Did I mention the pennant race is heating up . . .

What a final week baseball fans are in store for as the MLB regular season enters its final 7 days.

The schedule makers must feel like the world's smartest people now as each team gets set for its final two series' of the 2005 season.

Only 1 of the 8 available playoff spots have been confirmed at this point with Atlanta and the Anaheim Angels all but sure things (Atlanta more of a sure thing then the Angels right now).

The most intriguing storyline comes from the AL with the race going on in the AL East & Central div's along with the Wild Card. The Red Sox & Yankees are at it again as they sit tied for the division lead. A season-ending series in Fenway between the two teams will not only determine who wins the division, but probably will mean that one team goes to the playoffs and one team goes home. I think the wild card winner will be from the Central division (either Chicago or Cleveland).

So far it looks like my predictions from the previous post are still on track to come true.

So once again I'll be finding myself glued to the ticker watching to see how things are playing out.
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Moving on to hockey, our home town Moose Jaw Warriors - www.mjwarriors.ca- kicked off regular-season play this past weekend.

Last season our boys took 19 games before they notched their first win. It was an abysmal year that eventually saw the team squeak into the final playoff spot and lost in 5 games of the opening round. This year there was a lot more optimism surrounding the team and it looks to be with good reason.

The Warriors won both their games this weekend with decisive victories over division rivals the Prince Albert Raiders (5-2 win in PA) and Saskatoon Blades (a 9-3 blowout in the home opener on Saturday night). PA and S'Toon are thought by many to be the top-two teams in the Eastern division so this sends a loud message to the division and to the rest of the league.

Many hockey fans have been complaining about the new rules and how it has changed the game. Personally, I love it. I love that it's more wide open and there's a lot less clutching and grabbing. I love that guys need to move their feet instead of just hooking on to a guy with their stick. I love that every game has the potential to be 8-7 instead of 2-1. Eventually players will figure out that the new rules are here to stay and they'll stop playing the way they've become accustomed to over the past 10 years. Just like it took a number of years for hockey to move from a wide open game to a game of clutching and grabbing, it's going to take time to go back to the way it was in the 80's. I think it's worth the wait.

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And finally (going back to baseball), I applauded (not physically, but in my head) the decision of the Baltimore Orioles to send Cheater Palmeiro home for the rest of the season (likely signalling the end of his career). Apparently there's no limit to this guy's selfishness as he tried his darndest to take one of his teammates down with him before he fades off into a steroid-enlarged sunset.

Not only does this guy lie in front of a grand jury by saying he's never taken steroids before. Not only does he lie to the fans of baseball and try to make it sound like he "unknowingly" took steroids; but then he goes and tries to say that one of his teammates, Miguel Tejada, was the one who gave him the steroids that were found in his system.

Thankfully tests proved that Tejada was not in fact the villain that Palmeiro hung him out to be.

How much of a coward is this guy and why is there even a debate about whether he should be considered for the Hall of Fame? Not only should he not be considered for the Hall but he should be wiped out of the baseball history books altogether. In 50 years if someone were to look up the name Rafael Palmeiro they should be able to find no evidence of his existence in Major League Baseball.

This is a classless individual who unashamedly tried to pin his transgressions on a high-profile teammate. What he should have done was do what Jason Giambit did and be a man. Stand up, admit your mistakes, admit you cheated and then go out and do your best on the field- as a clean ballplayer- to make people realize that your abilities are natural and not steroid-induced.
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Finally, what's up with the season premier of CSI:Miami? Did anyone else find it absolutely ridiculous that Archie Andrews- AKA Horatio Cane- was able to single-handedly bring down the "new Florida Mafia" in a span of about 20 minutes? I mean, is this guy not the most unbelievable superhero to ever be created? I have never watched a show where a character is as indestructible as Carusso's character is in Miami.

I realize they're now trying to show some weakness and that he has some dark secret from his past that seems to be haunting him. It will probably end up being something along the lines of an allergy that he has to a mysterious green rock that comes from his home planet. Oh wait, that's already been done.

Well maybe he was bitten by a radioactive spider and now. . . no, that's been done too.

Okay, well perhaps his parents were killed in front of him when he was a little boy, leaving him to be raised by the family butler . . . nope, that's been done too.

At least Grissom is pretty much a science geek who refuses to carry a gun and has a hearing problem. They don't make him out to be the perfect man.