The Cardinals just won the World Series in five games on a swinging strikeout by the Tigers. Final score: 4-2.

The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Detroit Tigers by a score of 4-2 tonight to take the World Series, 4-1, their first win since 1982 and their 10th of all time (2nd most overall).

Can I just say that the kerfuffle over dirty passages from Jim Webb’s novels — the top “story” on Drudge all day — is seriously the Stupidest. Scandal. Ever.

Ann Althouse writes: “Politicians who dabble in fiction writing usually throw in sex scenes, and these things nearly always look ridiculous out of context. But do the desire to write a sex scene and the failure to do a very good job of it say anything about a person’s competence as a legislator?”

Ooh, ooh, pick me, teacher, pick me! I know the answer to that one!

Daylight Saving Time ends at 2am Sunday, meaning residents in most of Indiana will be “falling back” for the first time in 30 years. Some residents are happy about the return to “normal time,” while the Indianapolis Star says Hoosiers need to quit whining about DST.

More importantly, this means The Backer will be open for an hour longer than usual. It still closes at 3:00 AM, but because we “fall back” at 2:00 and thus basically repeat the 1:00-1:59 hour, 3:00 AM is four hours after midnight. :)

It will also be the last time Daylight Saving Time ends in October, in the vicinity of my birthday (which is Monday [thanks for the subtle reminder -ed.]). Starting next year, DST will go from the second Sunday in March until the first Sunday in November, instead of from the first Sunday in April to the last Sunday in October.

Anyway, The Onion explains the significance of the end of DST. Heh.

With the usual apologies for the delay in this update, here’s the latest on the BrendanLoy.com Notre Dame and USC college-football prediction contests.

ND contest: Everyone’s picks | Standings after 6 games | Current standings (after 7 games)

USC contest: Everyone’s picks | Standings after 5 games | Current standings (after 6 games)

South Park, doing something in bad taste? I’m shocked, I tell you, SHOCKED!

Dave Revsine, writing at ESPN.com, sums up the BCS situation nicely: “it still looks like we have two options for the BCS title game: the Michigan-Ohio State winner vs. USC, or the Michigan-Ohio State winner vs. a team to be determined by mass chaos.”

Heh. Well, really, that’s a win-win situation for me. I love USC … and I also love mass BCS chaos!

Trying to make order out of (potential) chaos, Every Day Should Be Saturday looks at the nonconference record of each major conference — a measurement which makes the Big East look pretty darn good — and wonders, “why is there some sort of question regarding whether an undefeated Big East Champion should go the title game? … I’m not arguing the Big East is the best conference, just that running through the conference slate undefeated in the Big East is worthy of a Championship game bid.”

Don’t tell that to the GameDay crew, though. According to Heisman Pundit, “Talk continues on ESPN Game Day about how a one-loss SEC team should ‘definitely’ be taken over a no-loss Big East team. What’s more, only a one-loss team from the SEC should be considered to jump over an undefeated team.” The Pundit rather reasonably asks:

I have an idea. How about these talking heads look at the schedules of the teams on a case-by-case basis at the end of the season and then determine who is worthy? Would that be too hard? Is that too much to ask?

If it turns out that Auburn or Florida had a tougher schedule overall, then fine. But it is certainly not a fait accompli.

Why, of course it’s a fait accompli! Georgia (preseason #14, now #25 — and shouldn’t be ranked at all) and Alabama (preseason #24, now unranked and unvoted-for) are just as good as we originally thought they’d be! As is Florida opponent Florida State (preseason #10, now unranked and unvoted-for). And the fact that Arkansas, whom Florida does not play, has turned out to be one of the SEC’s best teams, doesn’t need to be taken into account at all, in assessing the Gators’ schedule. Nor is it necessary to consider that the Big East is much stronger than we expected back in August. Nope. Things are exactly as we thought they were… the SEC rules, everyone else drools… I know this is true because ESPN told me so…

P.S. It’s required by the BrendanLoy.com Bylaws that, whenever we discuss Auburn’s schedule, I mention that Auburn’s non-conference schedule included — all at home, of course — Arkansas State, Tulane and Buffalo.

Buffalo.

Thank you, that is all.

USA Today’s preseason basketball poll is out. Unsurprisingly, defending national champion Florida, which returns all five of its starters, is #1. North Carolina is #2, Kansas is #3, Ohio State is #4 and Pittsburgh and UCLA are tied for #5. Gonzaga finished just outside the Top 25, coming in at #26 (or #1 in the “others receiving votes” category).

Notre Dame received no votes. Ranked (or almost-ranked) teams on ND’s home schedule are: #12 Alabama (Dec. 7), #28 Louisville (Jan. 3), #32 Villanova (Jan. 27), #40 DePaul (Feb. 20) and #17 Marquette (Feb. 24). Aside from Marquette, the Big East’s other Top 25 teams either don’t play the Irish this year (#5 Pitt, #18 UConn) or else they host us (#8 Georgetown, #20 Syracuse). Not the most exciting home schedule ever, but also perhaps a bit of an easier conference road than last year’s. We’ll see. Non-conference road games of note include #39 Maryland (Dec. 3) and possible NIT showdowns with #43 Indiana in Indy and, if the Irish win that one, probably some combination of #2 North Carolina, #24 Tennessee and #26 Gonzaga at Madison Square Garden.

As for USC… they also received no votes. Their first game against a ranked team is a doozie: Dec. 4 at #3 Kansas. After that, they travel to #45 George Washington on Dec. 9. They may play #27 Wichita State on Dec. 23, depending on how the first-round games in the Las Vegas Classic go. Ranked conference foes are #5 UCLA, #10 Arizona and #16 Washington. The pollsters apparently expect a “down” year in the Pac-10, as those three are the only conference teams that received any votes at all.

In an article that’s currently linked on the CNN homepage, Britney Spears’s uber-loser husband, Kevin Federline, says: “If you want to hate me, cool, hate me.”

Well, that’s a relief… I’m glad to know we have K-Fed’s permission to hate him. I wonder, alternatively, are we allowed to not give a rat’s ass?

“You’re breakin’ my balls, Hans Brix, you’re breakin’ my balls!”

I just watched St. Louis take a 3-1 World Series lead in the LaFortune Student Center with a bunch of Cardinals fans (some of whom, like the fuzzy-hat-wearing Leprechaun at right, are dressed rather
strangely because of a Halloween party upstairs).