BASEBALL

With the Philadelphia Phillies advancing to the World Series yesterday, the New York Yankees hoped they could wrap things up with the Angels and start preparing for the Championship.  However, the Angels would not make it easy.  They got up early, and were up 4-0 at the end of the 4th inning.  But the Yankees would rally in the 7th behind clutch, run-scoring hits from Mark Teixeira, Hideki Matsui, and Robinson Cano, and suddenly, it was 6-4 Yankees.  Whoa, that’s like being hit by a train.  6 runs in one inning??!!!  Well, there would be more, as the Angels rallied back in the bottom of the 7th inning.  Bobby Abreu, Vlad Guerrero, and Kendry Morales were the heroes, knocking in some crucial RBIs, and the Angels took a 7-6 lead, which they would hold to win Game 5.  Now, the Angels head back to the New York, hoping to rally and get back to the World Series.  LA Angels 7, NY Yankees 6.

BASKETBALL

A shocking story of gossip.  In Magic Johnson’s new book, Magic Johnson said that Isaiah Thomas spread rumors that Magic was gay.  This comes as a huge surprise to Thomas, who said that never happened.  Apparently, Johnson and Thomas were best friends back in their heyday — their families even vacationed together.  Now, Johnson won’t even speak to Thomas, saying that Thomas made his public revealing that he was HIV positive a horrible experience.  It was bad enough having HIV during the huge AIDS scare of the early ’90s, but to have these rumors spread as well was a terrible experience for Johnson.  Remember, players wouldn’t even go near him at the time.  It must have been extraordinarily alienating.

FOOTBALL

Finally, some interesting news out of football.  A few years ago, the Cleveland Browns signed Notre Dame phenom quarterback Brady Quinn to be their guy.  He didn’t play for awhile, and this year he was finally named the starting quarterback.  Well, in the NFL, big contracts are based on incentives and performance. However, Quinn was recently benched due to poor performance.   In Quinn’s case, he needs to take 70 percent of the snaps this year in order to own 2 big bonuses.  Around 5 milion for this year, and 5 million for next year (it’s a bit confusing, but that’s how it works).  Well, by standing on the sidelines this weekend, he would dip below the 70 percent mark and lose out on that money.  Can you believe that?  Losing $10 million because the coach decided not to start you.  That must be driving him insane.  How life changing is that coaching decision right now?  Sure, if the Browns go with the Derek Anderson, they might lose, or they might narrowly win a game, but it’s meaningless in the grand scheme of things.  But in Quinn’s case, it’s the difference between a life of wealth and security, and thinking about a job after football.