCS Champions

The Rockies Win the Pennant , the Rockies Win the Pennant. One of the all time great calls in MLB history...of course it was the Giants but I have always inserted "Rockies" for the heck of it.

To be honest, I never thought I'd see the Rockies in the World Series. I mean I'm positive but I've been tracking the Roxs stats over their history and although their offensive could always get them there it was the pitching part I thought we'd never be able to manage. Of course if we could get to the playoffs with Kevin Ritz perhaps I should have been more confident. Okay so getting to the playoffs would have been possible but then getting through two rounds to me was the difficult part. Throughout our short history we have finished last or next to last in ERA. Pitching wins in the playoffs so how would we survive two rounds of playoffs without a decent starting pitching corps. Look at this year's pitching staff...only two regular starters made it to the post season. Cook, Lopez, and Hirsch all got hurt and we had to fill in with Jimenez, Morales, Dessens, and Redman (last two yikes!). So basically even if we had the Blake Street Bombers we would still need some pitching.

With the "humidor", baseball began to be played right but what pitcher in their right mind would ever come to Colorado to have a career. The Roxs certainly weren't going to pay them so it boiled down to homegrown success. The last 3 years has shown incredible growth in this area with a solid corps of talent. But as they succeeded would they stay (i.e. bet Jennings is hating life right about now....ha). Then look at the NL West. Three Mid-Level salary teams with two big dogs in LA and SF. Even if we could compete the other teams could always land that one needed arm down the stretch. Finally look at the Diamondbacks. This is a team that was succeeding and yet they were rebuilding as well and as I see it were about a year behind the Roxs this year and yet they won the division. So here is the Roxs, slowly building (3rd year after the Gen R beginnings) and yet the D-backs were racing ahead with their rookie crop. 2004 D-backs won 51, 2005 won 77, 2006 won 67, and this year 90. 2004 Roxs won 68, 2005 won 67, 2006 won 76, and this year 90. This is of course (the Roxs) was preceded by 9 years of finishing last or next to last with one winning season. In that span Arizona won the world series.

In rebuilding, Arizona did go out and get pitching and some veterans to fill in the line up. The average age of the team is 28.1 while the Roxs is 27.9. The big fear then for the Roxs is so what if we have young home grown talent, what happens if teams in our own division have better home grown talent and are willing (and have a lot better opportunity of attracting pitching) to spend money on free agent pitching to make up any deficiencies? So anyway that was my concern...and what did this one playoff series show? Our talent was better this time around. Hopefully the rest of the division took notice...and hopefully the D-backs and Roxs are the Red Sox and Yankees of the AL East...year to year dominance with a good rivalry. So how did the series play out:

ARI		COL
.254	AVG	.222
.312	OBP	.316
36	HITS	30
8	RUNS	18
0	SB	2
2	HR	3
28	K	39
8	WALKS	18
3.00	ERA	1.89

So there is the tale of the tape. The big thing that stand is out is both teams had close OBP but obviously we were able to plate the runners while Arizona could not. 18 versus 8 walks is huge. We had 52 (3 from errors and 1 HBP) base runners (plated .346) and they had 50 (2 from errors and 4 HBP) ((plated .160). We turned 6 double plays and they only turned 2. We left 32 men in scoring position, they left 31. Finally the Roxs batted .235 with runners in scoring position and D-backs were .222. The telling statistic is that of the 18 walks given to the Roxs 6 of them scored and of the 8 walks we gave none scored. Also can Helton and Tulo please show up in the next round? See WPA for the NLCS.

Play of the series was Taveras catch in Game 2. I really think this was the defining moment, the momentum swing, the ultimate reason for the series finishing in 4 games. Got to hand it to Hurdle...he messed with the mojo bringing Taveras in but it ultimately paid dividends.

This Week in Comics

New Avengers #35
Unusual issue. Issue #34 ended with out heroes jumping into a fight, so with this issue I expected some conclusion to that cliffhanger and what does Bendis throw at us? Yup an issue with none of our heroes and a bunch of bad guys banding together to take up against our heroes. Of course this is always something I can never figure out in the comic world...why bad guys don't do this more often but hey it is....the comic world. Anyway Bendis is throwing a whole lot of dangling plots into the mix. Difficult to see where it is all going...not for sure why he his dragging the whole "a skrull or not a skrull" plotline along.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer #7
Another good issue by Brian K. Again I watched Buffy on and off for a couple of years but never a real follower. A good issue on Faith. Little more background on the scooby gang but mostly just Faith. Interesting to see how this plays out. I am sure it won't conclude with Brian's run but probably follow through the books. To me with Faith siding up with a potential enemy this could play out to an endgame of some sort. Was reading a comment in the back of the book and it was interesting to note that in fact we really don't know much about this post Sunnyvale (dale) world? Hmmmm

Uncanny X-men #491
Ughhh what to do about this book? Brubaker writes Captain America...awesome book. Uncanny, fantastic history and great characters, and I can't get into it. I really thought something was going good but nothing. Then I read about this Messiah Complex coming...it it another tease? I really think the X-universe just needs to start over. Everything is just too convoluted...I really thought the 198 mutants left would be something but no (dangling plotline...). I am really trying here...

College Football

A good solid win against UNLV 31 - 14. Nothing flashy just a good win against a team we should win against. Next up a tough O - fer Colorado State team that always seems to play AF tough. Vegas seems to realize this by only making AF a 3.0 favorite. I gave CSU a benefit of the doubt during preseason but I think this should be an AF win. I give it a close 27 - 24 back and forth game. Air Force leads the series 26-19-1. We first played the CSU Freshman back in 1955. Obviously they owned us the last couple of years. There was an interesting lost back in 1993 when AF loss 5 - 8...interesting baseball score! Tough game next week against Wyoming.

2000 44 - 40 W
2001 21 - 28 L
2002 12 - 31 L
2003 20 - 20 L
2004 47 - 17 W
2005 23 - 41 L
2006 24 - 21 W
2007 ???

Ohio St continues to win despite a rebuilding year and with everyone else losing who knows. Big surprise in LA last week with Notre Dame coming in and beating the Bruins.

Games of interest this weekend.. Carolina battle this weekend with the South facing the North and LSU and Kentucky could be an interesting one (or not).

Lemony Snicket - The Reptile Room

Book 2 in a Series of Unfortunate Events leads off with our orphans being shuttled off to another distant relative. Our least favorite Count is back tyring to obtain the orphans inheritance. The Reptile Room being about a relative who keeps snakes. A good little yearn, nothing fancy just a fun little read.

Haiku Wednesday

Horsehide vs Pigskin

Brute force versus grace
Fast forward versus slow mo
One word...October

Magazine Wrap Up

Maureen O'Dowd

"Al Gore's true claims didn't matter in that standoff any more than Anita Hill's true claims did during my confirmation. That's the beautiful thing about being a conservative. We don't push for truth. We push to win, praise the Lord.

It's a relief to finally admit it: I'm proud to have hastened Al's premature political death, hanging chads. It was, you might say, a low-tech lynching."

Wow this was in 10/7/07 Sunday Times Op Ed page. Guess Clarence Thomas came out with a autobiography (?) and O'dowd rips him a new one...makes you wonder when a judge was brought on by Bush I and he ends up putting Bush II in the White House...yikes

Good Magazine had an interesting graph on total store acreage and the fact that Wal Mart has more acreage than the island of Manhattan by approximately 3,000 acres (18,810 vs. 15,000)!

Starbucks has about 152,000 stores with only 400 acres

MIT D-Lab, Amy Smith, as an interesting quote, "Designs are more likely to be successful if they're not complicated and requiring all sorts of support and infrastructure. But simple doesn't mean easy. It's a challenge to get to those 'simple' solutions."

Colorado Rockies - NLDS Champions

Taken from Dan Fox's website, "...when the Rockies stood at 77-72 their odds of reaching the playoffs using BP's (Baseball Prospectus) post season odds report was in fact 1.82% or 54:1. That marked the third most unlikely comeback with 20 or fewer games to play in history behind only the 1964 Cardinals (1.26% with 13 games to play) and the 1934 Cardinals (1.16% with 15 to play). He also points out that their odds were at 1.46% when their record stood at 18-27 on May 21st and was only 4.4% after their loss to the Diamondbacks on September 28th. In fact, Silver notes that what's so impressive about the Rockies season is that "they were never, not for one day, greater than even-money to make the playoffs until they actually did."

In accord with that simulation, from a historical perspective, through 2006 there were 988 teams that found themselves with an 18-27 record or worse at some point in the season and only 13 of those (1.3%) had reached postseason play."

So basically the Roxs had a low probability of even making the playoffs and so then you would have to say their chances to advance were nil...and that is why we play the games. The Roxs swept the NDLS in 3 games and looked good doing it. See game by game synopsis.

Overall WPA leaders for the Roxs during the NLDS:

Big surprise was the lack of offensive and the importance of pitching. Holliday, Helton, and Tulo really didn't do much. The bullpen worked overtime and did some major work. Matsui and Torrealba were the offensive. Hopefully our bats wake up for the next series. Interesting statistic of note...not only did the Roxs have the 2nd best record next to the Yankees since late May they also had the best ERA since the All Star break. Pretty impressive!

Finally I have decided that if I could try one thing it would be hitting a walk off game winning home run in the playoffs....see below