Observations and opinions as Hurricane Sandy (my favorite cousin’s name, God rest her soul) whips up a nasty gale outside my home office in Wenham, Massachusetts, 01984:
- Never give up — at anything. Just look at what the San Francisco Giants pulled off. World Series No. 2 in three years.
- The other Giants, the New York footballers, can definitely now lay claim as the luckiest team in the NFL, witness their ridiculously lucky win over the Cowboys yesterday in Texas. Exhibit A — on the way to scoring the winning touchdown, Coach Jason Garrett calls three straight pass plays on 2nd and 1 deep in Giants territory, though the ‘Boys have plenty of time left and all three timeouts. Idiocy. Exhibit 2 — Phenomenal catch by Dez Bryant in the end zone with only seconds left — on a heave from the unpredictable Tony Romo — but is ruled incomplete after the play is reviewed upstairs, because Bryant’s finger was on the backline as he came down on the ground. The NY Giants are truly charmed, as if we Patriots fans can forget how they won the 2007 and 2012 Super Bowls.
- Tough finish for our local favorite Rob Oppenheim in the final Web,com Tour event yesterday in Texas. His 283 aggregate left him in 41st place on the money list, forcing him back to PGA Tour Q school in November if he wants to improve upon his Web.com Tour standing for 2013. After a terrific first half of the season, Rob struggled badly the second half and finished 50 grand out of the coveted 25th and final slot, which would have earned him an automatic place on the ’13 PGA Tour.
- Hurricane Sandy is a nice break for President Obama; gives him a wonderful chance to show him in “Presidential Mode” one week from the election. No way Mitt Romney can compete with that.
- Fantastic victory by St. John’s Prep graduate Brian Kelley and his Notre Dame Fighting Irish Saturday in Norman, Oklahoma. Now No. 3 in the BCS standings. Not too shabby for the former Assumption College player.
- Solid choice by the Red Sox front office in tabbing John Farrell as the new manager. Who else should they have named?? Casey Stengal? Let’s hope this is a better move than some of the player personnel decisions GM Ben Cherington made after Theo Epstein left for the Chicago Cubs.
- They don’t get much dumber than the NHL owners, players and commissioner.
- Celtics are ranked just about where they deserve to be heading into the new NBA season. If all they’re players perform up to their promise, don’t be surrprised to see them in the Eastern Conference finals next May.
- The Patriots restored a small portion of our faith in them after their London wipe out of the St. Louis Rams. Bottom line: if they stay healthy and Tom Brady plays more like he did in London than the previous few weeks, a trip to New Orleans is not such a stretch.
- Amazing how incumbents prefer attacking their challengers than telling the populace what they have accomplished while in office. That sort of behavior tells me they haven’t got much to be proud of as our lawmakers.
- Happy Halloween. See you at Haunted Happenings in Salem on the 31st.