Sports Redux: Chicago, My Kind Of Drown

To the left is a picture of what was facing Chicago at about 4:00 Eastern (3 Central) yesterday, and as you might expect, the wave of massive thunderstorms and punishing wind meant that the Sox/Sox game at Comiskey* would be definitely cancelled delayed for three hours, then cancelled.

So they'll try to play two today, but conditions in the Windy City are scheduled to still be a little windy. Josh Beckett will now face Jon Garland in the afternoon game, while Curt Schilling will meet John Danks in the nightcap. Weather permitting, of course.

The Red Sox did a roster shuffle yesterday, sending Jon Lester down to Portland temporarily so they could bring up Javier Lopez and have another lefty in the bullpen for the Yankee series. Lester is slated to make one start for the Seadogs then come back.

Speaking of lefties, old friend David Wells signed a contract yesterday with the Dodgers; we hear the deal was held up until L.A. determined that they still had one of Tommy Lasorda's old uniforms somewhere in storage.

Tonight's the most serious dress rehearsal for the Patriots; their third preseason game at Carolina will probably be the one that most resembles the lineups you'll see once the games count. Laurence Maroney is scheduled to take the field. Papa Brady will get more minutes than he's gotten so far. The Herald and the Globe both have lists of things to keep an eye on in tonight's game. Meanwhile, the Pats got some surprising good news: rumors are flying that cornerback Asante Samuel's holdout may end soon.

Finally, ESPN is trying to put the 30-3 Baltimore massacre in perspective, ranking the game #8 on the list of the 100 greatest beatdowns in sports** history. We'd switch #12 and #13, personally. And as someone pointed out on the Internet yesterday, where's Jesse Owens vs. Adolf Hitler?

* We know it's not officially Comiskey anymore, but that sounds like a ballpark name, unlike Cell Phone Stadium.

** They aren't all sports-related. It's ESPN, after all.