O Chicago, if it was only so easy.

Wait till next year? Sounds about right, after the Los Angeles Dodgers stunningly pushed the Cubbies to the brink of elimination, obliterating the North Siders in a pair at Wrigley to take a commanding 2-0 lead in this best of five series.

Maybe it’s really not shocking. Maybe we’re just naive buying into the notion that the law of physics says after a century of futility and frustration a team has to be due. These Cubs don’t look elite. And right now, they don’t look like they’re going to fulfill the destiny that their loyal faithful thought they would.

Instead, the last game (probably) played at Wrigley this year was a classic dud. A 10-3 spanking to LA, a team that has just come out of nowhere to not only win the NL West, but to look like a prime contender to win the National League. The baby bears looked liked they didn’t belong as they committed three (count ‘em) THREE errors in the second inning.

Not only did the Cubs drop two to the Dodgers, they dropped two at home, in the friendly (although the spattering of boos didn’t sound so friendly today) confines of Wrigley Field.

The Cubs made four errors on the night but the Dodgers earned this one. They scored on a bunt, they got it done on gapers, and once again Manny Ramirez came through with another long home run. Man, has he been the perfect pickup for a Dodgers team now one win away from their first playoff series win in 20 years! You can say all you want to about C.C. Sabathia, but we might look back when it’s all said and done, and crown Manny as the greatest mid-season pickup of this year. The guy has been brilliant, and the Dodgers have been great since they landed him.

As for the Cubs? Well, they’re once again displaying why regular season success means nothing. There’s a reason so many teams win the World Series as a wild card, or road team. Seeds mean virtually nothing in baseball. When you break it down the four teams are so closely matched for the most part that a Dodgers series victory wouldn’t be monumental.

Devastating to Cubbies fans, yes. But world-breaking, mind blowing, no, not really.

We saw this with Seattle in 2001 when they won 116 games and didn’t even make the World Series. So if the Cubs get knocked out, no one should be amazed. It’s a shame for Chicago if it happens. And it makes you wonder if it will ever happen, but outside of the Windy City it’s just baseball being baseball.

In a five game series anything can happen. Great pitching, timely hitting, good defense, and a relief staff that gets hot at just the right time is what it takes. The Dodgers have it.

Such is life for a running back in the NFL. Great one minute. Completely disposable the next. It’s a tough fall for Taylor, who has spent his entire football life in the Sunshine State, but not one that is entirely that shocking. The question for NFL veterans in the salary cap era is not, “what have you done for me lately,” but “what haven’t you done for me lately.” It’s a cruel, painless demise that most former elite running backs face nowadays, with their position being labeled one of the most replacable and shortest lasting in the game.

Taylor is just one of many players who have been kicked to the curb despite consistent brilliance, because the ‘ol body didn’t have in it’s 30’s what it once had in it’s 20’s. Because of that, the days of the Emmitt Smiths seem long gone.

Larry Johnson was a machine from 2005 to 2006, scoring 37 touchdowns on the ground, and logging 752 carries. The heart and soul of the Chiefs, LJ was indispensable, one of the few untouchables on KC, and a dynamo in fantasy leagues everywhere. He was the engine that made their offense run. Now, no one wants him. Including, Kansas City. That’s what 1,243 carries in six seasons will do for you. His run ins with the law haven’t exactly helped his case either.

LaDanian Tomlinson was the greatest football player on the planet just a few years ago. In 2006 he lit up the league for an astonishing 31 touchdowns, while bolting to 1,815 yards on the ground. LT was an elite player, a fabulous athlete who could not only run the ball like the wind, but he could even throw the pigskin around a little too. Picked 5th in the now infamous Michael Vick draft, after the Chargers traded their first overall pick for essentially him and Drew Brees, he helped turn around the helpless Lightning Bolts into an AFC contender. But he’s on the wrong side of 29 now, and the full tank of gas is dropping steadily. Tomlinson had his worst season as a pro last year, and still had 1,110 yards and 11 touchdowns, but the crickets starting coming out of the woodworks that not only were his best days behind him, but that he also might be expendable.

I guess that’s what 2,657 career rushing carries will do for a player. And even though LT has scored 126 career rushing touchdowns, he’s not the same guy he once was. Sure-fire Hall of Famer? The eight year vet sure seems like a lock. But it’d be a major stretch to say he’ll retire as a Charger. He’s old news and the Chargers are looking for someone with younger fresher legs.

Pirates Director of Baseball Operations Bryan Minniti said the last-minute logo change was made in an attempt to piggyback on the extraordinary year that pirates off the coast of Somalia had in 2008. According to a report in the New York Times, Somali pirates hijacked more than 25 ships last year and in many cases were paid million-dollar ransoms for their return.

“How many ships pass by Somalia in a year, anyway - 40, at most?” Minniti asked reporters, rhetorically. “If one of our 3-4-5 guys started the year 25 for 40 (.625), we’d be thrilled. We could learn a lot from their successes - on an off the water.”

Minniti admitted that although the team had invited the model for the new logo, Taguli Ali, a Somali pirate, to the press conference to help unveil it to the media and fans, he would not be making appearance, after all.

According to anonymous team sources, Ali disappeared from the waiting room earlier that morning while the receptionist was getting him coffee. Also missing were 200 copies of the team’s newly printed media guide, the team’s 1979 National League championship trophy, the bat Roberto Clemente used to hit his 3,000th hit, and a glove signed by Andy Van Slyke.

“Actually, the receptionist couldn’t even get him the coffee because he apparently - somehow - had stolen the coffee maker before she could get to it,” Minniti confirmed to reporters. “You’ve probably noticed by this point, too, that we don’t have a podium for this press conference…”

Despite the mishap at team headquarters and the six attempted-rape emergency calls received by Pittsburgh police in an around the building that morning, the Pirates are committed to this new logo and new look.

“Yes, we learned a lesson or two today about inviting Somali pirates to our team headquarters, but if our leadoff guy could steal like that guy, who knows how far this team will go in 2009.”

The first stroke on each hole is made from the teeing ground, where the grass is well-tended and the ball is struck from an elevated position, having been placed on a tee. After teeing off, a player strikes the ball again from the position at which it has come to rest, from the fairway, where the grass is cut low in order that balls may be easily played, the rough where grass may be more unruly, or a hazard such as a bunker of sand, body of water, or forest, from which play is most difficult, since hazards, like the rough, are designed to penalize players for inaccurate or otherwise errant shots. Strict rules apply to one’s navigating a hazard, and one often must assess him/herself a penalty stroke if a ball is unplayable and must be moved. There are various online Golf shop, which offers information about Golf portal, but that sites where in English which is difficult for Germans to follow.

So, there is a new website which provides golf portal in German Language. This site contains various golf items to be purchased. And it is actually quite simple. You just go to the homepage and examined under the Rubric golf shop the item you want to buy happy. Just put in the basket, and looks depending on neither the taste nor more articles like the one wants to buy, and this adds to shopping basket. Once the shopping is done you just checkout, there is a field where you can enter coupon code. Once you enter the coupon code the amount is deducted from your account or coupon. Just confirm all the purchase order and it is completed with voucher. In today’s time, it is no longer simply, the multitude of suppliers of golf articles for the right to decide. But, Golfkurs provides the best-known suppliers for golf equipment and gathered them on advantages and disadvantages reviewed. So you can already run up a choice in which the potential stores provided. . They provide information where to buy golf clubs which are the best online Golf shop in Germany and all information about which golf course to play and golf club fitting information. If you want Golf portals in Europe just visit Golkurs and play golf.

Sport is commonly defined as an organized, competitive and skillful physical activity requiring commitment and fair play. The golf is an example of a sport in which a player must be skillful. This using many types of clubs including woods, irons, and putters, hits a ball into each hole on a golf course in the lowest possible number of strokes. Golf is one of the few ball games that do not use a standardized playing area; rather, the game is played on golf “courses”, each one of which has a unique design and typically consists of either 9 or 18 holes.

Golf as a spectator sport has become increasingly popular, with several different levels of professional and amateur tours in many regions of the world. This golf sport is not easy to learn, especially to those who are not familiar on how the game must be played.

It is helpful for a player to start on basic techniques and also start by knowing its rules and regulations, not just golf but the same as other sports. And to help the new learner about the Golf sport, Golf Platzreife in Chiemsee Bavaria offering everything to do with the golf sport.

They are a German golf portal and they do everything with golf. They also have golf school in which they offer course to the children. Their golf shop is the biggest in Germany offering all the stuff that are needed in the sport with all the brand names.