Bertuzzi's return

Mark Kizla looks at Todd Bertuzzi's unpleasant return to Denver.

Sweep home, Chicago

Phil Rogers is already thinking about a White Sox repeat.

Jay Mariotti says the win changes everything.

The Chicago Tribune links to ChicagoSports, which has a share your Sox stories section.

Thomas Boswell says the team was without stars but full of savvy.

Bob Ryan on the Sox going from "blah" to World Champs.

Dan Wetzel says the White Sox won by taking on the personality of manager Ozzie Guillen.

Richard Justice on the end of the Astros run, their first ever to the World Series.

A rushed post from a busy week.

Pat Forde says now would be a good time for Fisher DeBerry to walk away.

New York Times look at Sheryl Swoops' coming out.

The Boston Herald's Tony Massaroti looks at the Theo Epstein contract negotiations and accuses the Globe, a part owner of the Red Sox, of being an accomplice to a smear campaign against Epstein.

Kravitz on Jackson

Bob Kravitz has a thoughtful look at Stephen Jackson's accusations of racism in the NBA dress code.

A model of courage

Rosa Parks impacted America more than I'm sure she ever realized that day in Alabama.

Shoeless Joe, the BCS etc.

Stan Grossfield delivers a well researched and reported story about Shoeless Joe Jackson's life, legacy and potential for reinstatement.

Michael Wilbon and Bill Plaschke shoot at an easy target.

I like the idea but not the execution here.

I had considered including this the other day, but wondered if it was too regional. But with Wellington Mara’s passing today it seems appropriate.

Some college hoops

The Durham Herald Sun says North Carolina holdover David Noel doesn't blame his teammates for leaving.

Washington Post has Duke as the team to beat.

The Dallas Morning News has an look at Letters of Intent which benefit the school much more than the players and have two stories of schools forcing the players to release them.

UCLA, Cashman and more

Bill Plaschke spends time with the other undefeated college football team in southern California.

Ian O'Connor thinks Brian Cashman will remain with the Yankees.

Joe Henderson writes about Jose Contreras' older brother, Humberto, who is still in Cuba.

Posnanski discusses the truths behind some of sports' myths.

Bob Hohler reveals that many Boston-area sports stars aren't living up to their charitable promises.

Dress Code, Veeck, Astros and Buck Weaver

J.A. Adande have different takes on the new NBA dress code.

Mike Downey says its time to pardon Buck Weaver. I'm guessing we'll see a fair amount of Black Sox stories over the next 7-10 days.

Richard Justice on Game 6 erasing the sting of Game 5 for Astros fans. Thomas Boswell has a nice piece on the Astros too. Boswell is a good writer on any topic, but his love of baseball shines through.

It's not hard to get me to link to a Veeck story.

Shapiro convinces me

I'm not a golf guy. I'll play once in a while on a beater course and shoot about 60 on 9 holes. So I figured Michael Bamberger understood the rules and the honor better than I do. But after reading Leonard Shapiro's column, I'm convinced he was wrong.

Watering down the writing...

The New York Times has a look at how ESPN language is leaking into sports writing. I've seen examples of this first hand from our interns, whose sports vocabulary is so influenced by the presence of ESPN.

It's pretty amazing when you consider that three sporting events that will likely be remembered for the rest of your life all happened in a three day period, ND-USC, Pujols' homer and Wie's DQ. Wie's not as much as the other two, because there won't be a mental snapshot of it, but if she becomes a great player, that slip-up will be part of it.

The Philly Inquirer has SI's Michael Bamberger struggling with his role in the Wie's disqualification.

Bernie Miklasz and Richard Justice had good opposite takes on Pujols' memorable home run.

Two more good looks at the ND-USC classic from Woj and

Wie, ND

Was SI's Michael Bamberger right for calling out Michelle Wie, one day later? I feel like he should ahve said something Saturday or let it go all together. Tim Dahlberg looks at the whole scenario. Good look at the topic here.

Michael Wilbon and Bob Kravitz look a the ND-USC classic.

The right man for a hard job

I'm a day late on this story, but Eric Prisbell skillfully intertwined a look at new coach Dave Dickerson and his difficult task leading Tulane this year.

Plaschke and Forde

Bill Plaschke's spin on the bizarre and controversial ending to ALCS Game 2 is the best I've read so far.
Pat Forde's column is about O.J. Mayo on the surface, but its more a window into the state of basketball.

Yankees Obits

This was the best of the collection from the Gary and Bubba love scene. I think the San Diego Zoo ad behind it, adds to the comedy.

M-Vac on A-Rod was the best of the many Yankee trashings in the New York papers.

October magic

Richard Justice and Jayson Stark capture a magical night in baseball.

Couple of stinkos of note today...

I like Christine Brennan, but she gave Michelle Wie way too much credit concluding her column with this line:
This young lady just became the female Tiger Woods. Now the question is: How long before Tiger becomes known as the male Michelle Wie?

Kevin Kernan's premise may be dumber than Brennan's. He says Tony Graffanino now understands what Bill Buckner went through. Apparently with no original ideas, hKevin K scoured for a weak old one. Buckner's error came in the WORLD SERIES. If the Red Sox won that game (Buckner making the play would have only sent it to extra innings), they end a 68 year World Series drought. Tony G's blunder came in the Division Series, a playoff round that didn't even exist when Buckner played. Plus the Sox won it last year, so it's not like Graffanino's miscue was part of some larger cosmic whatever.

In case you were wondering....

Carl Everett is still nuts. He hadn't reminded us in a while, so he did an interview for this story.

Sally Jenkins is still anti-nonsense.

Will Red Sox fans yell "1917" at the White Sox? Just wondering...

Mark Sauer has a handwriting expert analyze the Padres autographs. This seems a little like a late July story to me than a playoff preview, but I thought it was interesting.

I'm not going to try to repeat last year's posting of just about every story that came out of the baseball playoffs. I'll still post my favorites, but I'm going to limit the volume. Instead I'm going to start by including where to find these stories yourself:

BOSTON: Boston Sports Media Watch has links to all the local stories. The Boston Globe, the Boston Herald, and the Providence Journal all have great daily coverage. The Herald's Sox Blog is always worth a read too.

CHICAGO: The Tribune and the Sun-Times.

LOS ANGELES: The LA Times, and the Orange County Register.

NEW YORK: The Times, The Post, The Daily News, Newsday.

HOUSTON: The Chronicle.

ST. LOUIS: The Post Dispatch.

SAN DIEGO: The Union-Tribune.

A good start...

Former Gazette intern and friend of this blog Andrew Merritt made had a solid outing the first story of what will hopefully be a long and successful professional career.