What is it about Halloween that still engages kids of our age? Sure, the costumes are great and everyone loves a good excuse to stock up on candy, but it seems like there is something more than this. In late October, that mysterious feeling that anything can happen — no matter how unexpected — takes over.
The wide-world of sports is no exception to this.
Throughout October, fans of all sports have found themselves watching TV and being utterly shocked by what they saw.
Baseball
As September came to a close, baseball fans here in the Midwest couldn’t have been happier. The Cubs had the best record in the National League, the Brewers were rolling to their first playoff appearance since before most of us were born and the surprise Minnesota Twins seemed to have surpassed the White Sox for good to head to the postseason.
Fast-forward three weeks.
Baseball fans from the Midwest collectively wept as the area teams bowed-out with little competition. In order:
The Minnesota Twins collapsed to end the regular season, eliminating themselves before the playoffs and letting the White Sox in. Chicago Cubs’ fans, including myself, found themselves once again echoing “Wait until next near” as the team rolled over and played dead against the Los Angeles Dodgers, getting swept 3-0 in the series. The Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers both tried to get something going in their respective series, but opted to imitate the Cubs and Twins and exit the postseason early.
To the surprise of baseball nation, when the dust settled from the first two rounds of the playoffs, the Tampa Bay Rays were still standing.
The Rays were predicted to go nowhere in a division with the Red Sox and Yankees. Yet they stunned all of their critics and cruised into the World Series where they met the Philadelphia Phillies. (More will be added here after the completion of the World Series.)
College Football
Most people know that the Big 12 — with Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech — and the SEC — with Alabama, Georgia, Florida and LSU — are the two power conferences in college football this season. However, the little-talked about Mountain West Conference is next in line.
The MWC has three teams that appeared in this week’s Bowl Championship Series standings — #11 Utah Utes, 12 Texas-Christian Horned Frogs and #21 Brigham Young Cougars.
This trio has suffered only two losses all season (TCU lost to BCS #4 Oklahoma and BYU lost to TCU), while defeating teams like Michigan, UCLA and Oregon State.
Look a little closer at the ever-controversial BCS and you might be surprised by what you see. In the top 13, the MWC is more represented, with two, than three of the BCS-conferences — the Big East (0), ACC (0) and Pac-10 (1) — and tied with the Big Ten.
These teams are all vying to play in one of the BCS Bowl Games and, possibly, become the first non-BCS conference team to compete for a national championship.
NFL
Brett Favre is no longer a Packer and Tom Brady is not starting for the Patriots due to injury.
Injuries are always unexpected, but Tom Brady’s was a true shock. He had started every game for the New England Patriots over the last six seasons, and sure, this is nothing compared to the 250+ straight starts by Brett Favre, but it is still quite impressive.
Brady’s knee injury has him out for the rest of the season, and after surgery, the injury actually got worse because of an infection.
Although Favre being traded from the Packers to the New York Jets was somewhat foreseen, it is still strange and unusual to picture the Packers without him and Favre not with the Packers.
It’s events like these and many others that leave sports fans saying, “I didn’t see that coming,” and “Who would have thunk it?”