Falling behind, thoughts on poker, few vids.....

Here we go again....

The Twins went down 0-2 in their best-of-five series with the A's. As much as I'm disappointed, I can't necessarily say I'm surprised. In what I've seen, the one area where the A's had an advantage over the Twins (starting pitching) has been a wash, with both teams delivering with solid starters who have gone 6 innings or more.

Ironically, where the Twins have failed (and where the A's have succeeded) where they were supposed to be at an advantage: offensively and defensively. If you look at the 4 Twins' runs that have been scored, none of them have been built on any sort of rally. There have been 3 solo home runs, and a "Dome Ball" (a fly ball that gets lost in the roof of the Metrodome) that was scored on a sacrifice. When I think of Twins' baseball, I think of agressive baserunning and timely hitting, neither of which has been evident in this series. Defensively, there's not much to say, other than that everyone looks a little shakey out there. As far as Torii's miscue that resulted in an inside-the-park home run.....that's Torii. You take the good with the bad. It's just a shame that it had to happen on such a big stage.

If you haven't noticed, poker has blown up in America, and across the globe, from the looks of it. ESPN plays reruns of the World Series of Poker constantly, even though it concluded several months ago. ESPN isn't the only network on the bandwagon either.....several other major networks (ones that are on most basic cable packages) have introduced lengthy (1 to 2 hour) shows broadcasting or even commentating on poker. A few thoughts on the poker boom.....

-First, these players, by and large, are losers. If you've ever watched a professional poker broadcast on TV, you know what I mean. Players like Phil Hellmuth, Mike "the Mouth" Matusow, and the 2006 WSOP Champion Jamie Gold enter our televisions and get national airtime, but make no mistake.....in any other situation, these men wouldn't be revered or admired.....they'd have their asses kicked. Only in the confines of a poker room are they allowed to be the losers that they are.

-Second, the poker boom, while intriguing and thoroughly entertaining, will be gone in the next few years, at least from a television point of view. Again, it's a problem of saturation. Pick up your remote and channel surf right now. Odds are you'll come across some kind of poker. I'm reminded of something like Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, which was huge for 1 or 2 years because it was so novel and new, but quickly became less popular as time went on.

-Finally, somewhat related to what I previously said, expect a poker channel to be created within the next year or so. Just a hunch.

To end things today, a few sports videos I like. I'm gonna go play PokerPages.