Weekend Woundup

-Went to see Frank Caliendo (pic) at Argosy Alton on Saturday night. The guy is freakin’ amazing with his impressions. Not only does he have the voice down on characters like Presidents Bush and Clinton, John Madden, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and several others that I'm not remembering…but he also has the mannerisms down. The Bush smirk and gestures, the Clinton thumb-push, the John Madden “BOOM” and hunched-up neck. If you ever get a chance to see him live, do it. The only disappointment for me was that there was no Harry Caray in his act Saturday…another impersonation that he’s famous for. By the way, thanks to my friends at Kochan Advertising and Argosy for the hospitality.

-Well, the Cardinals did it again. They have done it all season. They give you the idea they’re a solid and winning team, only to fall on their faces and disappoint you. Game four of the NLCS Sunday night was a disaster from many standpoints. The starting pitching from Anthony Reyes was timid and barely acceptable. The relief pitching from Brad Thompson, who looked like he was about to pee in his pants on the mound, was ridiculous. Then Josh Hancock came on and took things from bad to pathetic. But, let’s be real. The Cardinals can’t expect to win anything as long as Scott Rolen and Albert Pujols aren’t carrying their share of the load. And have they? If the Birds make it to the World Series without a serious contribution from those two, it will be miraculous.

-For a while I thought the Rams would win a game by having it handed to them by the opposition again. But, not so. I do like the way they are playing…generally speaking. I think Scott Linehan has a better handle on the way to be successful, in the long run, than Mike Martz did.

-The Blues have a winning streak going. Two-in-a-row after last night’s hard-fought, come-from-behind win against the Blackhawks at Scottrade. Strong performers for the Note were Lee Stempniak, Keith Tkachuk, Bill Guerin, Radek Dvoark (who has been invisible ‘til now), and goalie Manny Legace. The Blues, who have struggled scoring goals, popped in three power-play goals…a good sight to see. Phoenix next at Scottrade on Tuesday.

-Steve Lyons was fired by Fox Sports after a little “racially insensitive” remark during some kidding around with Lou Piniella in the booth during Friday’s Detroit-Oakland game. Something about being afraid that Piniella (who has some Hispanic blood in his veins) would steal his wallet…was enough to get Lyons canned. Supposedly he’s going to try to talk to the head of the network to get his job back. But, in this day and age he’ll be barking up a pretty tall tree. Too bad, I think he usually does a pretty decent job. Although, he does tend to go overboard with the attempts at humor.

-Are you sick of the political ads yet? Only another three plus weeks to go. Seems like there’s got to be a better use for all of that money.

-How about that football brawl Saturday between Miami U. and Florida International? Disgraceful on both sides. You can put sports uniforms some people…but that doesn’t make them any more of a human being. Heads should roll, and scholarships should be lost.

-The Detroit Tigers are American League champs already…while the Cardinals and Mets flail away at one another in the National League. There’s nothing that indicates the winner of the NL will have any more success in the World Series than they have had in recent years. And that, of course, is none.