Just for the record, I am hoping for a subway series. That means, to a point, I’ll be rooting for the Mets … but only so that they’ll ultimately lose to the Yankees in the World Series.

Update 1: after losing only one game, the Tigers have played a series of great baseball games and defeated the Yankees. The Tigers have every right to be proud of their achievement. The Yankees have a lot of explaining to do.

Update 2: Finally a proper explanation for why the Yankees lost so quickly.

A friend and fellow fan of the one true sport sent me this link. Here’s a quote:

A study (slated for release September 1) by Dr. Michael Norden of the University of Washington shows that among all 86 private national universities, those ranking in the top half for Ultimate have a graduation rate of over 85%, while those in the bottom half graduate just 60%. The difference in the totals of Rhodes scholars and Marshall scholars among their graduates during this decade is even more dramatic – 208 versus 15. (The odds of this happening by chance are truly infinitesimal). Moreover, the top ten schools based on Ultimate ranking have a slightly higher mean graduation rate and more winners of top scholarships than schools chosen by - not only SATs, but any standard metric including: grades, faculty resources, and financial resources.

Another friend sent this link that shows how to play “half-court” ultimate when you don’t have enough players for the full field. I haven’t had time to analyze it thoroughly but it looks promising.

In case you didn’t notice, this past weekend the Yankees completed their first 5-game sweep of the Boston Red Sox in 63 years. One article points out that “the Red Sox hadn’t been swept in a five-game series since the Cleveland Indians did it in 1954.”

At Sportsline.com, Scott Miller has written a very entertaining read about the patience of Yankee batters at the plate and the toll it took on the Boston Red Sox pitching. A few choice quotes:

Their first four hitters — Damon, Derek Jeter, Abreu and Jason Giambi — are more patient than a mother of 12. This might be the statistic of the year: In Friday’s doubleheader, Damon and Abreu combined to see 98 pitches. Ninety-eight! Two guys!

… Randy Johnson and Mike Mussina could go out to lunch during one of Abreu’s at-bats and be back before it finished. Guys could retreat to the clubhouse for a shower and a shave. They could slip a nap in while Abreu is at the plate.

It was like standing in line at the DMV.

I purchased a flashflight frisbee today. Now I’m just waiting until dark to test it out. Update: My brother-in-law and I tossed this frisbee around in the dark and it worked very nicely. It’s really quite a cool item. I think it would be fun to have a large group of people outside at night with five or six of these flying around. Besides being fun it would probably look a little surreal.