They Might Be (World Series Champion) Giants

Just before the 2011 Major League Baseball season got under way, my brother and I traded our traditional emails about predictions for the upcoming year. I'm a disgruntled Cubs fan. He's a smug (and rightly so) Cardinals fan. After watching him play at Wrigley for a few seasons, I wrote there is no way the Cardinals could win a World Series with Ryan Theriot as part of their infield. Fast forward to last night: Theriot, now a member of the Giants, celebrates as World Series champion... again! Two for freakin' two! Nostradamus I am not, but c'mon!! You gotta be kidding. Well, as we used to say back in the day, "you just can't quiet 'The Riot.'"

With a tip of the cap to San Fran for sweeping the Detroit Tigers in four, here are my four favorite non-singles from They Might Be Giants. OK, I'm cheating a bit. You won't see the bands earliest works because I have them on vinyl and I don't want to take the time to convert to mp3 right now. Take my word for it, though. The albums these songs are taken from should be in your collection... especially 'Flood.'

TMBG - Sapphire Bullets of Pure Love (mp3) from 'Flood'
TMBG - Narrow Your Eyes (mp3) from 'Apollo 18'
TMBG - Sleeping in the Flowers (mp3) from 'John Henry'
TMBG - James K. Polk (mp3) from 'Factory Showroom'

One more thing about the World Series. It might be time for FOX color analyst Tim McCarver to call it quits. In game 1, he
seemed to forget that Barry Bonds once ruled the Bay Area. Then, last night, during game 4, the aging McCarver suggested catchers switched from wearing soft caps to helmets behind the plate just 20 years ago. That's 1992, folks. The last catcher I remember wearing a cap behind the plate was Rick Dempsey. He retired in 1992, several years after he was a regular in the lineup. So, perhaps McCarver could use him as reference to mask his error, but I believe most catchers were wearing helmets at least a decade earlier. I'm a little long in the tooth myself, and I can see how an older gentleman could mistake 20 years with 30+ years, but I'm not a part of baseball's No. 1 broadcasting team.