What a sportsman!

Derek Jeter is SI's Sportsman of the Year! As if you needed another reason to hate him, Dear Roxy. Congrats to the man that has done it all this year!

And what's the truth behind Holliday? First I hear he "would accept" a trade to the Yankees (hope the Yankees are not trading any of my favorite pitchers!) and now I hear about a possible trade to the Red Sox? Let's get this story straight.

A little farewell to Bob Sheppard, the voice of the Yankees for a godzillion years. He hasn't worked since 2007 due to illness so I suppose he's officially retiring (the man is 99 years old!!!). Insert Yankee tears here.

Did you hear about Grady Sizemore and the "private" photos that were stolen from his girlfriend's email account? I could just imagine what they are, haha.

Before I get to football, what's the deal with Tiger? Oh my, sounds like trouble in paradise.

And I'm so glad Serena got a hefty fine for her US Open outburst. Poor line judge, I bet she's still hiding underneath her bed.

The Dolphins have officially dug themselves in a very deep hole. How could they lose to the Bills - the Bills?!?! There's still hope... I'm not losing it just yet.

Go Colts!

-Criss

PS Notre Dame's Charlie Weis has been fired and the Seminole's Bobby Bowden "will retire." I fell bad for these man! The end of an era for Bobbie, that's for sure.

Photo: Gregory Heisler for Sports Illustrated

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today we give thanks for all that we've been blessed with in 2009.

-Sporting Gals

Painting by Jean Louis Gerome Ferri

Flutie Flakes

I'm here, Dear Criss! I am on VACATION as of 7:15 p.m. EST! YA-hoo!

So get ready to get sick of me.

Did you say Hail Mary? Happy 25th anniversary to Doug Flutie and the Golden Eagles today.

Okay, Ben gets knocked out with a concussion - yes, a concussion; let's not lie to ourselves about what we saw - then the team goes down to the KANSAS CITY CHIEFS. Seriously. What's happening? The Steelers are battling for the WILD CARD slot. (How many times did I use all caps?) Polamalu is out for a month, the backup QB is out for about six weeks. Yikes. I may have to change my Super Bowl match-up prediction. (Still keeping the Vikings in it.) There's something really wrong with this.

Speaking of something really wrong, did you see the Dallas-Redskins score from this weekend? It was 7-6. The Pats ran all over the Jets. It was a little boring. I kinda thought maybe a closer game would be nice. I don't know. But are the Dolphins kicking themselves every Sunday for letting Wes Welker go? Oh yeah. Well now it appears that Coach Belichick has had his eye on Welker since college, writes NESN.com. I don't know if that's scary or a compliment.

Forget this week; let's look at next weekend: Saints-Pats. Um, I think the Pats lose this one.

Roxy

Photo: Forbes.com

Blog Hog: Dolphins

The Dolphins are finally a .500 team, Dear Roxy.

Even you and I can be happy for this turn of events. With Brown out for the whole season I was really doubting the team, but luckily they proved me wrong.

I could do without the hail mary's though. I'm just glad Williams, Porter and Co. stepped up and played great - the sacks, the running - everything worked for Miami! I just feel bad for the offensive line. I thought they were going to run out of players! Actually, I think they did. It's a good thing they'll have 1.5 weeks to recover!

I find this hard to believe but Williams had a receiving and rushing touchdown in the same game for the first time in his career.

In baseball news, Congrats to Greinke and Lincecum (stay away from the grass) for winning the Cy Young, and Tracy and Scioscia for winning Manager of the Year.

I'm starting a "Bring Pettitte Back!" rally, are you in?

Where are you?

-Criss

Photos: AP & Getty Images

Sportsless Weekend

The Colts pulled off an improbable win against your boys, Dear Roxy! I'm more excited about the way it happened.

And no one is more disappointed to have missed it than me! While the Colts celebrated, the Dolphins played, and all these sports were happening, I was camping in the great Florida outdoors.

Tell me about the weekend in sports, Rox :)

PS Congratulations to Chris Coghlan of the Florida Marlins for winning the NL Rookie of the Year, the third Marlin to win it!

And can you explain Sammy Sosa's complexion?

-Criss

Photo: Lenny Ignelzi, AP

Forget Baseball.

Alright, so I got my selfish wish, Dear Criss. Varitek is back. A backup? But I couldn't see him playing anywhere for what will probably be his last year playing - if we can even call it "playing." So be it. He's not gonna make a scene in front of cameras or write a book or anything. What if he just suddenly retires in February? I feel uneasy about all of this.

I'm not gonna stress out about the season. The stats are there when there's no 'Tek. There will be no World Series. Who knows, maybe you'll take the prize again. It'll be a few years before we make it back, before the team finds is groove again. Sigh. BRING MAUER IN '11!

And Colts-Pats - I'm never a bigger Pats fan than for this match up. Go get 'em Pats! I thought I was going to miss the game because I had to work until 6:00, but then I thought it was such a big match up, it had to be a Sunday night game. Woo hoo! I felt better. Wonder who you're going for, Ms. President of the Manning Fan Club. Give us the post-game overview. We're leading at half-time as I wrap this up.

Roxy

P.S. I don't want to talk about the Steelers losing to the Bengals - again.

Photo: Keyshawn's book, Grand Central Publishing

And it goes on and on...

As previously mentioned, Jeter, and now Teixeira, continue to add awards to their already full mantle. Jeter and Teixeira are 2009 Gold Glove winners, as well as Silver Slug winners! Talk about icing on the cake! What a great year to be a Yankee and Yankees fan, Dear Roxy.

Speaking of Jeter, can you explain this picture for me? Ha, truly cracks me up. He's making a cameo on a Wahlberg/Ferrell movie.

And on a quick note, feel better John Wetteland!

Now that baseball is over, the weekdays seem to get longer and longer. I look forward to football on the weekends, but it’s just not the same. And don’t get me started about the end of football season. Basketball is not as cool as it used to be.

Brady vs. Peyton Sunday night. That’s the game of the year!

And can somebody tell me what’s happening to Eli and the Giants?

The Dolphins play the Bucs on Sunday. Hopefully they’ll pull off a win against the 1-7 team!

-Criss

Photo: Winslow/Prahl/Splash News Online.

Veteran's Day

We salute the Men and Women who have served and continue to serve
this beautiful country of ours.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

-Roxy and Criss

I'll get back to you on your Vtek comments, as well as Jeter getting another award!

Photo: Kevin Lamarque

Blog Hog: Vari-teeeek!

The Boston Globe reports:

"The club announced it has declined a $5 million team option on catcher Jason Varitek. He now has four days to decide whether to exercise his $3 million option or become a free agent."

Oh, this sounds like a sad ending to a beautiful story, Dear Criss.

Roxy

Photo: The Boston Globe, Yoon S. Byun

Why Are They Hugging?

Okay, okay, Dear Criss. Enough of this Yankees inundation. Oh my goodness. Now this only means that our rivalry will be even more overhyped next year, but at least with some reason to do so. Not looking forward to it. Theo's got a lot of work to do. I think we'll see plenty of new faces on the Sox.

So now that that nightmare is all over, let's switch gears to football. Eek. I didn't realize the Dolphins were doing so poorly. Today's game against the Pats was pretty competitive. I admit, I felt bad that the Dolphins lost. Tomorrow night, Steelers-Denver. No secret who I'm going for on Monday Night.

Well, I'll leave you on your Yankee high. How are the clouds up there?

Roxy

AP photo

Blog Hog: Celebration

The party and celebration continued on Friday, Dear Roxy! I don't know know much these guys have slept since winning their 27th World title, but I'm not sure they care!

Pettitte, Posada and Derek even made it to Late Night with David Letterman.

-Criss

Photos: Marc Lennihan, Jim McIsaac

Sweet: 27th Heaven!

Yes, Dear Roxy, they’ve done it! The Yankees are champions of the world!

As a long-time Yankees fan, I can tell you this was worth the wait. Yeah, in the late 90s everything came easy for them, but for the better part of this decade, we’ve learned that it’s a lot harder than it looks.

And then, when you read this story is when you truly realize how special it really is, and why I absolutely love this game.

I’m so happy for ARod, Tex, Joba, the MVP Matsui, AJ, CC and the rest of these guys – they finally got their World Series championship. And the “old goats” that came up together - like Jeter, Posada, Pettitte and Mariano - what can I say that I haven't said before? Well, they got their thumb ring! Sweeeeeet!

Congratulations to the Phillies – truly a class act. They are NL Champs and should hold their head up high.

But for now, is all about the City of New York, their players and fans.

New York Yankees – 2009 World Champions!

-Criss

Photos: Chris McGrath, Big League Stew, David J. Phillip.

Read My Lips - or T-shirt

They used instant replay, Dear Criss? No kidding? Cool.

Hey, I have little to say besides the Phillies are choking. Only five percent of me believes they can pull out a World Series victory at this point. I go back to my baseball history-doesn't-happen-multiple-times-in-our-lifetime theory. I'm glad I'm not a Phillies fan. If this thing goes sour, they should close school and work for a day. It's awful.

Just beat NY - anybody. Really.

Roxy


Photo: CBSsportsstore.com

27 outs from #27!

Oh, what a difference three games make. Reading your post only made me laugh =)

Yes, pitching dominated Games 1 & 2 in New York, especially Lee, but the Yankees weren't far behind. And in Games 3 & 4, timely hitting was the case. Luckily, it was the Yankees doing the hitting. Ahhhhhhh. I’m so excited, I just can’t hide it, Dear Roxy.

I can’t say enough about the gutsy performances of CC, AJ, Andy, and of course, Mariano. These guys are the reason they’re up 3-1 in the series.

Batting – It’s all about timing and momentum. ARod’s homerun in Game 3 and his double during last night’s game was timeless. But the night belonged to your favorite, Johnny, and his heads-up play of stealing second and third! What a game-changing play. I was stunned – I’d never seen anything like that. I was confused for a minute or two after that play.

And although the big bats haven’t been hitting like they’re capable of doing, when needed, they have. That’s all you can ask for, right?

And Derek Jeter is stockpiling awards! Congratulations for winning the Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron awards. What a year he’s had. One more win can top that!

And congrats to Andy for winning his 17th game in the postseason, an MLB record!

In other non-baseball news, the Canes and Dolphins won! I certainly ride the waves with these two teams!

Peyton won and Eli lost. Are we to worry about the Giants?

At the NYC Marathon, Meb Keflezighi, the Eritrean-born American citizen, ran the marathon in 2 hours, 9 minutes and 15 seconds, becoming the first American since 1982 to win the Marathon! What a great feat - congrats!!!

Basketball is back.

-Criss

PS: I can’t believe instant replay was finally used in the World Series. And they didn’t take long to review. Something to think about, Bud.

Photos: NY Post, David J. Phillip, Julie Jacobson