Today’s postponement of Game 4 of the ALCS means that there will be, potentially, two Red Sox-Yankees afternoon games this week, both starting more than an hour before I get off work. Game 5 will start at 4:18 PM on Tuesday, and Game 6, if there is a Game 6 (please, God, let there be a Game 6), will start around the same time on Wednesday. This will undoubtedly lead to a slight loss of productivity at the office, as Scott and I both get distracted by an ESPN Game Update thingy on our computer screens, reloading it every few seconds. :)

Now then, if there’s a Game 7, it won’t conflict with work — but it will conflict with my upcoming trip to Notre Dame Law School. That’s right, if the Sox and Yanks play a Game 7, it will happen while I’m on an Amtrak train Thursday night, bound from NYC to South Bend. I would be travelling through upstate New York throughout the game, trying desperately to get a signal on my portable TV (or, if that fails, my radio).

Interestingly, barring extra innings, a potential Game 7 would probably be ending right about the time that I will be arriving in Buffalo for a brief layover, between 11:40 PM and 11:55 PM on Thursday. I’ve already told a couple of Becky’s friends about my impending 15-minute visit to their city, and invited them to come give me a hug at the Buffalo-Depew train station. :) I doubt any of them will do this, but who knows, if they do, perhaps it will be a celebratory hug in reaction to a freshly minted Red Sox victory!

Looking further ahead, I’ll be in Chicago with Adrienne — with whom I am going to the USC-Notre Dame game on Saturday — during Game 2 of the World Series on Sunday. If the Cubbies beat the Marlins, that could be very fun. Unfortunately, the first two games of the Series will be played in the American League city, but Adrienne assures me that there is plenty of madness in Wrigleyville even during away games, and I’m sure that be especially true during the opening games of the Cubs’ first World Series in 58 years. So we would probably head down there Sunday night to participate in the festivities, surrendering to my “need-to-be-thereness” (as Adrienne expertly put it in an e-mail).

Finally, there is a chance that I might find myself in Boston on the day of Game 6 of the World Series, if the Red Sox make it to the Series and the Series lasts that long. I am planning to visit Boston University’s law school on Friday, Oct. 24 — a World Series off-day — and although my plan would normally be to come straight back to New York that same day, I have already looked into the possibility of staying at a youth hostel in Boston that night if I want to be in Beantown the next day for Game 6.

Not that I’d be able to get into Fenway for the game, of course — but it would still be awesome to be in town for the madness of it all. I suppose I could even stick around for the next day, Game 7, if it came to that. But only time will tell. First, the Red Sox need to beat the Damn Yankees!

Game 4 between the Red Sox and Yankees has been postponed to tomorrow night due to rain. That pushes Game 5 to Tuesday afternoon, and cancels the off-day before Wednesday’s Game 6 in New York.

This is good news for the Red Sox, because it means Derek Lowe will get to pitch Game 5 at Fenway Park — where he is really, really good — instead of Game 6 at Yankee Stadium.

In addition, Tim Wakefield will start Game 4 in place of John Burkett, which makes it even more important that the Sox win both Games 4 and 5; otherwise, Boston’s season will rest squarely on the shoulders of Burkett, their most unreliable starter, who will now start Game 6.

Earlier, the Marlins beat the Cubs, 4-0, to cut Chicago’s lead to 3-2 and send that series back to Chicago. Josh Beckett (not to be confused with the similarly named John Burkett) pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout for Florida.

For some time now, I have been planning, for nostalgia’s sake, to go to Newington High School’s home football game on Oct. 31. The identity of the opponent — New Britain — was incidental to my plans; I just picked that date because it fit into my schedule well.

Well, this afternoon I glanced at this past Friday’s high-school football results, and what do I see but this score: New Britain 89, Maloney-Meriden 0.

Jeez! New Britain is always good, but 89-0??? Indeed, it turns out they’re ranked #1 in the state, undefeated, and now they’ve gotten themselves into the record books by scoring the most points by a Connecticut team since 1968.

And I wanted to watch Newington’s 1-4 team (which lost to fellow 1-4 team Southington, 40-31, on Friday) play these Hurricanes? Maybe I’ll delay my departure for Phoenix by a couple of days, and go to the Nov. 7 game against 2-3 Platt… or maybe not, but still…

The new Coaches’ Poll is out, and after yesterday’s nationwide massacre of undefeated Top 10 teams, USC has climbed all the way from #9 to #4 — barely. The #4 Trojans (5-1) are one point ahead of #5 Georgia (5-1), 1,334 to 1,333.

The new AP poll isn’t out yet, but USC was behind Georgia last week in that one, so we’ll probably be #5 there.

Much more important than Week 9 polls is the BCS picture, and although the first BCS rankings don’t come out until next week, this much is certain: there are only five undefeated teams left, and for BCS title game purposes, only two of those really count.

The undefeated teams are Oklahoma, Miami, Virginia Tech, Northern Illinois, and TCU. But Northern Illinois and TCU are mid-majors who will almost certainly never make it to the Sugar Bowl — the BCS is rigged to ensure that — and either Miami or Virginia Tech will inevitably lose, since they play each other on Nov. 1.

That means a one-loss team will have a spot in the national-championship Sugar Bowl if either Oklahoma or the Miami-Virginia Tech winner loses at some point during the rest of the season. (If both lose, two one-loss teams could get in.) In other words, one more upset of an unbeaten could create a potential opening for the Trojans.

Of course, USC must win all of its remaining games. The Trojans must also root for the teams on its schedule to win against their other opponents, thus increasing USC’s computer ratings, since there would undoubtedly be a BCS battle royale among one-loss teams for that open spot, if it comes to that.

But that’s all far off in the future. For now, say it with me: We’re #4! We’re #4!

UPDATE: As predicted, USC is ranked #5, not #4, in the new AP poll. Still, how impressive is that? Two weeks after losing our #3 ranking and plummeting to #10 after losing to Cal, we’re back to almost where we started! And all we had to do was beat two not-terribly-good teams, Arizona State and Stanford — and watch the mighty fall elsewhere. :)

Meanwhile, I’m eagerly awaiting the new Bottom 10 rankings from ESPN. Last week’s #3, the University at Buffalo, seems poised to return to its rightful spot as the worst team in the land, after last week’s #1 and #2 teams played each other yesterday in a 45-42 shootout, while Buffalo lost 59-3. (”But that was against Miami!” Buffalo fans protest. Yeah, but it was Miami of Ohio.)

Boston Globe columnist Jackie MacMullan has it about right in her analysis of yesterday’s Fenway ugliness:

When it mattered the most, the Red Sox lost their composure, the game, and, perhaps, the series. …

It’s the same old story. The Red Sox behaved badly, and lost. The Yankees behaved badly, and won.

Apparently it was two Yankees who started the fight in the bullpen yesterday — at least, that’s what the police and the Red Sox management say:

Grounds crew worker Paul Williams and Red Sox officials contend that Yankees pitcher Jeff Nelson and outfielder Karim Garcia attacked Williams during the ninth inning.

The Red Sox also said that two police officers in the bullpen backed Williams’ story.

Here is a picture of Dane looking at my website in the apartment.

Wisconsin beats #3 Ohio State, 17-10! That’s the FIFTH formerly undefeated team ranked ahead of us to lose today! With a win, we could climb from #9 to #4… and we’re leading at halftime, 41-14. Woohoo!

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Cubs win! Meanwhile USC leads, 13-0. (Dane and I are at a USC alumni gathering in a sports bar watching it.)

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Yankees 4, Red Sox 3, final. Well, Pedro Martinez lost a game he richly deserved to lose, and alas, now the Red Sox are in big trouble. Boston’s season suddenly rests on the shoulders of its #3 and #4 starters, Tim Wakefield and John Burkett.

Burkett, who is 1-6 lifetime against the Yankees, pitches Game 4 tomorrow; Wakefield pitches Game 5 on Monday. If they both lose, Boston’s season ends Monday night. If either one of them loses, the Sox go back to New York trailing 3-2. In other words, they both need to win. This isn’t exactly what we had in mind after the Game 1 win.

As if that isn’t bad enough, it seems the Curse of the Bambino has transformed certain Red Sox players into sophomoric idiots. Let’s hope the effect is temporary. Let’s also hope Boston wins three straight, because I really don’t want to see Pedro Martinez vs. Roger Clemens in Game 7 at Yankee Stadium. That could get really ugly.

UPDATE: Speaking of ugly, how could I forget to mention the fan — or Fenway Park groundskeeper? — attacking the Yankees in the bullpen in the ninth inning? Jeez.

Note to Red Sox players: the object of the game is to beat the other team, not to beat up the other team (or their coaches), and this game is, well, kind of important. So why don’t you focus on it?

Yankees 4, Red Sox 2, bottom of the sixth.

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports that “beer stands at Fenway Park were shut down for the remainder of the game” after the 10-minute bench-clearing quasi-brawl in the fourth inning. Heh.

UPDATE: The bottom of the ninth is about to begin. Boston trails, 4-3. Eek! C’mon Sox!

Some time ago, I learned that New Line Cinema is going to put out the Extended Editions of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers for weeklong theatrical showings in limited release this December. Very cool. Then, even cooler, starting in the afternoon on the day before the Return of the King debuts, they are going to show all three movies in a row for an unprecedented orgy of Lord of the Rings nerdiness. :) WOOHOO!

As I said, I found out about this fantastic event some time ago. I wondered when the tickets would go on sale — but then, stupidly, I placed it on my mental back burner. I should have been checking TheOneRing.net every day, at least twice a day, like a good nerd… but alas, I wasn’t.

So you can imagine my chagrin when I casually logged on yesterday and discovered that “Tuesday Trilogy” tickets had gone on sale the day before — and were already sold out, almost everywhere across the country!

The movie marathon is basically showing at one theater per metropolitan area, and since my location in mid-December is somewhat in limbo at this point, I had various options. But New York City sold out within 45 minutes, Tempe, AZ (near Phoenix) sold out in about 14 minutes, and other potential options — Manchester and North Haven, CT; Boston, West Springfield, and Worcester, MA; Tuscon, AZ; and even Hollywood, CA — were all booked up, too.

At first, like Sam Gamgee upon finding his beloved Frodo apparently dead on the outskirts of Mordor, I despaired. I had lost my chance! I wouldn’t be able to participate in the great Tolkien Nerd event of this age of the world! Darkness took me, and I strayed out of thought and time. (Okay, now I’m getting carried away.)

But… it was not the end. Inspiration struck, and I did what any good Lord of the Rings fan would have done. I went to Fandango and bought two tickets for one of the few Trilogy Tuesday showings still available — in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Albuquerque, New Mexico?

Yup. Since I’m tentatively planning to be in Phoenix on Dec. 16 (as mentioned below), I figured, hey, I can probably talk Becky into a little seven-hour road trip. :) And if not, I can always join the legions of eBay sellers who are hawking Trilogy Tuesday tickets for utterly insane prices. But screw that; I fully intend to go, come hell or high water, Orcs or Balrogs. The Fellowship of the Camry will journey to fair New Mexico!

But enough about me and my crazy plans. Attention Buffalo-area readers! Tickets are STILL ON SALE for Trilogy Tuesday at the Regal Transit Center in Williamsville, New York! Buy them now while you still can!