A couple of brief sports observations from the weekend:

--Some of my long-suffering friends in Chicago clued me in on a popular acronym years ago: C-U-B-S. Cubs Useless By September. This pattern is so set in stone that it long ago became expected of the Cubs. That's why it's almost impossible to overestimate the job that Dusty Baker has done in his first season as their skipper. He isn't only the manager of the year, he's the manager of the decade.

--We moved to South Florida in the spring of 1998, when Wayne Huizenga had sold off almost all the stars from the champinship Marlins team that had won the World Series only five months before. Since then, with an awful product and management that clearly didn't care, one would routinely find crowds of 5000 or less at Marlins games. It's been exciting to see that change this year. The momentum has built slowly, but there are now 30,000-plus crowds at Pro Player Stadium, and you hear people excitedly talking about the Marlins. During Dolphins season. That's only happened one other time in this town's history.

--It's always beautiful to see the St. Louis Rams beat the stuffing out of the Arizona Cardinals. Bill Bidwell is the lousiest owner in sports bar none--and that's saying something considering that particular group of cretins. Bidwll went to Phoenix with his never-won-a-playoff-game team and utterly destroyed a market that had been starved for pro football. Meanwhile, the patient fans of St. Louis have two Super Bowl appearances and a championship under their belts. Revenge is sweet.

--I'm extremely disappointed in the putrid Detroit Tigers. They had a chance to achieve ignominious immortality, but instead only lost 119 games, one short of the all-time record set by the expansion '62 Mets. Great job, guys. Hold your heads high. You averaged 7.166 wins per month this season. Good times.