I got some very good news yesterday afternoon. I'm going to be on Millionaire!

My taping is on November 20, with an airdate of early to mid-June. If you're in the NYC area, I think I can get tickets if you'd like to attend. One side note is that if I don't get to the hot seat that day I'll have to come back on December 2, so it could be you'll get to attend a taping and not see me.

I have to admit this is all just a bit unreal. Sarah thought I was fairly subdued when I told her, and I probably was. Like the wedding, I don't think this is going to become real to me until the week beforehand.

For those of you who I may ask to serve as a phone-a-friend, note that the times you have to be available are pretty long. Something like 9-12 in the morning and 1-7:15 in the afternoon/evening. Even tougher, for the afternoon shift you can only be available by regular phone, not cell (not sure why, but I didn't think to ask).

Now if I can only get a million dollar question on the Chinese foo dog...

To use the local vernacular, I am wicked pissed at Dunkin' Donuts. They have apparently discontiued the cruller.

For those of you not familiar with the cruller, it is a braided doughnut, straight rather than round. Most often plain, but also often available in chocolate and marble (plain and chocolate braided together), crullers have been around for ages, but they seem to have a particular resonance with locals, myself included.

In the place of the cruller is the "stick," which I've not seen but the description in the article makes it sound like a doughnut loaf. Not surprisingly, much of the change is being blamed on how the dougnuts are made, and that you can't make crullers by machine.

As you'd note in the article, crullers were one of the four original types of doughnuts that Dunkin' Donuts offered. Thus, the company is moving even farther away from its roots as it tries to ape Starbucks and Krispy Kreme.

Now you may be wondering why this is bothering me so, given that I treated the arrival of Krispy Kreme with a "doughnuts are doughnuts" mentality. Well, there are three reasons.

1. I like crullers more than regular doughnuts. They're more substantial.

2. Faster isn't better. Thinking along the lines of James Dinan's recent post, my guess is that In-n-Out Burger is a little slower than McDonald's. Yet I don't think I have ever met anyone who's had both that prefers the latter to the former.

3. The idea that doughnut technology is somehow making the cruller obsolete is farcical. It strikes me as odd that the PhDs at Dunkin' Donuts Laboratories can't come up with a cruller-making machine. If you can make pretzels by machine, you should be able to do the same with crullers. And if it's an issue of the dough, why not just use the old dough for the crullers? Or are they using the same dough to make everything? Time to start checking the bagels.

I'm also annoyed as it's another jab at local foods. I'm sure most of you don't remember the Crown Pilot cracker fiasco. Long a staple of chowder-eaters, Nabisco announced in 1996 that it was going to do away with the cracker. This pissed off the wrong folks (many of them Mainers, who I've come to learn shouldn't be riled en masse, especially about something they consider traditional to Maine), and Nabisco relented.

I'm not sure that the same sort of groundswell will happen here. For their part, Dunkin' Donuts doesn't even recognize the change on its website. There's news of their fall doughnut flavors, the new coffee products they're rolling out, and plenty of rosy business news about parent company Allied Domecq Quick Service Restaurants (who also own Baskin-Robbins and Togo's). ADQSR is part of a British-based company, which might explain the whole mess. It's part of a long-term revenge strategy for the Revolutionary War. Damn limeys.

While you can lodge comments on line, I plan on penning an actual letter. Anyone who cares to do so as well should direct their missive to:

Dunkin' Donuts Customer Care
14 Pacella Park Drive
Randolph MA 02386

You can even call to complain (800-859-5339), though I tend to express myself better in writing. Though Sarah has warned me off of using phrases like "traitorious bastards" and "craven morons," which is probably for the best.

While I didn't know that the NRA had a blacklist (or as they term it, a fact sheet), I can't say that I'm surprised.

Some of the names on it are of little surprise (the ACLU, for example), but some of the other names were interesting.

From the world of sport, the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals, and the St. Louis Rams and Cardinals, are all on the list. In fact, there's fairly prominent KC/St. Louis representation for organizations who are supposed to be anti-gun. Must be the Missouri chapter of the NRA pulling its weight.

Based on the list of celebrities and media outlets, it appears that stalwart NRA supporters can't go to the movies or watch any of the three major networks. Fox is OK, which is no surprise. The WB, UPN, and PAX aren't listed, which makes me think that perhaps the only people watching those are NRA members.

The celebrity list is actually kind of entertaining, as for every Sean Connery, George Clooney, and Julia Roberts you get an Estelle Getty, a Michael E. Knight, and a Dweezil Zappa. This doesn't even mention the likes of Arlene Dahl, Nancy Lee Grahn, Grace-Lynne Ingle, Stephen Nichols, Peter Reckell, and others - that I've never heard of. Marla Maples is also listed as an actress, which I'm sure she's flattered by.

There are also a number of religious groups, including such radicals as the US Catholic Conference and those bomb-throwers at the United Methodist Church.

I suppose the stories about the list are just another part of the vast conspiracy against gun rights in America (I'm sure this website doesn't help). I'll go hole up with my AR-15 and Pauly Shore movies... he's still OK, isn't he?

I got to see the good and bad sides of Fox programming last night.

The bad, of course, is the new installment of Joe Millionaire. I will say that it is at least mildly entertaining bad, in many of the same ways that such shows are. Based on what little I have to compare on, I like the new guy more than Evan. Perhaps the most entertaining revelation last night is that saying Grace is not very common in Europe. Or at least among European gold-diggers, one of whom did a very lame impersonation of a televangelist (I guess they get the 700 Club in Sweden). I will say the look on the new guy's face after that was priceless. Interestingly, that woman is still among those in contention to marry a faux millionaire. Maybe he's saving her in hopes of crushing her, mentally. Though I think it would take much, much less to do so in her case.

On the good side is 24, which I missed last year. There are some changes, but having skipped a season didn't really set us back any. I won't go into details in case some of you taped it for future viewing, but I will say that I'm looking forward to the season (except for Elisha Cuthbert's hair, which is in a style I don't particularly care for).

We get a publication at work called RA Manager which is usually a pretty good monthly newsletter about issues of importance (or at least interest) to anyone who manages resident assistants.

This month's lead story, though, seems a little dated. Entitled "Living on the Straight Edge," it discusses the straight edge philosophy and the "hundreds of adolescents and twentysomethings" who've adopted the no alcohol/drugs/casual sex credo. The article goes on to note that "[s]ome of these young people may be coming to a campus near you - if they aren't already visible at your school."

This would all be well and good if this were, say, the issue of RA Manager from 20 years ago. Heck, there are probably RDs who got the issue who were or still are straight edge. Not that there isn't relevance for today's college students, but terming it like it's something new is kind of worrying. I'm expecting an article sometime next year about that new "rap" music and the spine-shattering danger of breakdancing.

Seems like a good time for bullet points.

* Why do I see paralells between the current presidential brouhaha at the alma mater (see Monty's blog for details) and the transfer of power in any given banana republic?

* I'm fairly non-plussed about the Grady Little firing, which when combined with all the big contacts expiring next season makes me think that '04 may be the year of the great Carmine Hose Meltdown. That or they're going to win 115 games and still not win the World Series. Which, I have to admit, would be kind of funny.

* The RD I share the office with here was at the Pats-Browns game this past Sunday, and lived to tell about it. Not that there was much to tell in a 9-3 game.

* My knee is about 85 percent. I can walk pretty much normally, but I have the occasional limping moment.

* I'm getting towards the end of Quicksilver, and it's not too bad if a bit slow (I suppose it's setting things up for future payout, which would be fine if I could move on to the next book now instead of having to wait for April).

* I love the Bruins. In four home games, they managed to beat the Red Wings, tie the Devils, but lose to both Carolina and the NY Rangers. Maybe they should just stay on the road (where they're 5-1-1 with wins over NJ, Colorado, and Dallas).

* It also bears mentioning that after two failed attempts to get BU hockey coach Jack Parker behind they Bruins' bench, the B's have one of his former players, Mike Sullivan, who graduated from BU THE YEAR BEFORE I DID. Things like this should stop bothering me, but they won't.

* I am involved in a pumpkin-carving contest this afternoon, which should be interesting given that I have very, very limited artistic skills. I'm told that there will be templates and such for facilitating the carving, but I'm still thinking there's going to be ugliness. On the positive side, perhaps we can roast the seeds, which I've always found tasty.

* The Ireland recap is going slowly, but will pick up now that I've resized the photos. The mistake I made was trying to resize all of them at one go, which made my computer well-nigh unusable for 3 hours yesterday. Thankfully two of those hours were taken up by lunch and a meeting.

* The Top 50 Competition Movies of All Time, as you can thus imagine, is going even slower. I'd meant to pick it up again by now, but I'm trying to get Ireland down while it's still somewhat fresh. Given that, if you have suggestions for the list feel free to email them along.

Considering I watched about 3 minutes of the World Series this year I won't crow too much publicly about the Marlins' win, though I've just noticed that three former Red Sox hurlers - Ugie, Carl Pavano, and Chad Fox - got rings with the Fishes. I knew that Ugie and Pavano were on the team, didn't know about Fox. I'd also note that it was nice to see Pudge Jr. get a ring.

Like Joe, I'm nonplussed that Jeffrey Loria gets to bask in the glory of a Series win given his history, and I kind of wish Zim had saved his field-charging to take Loria out at the knees. It's not like he has to worry about losing his job - that pretty much disappeared with Game 6's final out. Then again, given what McKeon did, maybe Zim will get the call to manage again when some team starts 8-21 next season.

The story of my weekend actually begins on Thursday, when my right knee started to give me trouble. Walking was precarious, stairs a new and unwelcome challenge. I took some ibuprofen, did the heat and ice thing, and hoped Friday would dawn with whatever the problem was in my rear-view. Of course, that wasn't to be.

So it was on Friday that I trundled over to Newton-Wellesley Hospital (my doctor being booked solid) and spent a lot of time sitting around. I got some x-rays taken, and eventually got to meet with a doctor in one of the pediatric rooms, where the only places to sit were in a regular-sized chair and a Snow White rocker that would have worked for any age up to four.

In any event, it turns out that I'd sprained my knee through some process that remains a mystery. I was given a knee immobilizer (which works fairly poorly as it's too small, though it does help keep things in place when I sleep), instructions to heat and ice much more frequently than I'd been doing, and a prescription for some big-ass Motrin tablets.

So I've spent the better part of the weekend in bed, missing a variety of engagements. I did get to watch quite a bit of football, most of it lackluster. The Tennessee-Alabama game was fairly entertaining, and the Northwestern upset of Wisconsin was notable, but most of the games didn't hold my interest.

Which is how I wound up watching a marathon of Jamie's Kitchen on Food Network. Jamie Oliver, better known for his series The Naked Chef, took on 15 young unemployed Londoners and had them go through a crash-course on becoming a chef so they could work at a new restaurant that he opened, called (appropriately) Fifteen. It actually turned out that there were only 13 at opening, as one got sacked for an incredible level of absenteeism, the other was suspended after blowing up at the head of the college where most of the instruction took place.

I'm not sure how this stacked up with NBC's The Restaurant, though there are some very similar themes (outside of training the unemployed to cook). I will say that there was probably more cursing in Jamie's Kitchen; there were some very long beeps.

As far as today goes, it was nice to see that Pats win, even if it was in a fairly ugly fashion. I am fairly dismayed at the Giants beating the Vikings in Minnesota, as I'd gone with the lads in purple in the Craig Barker cutthroat pick 'em. Seemed like a good idea at the time. At least I didn't choose this week to go with Seattle. I'm also fairly intrigued at the coming NFL Network, which has slightly re-kindled my interest in digital cable. Not that I trust the Comcast people as far as I could throw them (especially now, as I wouldn't get much drive off of my right leg), considering that the techs are probably still the same ones that were working for AT&T when they couldn't find my apartment in three chances.

It's snowing. October 23rd and it's snowing. Ugh. It's not snowing badly (it was actually coming down at a good clip around 7 this morning), and there's not much sticking, but still. It's snowing!

Then again, that's not as bad as this Britney-Madonna collaboration. That's slowly sapping my will to live.

News that The Mullets was getting the hook for November sweeps made me realize that, to date, not a single network prime-time show has been axed this season. Others are in hiatus hell - Boomtown (which I saw an episode of in Ireland and liked), Coupling (which I imagine is being held up in Customs), and 8 Simple Rules (which will be back) - but no one has bit the bullet yet.

My annual entry in the TeeVee dead pool is already looking crappy, as I had pegged Whoopi as the season's first casualty. That's not going to happen, as the show has apparently found a niche. I have better hopes for my second and third place shows - Rock Me Baby and The Brotherhood of Poland, NH- but neither seem to be going away quickly.

My LaPlaca entry seems similarly haunted. Besides Whoopi, It's All Relative seems to be drawing a crowd even though it's a rip-off of The Birdcage, and Married to the Kellys is finding safety in the new TGI Friday lineup. Part of my problem was an over-reliance on ABC shows, the other part being the haste with which I made up my entry (how did I forget Tarzan?).

I at least managed to avoid choosing Two and One Half Men or Joan of Arcadia, both of which were among the top ten most chosen shows and are both looking like they're going to stick around.

Catching up with one of the stories I missed while in Ireland, did Rush try to blame his comments on McNabb on the drugs?

In the car yesterday I heard a No Doubt cover of "It's My Life," and at lunch today I heard the original version by Talk Talk. No comparison, the 80s win hands down.

Some of you may remember the iLoo, the internet-capable public toilet that turned out to be some sort of p.r. thing for a British division of Microsoft. While it never went anywhere, I do have one data point that suggests that there's a market for this sort of thing.

I was in the bathroom closest to our office, and as I went to wash my hands I heard the steady clacking of someone using a keyboard. The source of the noise? Whoever was in the toilet stall (I didn't look, for obvious reasons).

Given that our campus center is rigged for wireless internet, our hero may very well have been surfing while taking their constitutional. I leave the identification of the website this person was on as an exercise for you, the reader.

With all the fuss over Gregg Easterbrook, has anyone been paying attention to the prime minister of Malaysia? He seems pretty firm in the belief that Jews run the west, to the point of repeating such a belief repeatedly over the last few weeks. After hearing from our own President and the PM of Australia on the matter, the Malaysian PM (Mahathir Mohamad) seems to believe this even more strongly, as in his mind the uproar can only mean that the Jewish folks who are running things are making world leaders complain.

With that sort of logic, I will soon be heading over to Malaysia to see if I can sell Mahathir a system of rocks that protect you from tigers.

I'm going through the pictures I took while in Ireland, and for every one that I can identify and clearly place, there's one where the reason for taking the picture is less clear. I suppose that's the beauty/curse of the digital camera; you can take so many pictures that you forget what you've shot after a while.

It does appear that I've had some success using the camera's black and white option, as I have some reasonably dramatic (perhaps melodramatic) photos of the Cliffs of Moher and Ross Castle. The sepia option does less for me, I think it's too orange. I didn't use that too much, though.

One feature I wish I'd fooled around with more is the movie function, as I think some of the things we encountered during the trip (especially related to the roads) would be much clearer on video rather than just by photo. Something for next time.

Someday, when I'm commissioner of the NFL, I'm going to ask the Franklin Mint or NASA or somebody to make me a thousand coin-shaped objects, with one side only having a large H and the other a large T. I am then going to state that on all coin tosses, the coin shall not be moved from the ground until the referee and one captain from each team verify the result of the coin toss.

If you didn't see the Pats-Fins overtime, you missed the Pats saying that the ref blew the toss by mis-recognizing the side of the coin (the Pats called tails and seemed to believe that's what came up). They survived this and a drive-sustaining catch where the wideout both stepped out of bounds before getting the ball and had one foot go out of bounds when catching the ball (Miami ran a play very quickly to prevent review). And really, any win over the Dolphins is a good win. Even one that was fairly ugly.

Well, it's over. The great Ireland trek has ended, and me and the missus are now safely ensconsed in our apartment. Not that the trip didn't try to extend itself - our flight left about 30-45 minutes late due to a lag built up after Shannon was evacuated (not sure why), and it took us 2 hours to get home from Logan (long story short - if you pick up the phone to call Back Bay Coach for an airport trip, hang up the phone, unplug it, burn it, salt the ashes, and burn them again).

It took us almost a day and a half to find out the result of the ACLS game 7, and even then it was in a story below the fold on the third page of some paper's sports coverage. I still don't know the full story, but having read blog accounts and Jon Couture's fine column, I think it best that things stay that way.

To that end I am also studiously avoiding the World Series. I have Florida State-Virginia on now, but as the TV is in the other room I guess I'm not particularly watching that, either.

I should probably start writing the recap of the trip, which I think will be shorter and less funny than the Britain trip. Not sure if it was the change in dynamic (it just being the two of us) or because Ireland has many features similar to that of Britain. We'll see how it goes.

OK, waiting for Sarah to finish up, so some observations.

* First, thanks to James for his info on the Quest, the cartoonish Brit that populates CNN's international version. JQ, I expect an impersonation at TrashMasters, regardless of whether you had to do one for the CNN Christmas party or not.

* I'm still not sure what Manny was complaining about with that pitch that sparked the bench-clearing. I'm sure he was looking for an excuse, but he could have done better. Heck, he could have let Clemens plunk Kevin Millar, who seems just crazy enough to throw his bat back or something.

* Oh, and while it's nice to see Don Zimmer acting spry, he should perhaps stick to mall walking and hitting fungoes. That or he and Johnny Pesky should be given time for a battle royale during the seventh inning stretch.

* Part of the problem with trying to find baseball information here is that we're fighting against qualifying for the 2004 European soccer championship and the Rugby World Cup. That and the Gaelic football season has recently ended, and there are a lot of managerial changes. Though I'm sure if that all wasn't going on, they'd find something else to report on rather than baseball.

* The whole Governor Schwarzenegger thing got a lot of coverage, including one CNN guy trying to make it out as a new social movement for the US relative to anger at politicians. It was funny watching the expert he was talking to tell him repeatedly that it wasn't. You can only hear "not really" so many times before you start thinking that the anchor should start moving on.

* I've started Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver, only about 100 pages in. So far so good, though I've been reading in fits and starts, so I've not really been able to get into it. I'm sure the flight back will provide ample opportunity.

* I'm still not quite used to my wedding ring. I play with it a lot, which pisses Sarah off when it involves removing the ring from my finger (I've been doing this thing where I take it off, flip it, and put it back on). It may even be that my ring is too big! Probably not, but it does seem to move around quite a bit (though it never makes to slip off).

* And while I'll comment more on this when I get back, both Sarah and I are at a point where if we don't see another chip (french fry to you) again, we'll be OK with it.

Greetings from Dublin! Got here yesterday, haven't seen as much as we'd like but we're getting there. Current plan is to head out west again sometime tomorrow and see some more stuff out there before flying out on Saturday. Hard to believe the trip is almost over.

And as much as this is a fitting subject for the Sox (who have Burkett starting tonight, ye gods!): Apocalypse Watch Cubs are tied 3-3 with the Marlins, winner take all tonight. Expect the DefCon level to get cranked up to 2 if the Cubbies take the clincher. Should the Sox cowboy up and win their last two, well, I may just stay here and build a bunker in the Purple Mountains (and their majesty).

Just got back from the Ring of Kerry, won't spoil the day for those of you looking forward to the recap when I get back. You're both welcome.

I will say that I was dismayed to see the Yankees pull even in the ALCS, but not surprised. Wishful thinking really to have the Sox win the first two in the Bronx. I actually didn't see the result of this game until getting to the computer. The CNN crawl which usually has such things was loaded for bear this morning with cricket, soccer, rugby, and even NHL scores. Odd that they'd have NHL scores but nothing about the playoffs. Then again, the CNN we're getting is much different from what we get at home. Not better, mind you, just different.

Worst part of the CNN here: there's some US-based jackass with perhaps the most annoying British accent. He was all over the California recall, so for the first few days we were here you couldn't avoid his grating voice. And given our lack of options (RTE 1 and 2, Channel 3, CNBC Europe, the German version of M2, and EuroSport), we heard more from him than I'd care to note.

I know EuroSport sounds like an option, but I'm not that into the world championships of fencing that much. The German M2 is OK until they start running anime dubbed in German. That's a problem.

Another oddity; when a movie runs into the news time, rather than push the news back they stop the movie. The last 30-45 minutes of Arlington Road followed RTE 2's half hour of news. In this case, I don't think the movie suffered.

Greetings from Ireland! We've just gotten back to Killarney from Cork, and taking advantage of one of the many (three or four) places offering internet access.

To date we've spent a day knocking around Killarney, were out at Tralee yesterday, and today took in Cork. We're on a bus tour of the Ring of Kerry tomorrow, with trips to Waterford, Cobh and Blarney, and a couple days in Dublin among other things planned. I can already tell I'm not getting up to Ballyhaunis or Sligo to hunt down my Coen forebears. Another task for another trip, I suppose.

The hardest thing about this trip so far? Trying to follow the Sox when there is almost no coverage of baseball here. I've had to depend on passing mentions on CNN, and didn't even know if the Sox had beaten the A's until we made an internet stop the day after game 5. I'm also passingly annoyed that the euro is up about a dime from a month ago, making things a little more pricey than hoped for. The WTO is to blame, somehow.

And even though I'm on this side of the Atlantic, there's always time for...

Apocalypse Watch The Cubs are making things difficult for national security, as they evened up the NLCS last night. Condi Rice and Colin Powell are in discussions with the Joint Chiefs of Staff to set up a missile strike should the Cubs come too close to winning it all.

Oh, and while I'm still here...

Apocalypse Watch The UN Security Council was spared a special session when the Cubs dropped game 4 of their NLDS matchup with the Atlanta Braves. Word has it that Vice President Dick Cheney will retreat to NORAD headquarters to await the results of the decisive game 5.

They say you don't remember everything from your wedding, that it's too much of a blur. I can now say that they (whoever they are) are pretty much right. There are, however, many things I will remember from this weekend, such as:

* Running into one of my groomsmen at random while getting our tuxes squared away and deputizing him to help me with last-minute stuff when all he probably wanted to do was go home and enjoy at least part of his day off.

* Becoming a godparent for the second time (we figured we should try to get as many sacraments into the weekend as possible).

* My first glimpse of Sarah coming down the aisle.

* The priest remarking on the size of my ring (it would later be compared to the One Ring at about a third of the tables at the reception).

* My not hearing the first line of my vows, forcing me to ask for a repeat (had I been thinking, I would have done a Master Thespian and called out "Line!").

* What I think was an all-reception rendition of "Tainted Love."

* Having about a dozen friends and family crammed into our hotel room when Trot Nixon his his game winning home run. If only we'd remembered to pack Sarah's Trot Nixon t-shirt.

And there's a lot more, which I'll catalog in due time.

As for us, all I can say is that there are some people who have fancy brunches after their wedding. And then there are those of us who just want some extra crispy.

Well, wasn't yesterday a great day in sports.

First we've got the Sox, who come back to Boston with an 0-2 defecit after a lackluster 5-1 decision. Very quiet bats after 162 games of solid base knocks.

Then the Twins lose to the Yankees, keeping the Evil Empire alive.

Add to that West Virginia letting Miami off the mat. The Mountaineers had a one point lead with 2 minutes to do, had Miami on a 4th and 13 in their own territory but allowed them to convert. From that point on it was less about if than when/how.

But hope springs eternal on this Friday morning. Canada, the 12th seed in the Women's World Cup, knocked China (whose Most Favored Nation status extends to soccer) out of the tournament 1-0 on a great goal in the seventh minute.

Apocalypse Watch The Cubs did the world a favor yesterday and dropped game 2 of their series with the Atlanta Braves 5-3. They get to go to Wrigley for the next two, so don't stop pricing bomb shelters just yet.

I'll pass on what most of my neighbors would note as the true apocalypse watch, other than to note that who but the Sox could lose a playoff game on a bases loaded bunt?

Today is my first official wedding-related day off from work. Not that I'm using it to any real advantage to this point, outside of stuff around the house. Big tasks for the day include getting my tux and printing up the programs. Sarah's sister is here now, and there's talk that they'll be off tonight for their bachelorette party (though I prefer the English term for it - hen night).

And hey, none of you people have signed up for my Yahoo hockey league. Don't make me come out there!

League ID: 55575
password: slapshot

OK, the Ortiz Watch is over - he's not going to win the AL MVP, and even for all the chatter was an unlikely candidate. Still, it'd be nice to see him get some votes.

Moving on to the playoffs, it's now time to introduce the Apocalypse Watch.

In the short story "The Last Pennant Before Armageddon," W. P. Kinsella writes about a manager for the Chicago Cubs who, in the middle of the World Series, learns that if his team wins, it will be the end of the world as we know it. And, as you can imagine, he does not feel fine.

We've dodged a bullet twice with the Cubs since the story was published in the 1985 collection The Thrill of the Grass. If the third time is the charm, though, you may want to get your affairs in order.

(The kicker, if memory serves, is that the Cubs are playing the Red Sox in the Doomsday Series. I have to check on that.)

Anyway, in our first installment of Apocalypse Watch, the Cubs took a 1-0 NLDS lead over the Atlanta Braves. Most of the Chicago offense was provided by Kerry Wood... their pitcher. Now, Wood can hit... for a pitcher. That he was both the winning pitcher and drive in the game-winning RBI suggests an outside power at work - and not necessarily a higher one.