Saturdays Sports Saturday!! Sports!!!

I worked in grocery for so long, where weekends off were few and far between, that having a Saturday afternoon free to watch football is still a novelty.  Tennessee plays hated Mississippi State this afternoon in Starkville.  It still feels very weird to be able to sit my ass on the couch and watch a football game, if I want, without having to move Heaven and Earth to have gotten that weekend off.  (And funny thing?  if I did have that weekend off, it's usually because I had something else going off that I needed the time off for, so I wasn't watching the games then, either).

When I was with the store, there was a long period of time that we would pipe the radio broadcast over the PA system.  That was made to halt somewhere around 2012, when the Director who would fuck me over a a couple times said we couldn't play the game on the PA, since there were ads for competitors in the commercials.

So, so much for trying to inject a small bit of joy into your life on a Saturday afternoon in the South, where college football is just as important as God, Family, Food and The Second By God Amendment.

There were so many reasons to dislike Big Jim.  That barely ends up in the top 5.

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Tennessee does look good this year.  Prior to the season, I was thinking that an 8-win campaign was in the cards, given the uncertainty with the quarterback situation, after Nico Iamaleava misread the room and fucked off down to UCLA.  Didn't know if Aguilar would have the speed, or the receivers the ability, to run Heupel's system right off.  Fuck me, I guess, because they're a missed field goal against Georgia from being 4-0 right now, with a schedule of games that looks a little more winnable with the offense firing on all cylinders.

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But!  It's still baseball season.

2 Games left in the season.

The Cubs clinched a playoff spot 9 or 10 days ago.  They then went into a 5-day hangover, getting swept by the Reds, who are likewise fighting for a spot, in 4 games.

They've shown a little life in the bats, with Kyle Tucker returning to the lineup for the first time since September 2 or so yesterday.  The put 12 on St. Louis yesterday, with Seiya hitting a grand slam.  

Anything can happen on the field.  Maybe the Cubs can figure out what made them so successful 4 months ago, and do that.  I look at a lineup of guys hitting .245 with 30 home runs, and would be more satisfied, I think with guys hitting .275 with 18 homers.  But that's not the game they play.

That all said, my gut isn't optimistic over how this postseason goes, but I also am not so impressed by any of the teams likewise making the playoffs that I see any of them as unbeatable.  Even Milwaukee, which was so hot from Memorial to Labor Day, lost the season series to the Cubs, so there's always a chance.

And then there's the psychic I read about predicting a Blue Jays/Cubs World Series.....

So, I'm rooting for the Cubs.  And I think the Mariners, over in the A.L.  But I'm digging how the leagues are shaping up, though I'd prefer the Astros be kept out of the final 6, if at all possible......