The Final Score

Pffffffffffffffft.

Sorry, I have such a hard time feeling bad that a horse's racing career is over.

You know why?

Because it's a horse!

Two special shows at WGBB 1240 am that I wanted to tell you about (Both shows are hosted by people with FOTFS status).

This Sunday Mike Silva will be kicking off a special project in which he will use Long Island-based Strat-o-Matic to simulate what would happen if the 69' Mets played the '78 Yankees.

"We will play the games and have an audio post-game on the actual days the World Series will be played. Kind of a fun way to keep the NY involved in a NY-less post-season," Silva said.

And, to the Long Island racing fans out there, listen in at 1O pm Nov. 2. Frankie the Sports Guy will host a special "Racing on Long Island" show. Scheduled guests include Tom Baldwin Jr., Eddie D'Hondt and Marty Himes.

-- Jim Baumbach (via an e-mail from the LIRR to CN)

If you're like me, you're getting nervous.

I ran 16 miles on Sunday, my longest training run yet, and I had to pull out all the stops to push my body through that run. I made it, and it felt great, but I can't help but wonder how I'm going to do another 10 miles on race day.

People tell me this is a normal feeling. I know I'm a little behind in my training - most people have done a 20 miler by now - but I'm not so much worried about that. Everyone says you need to listen to your body as you train, and that's what I'm trying to do.

I intend to do an 18-miler and a 20-miler before the big day, so that should help. Anyone else out there in TFS land training for the New York City Marathon? How's it going?

As you all know, August was NASCAR month on The Final Score. Since we all took Labor Day weekend, August kind of went out with a whimper here. So we didn't really note the end of NASCAR month.

Thanks for everyone who participated, especially in the Q&A's Jim did with the NASCAR drivers. It was fun.

Now, September has not been designated Anything Month yet. Probably won't be. But that doesn't mean we've forgotten about NASCAR. Jim is going to do a lot of NASCAR stuff as the Chase for The Cup heats up. Stay tuned for that.

So today at Richmond, seven drivers will be added to 12-driver Chase spots. That's pretty exciting.

These five guys are already in: Kyle Busch, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Burton.

These two guys only have to start Sunday's race to get in: Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick.

So who are the other five going to be? And which of the drivers currently holding sports 8 through 12 are going to get bounced?

Jim did Q&As in August with Jeff Burton and Jimmie Johnson.

Also Brian Vickers and Martin Truex Jr.

Brian is 15th and Truex is 17th going into Sunday.

About two hours from now Michael Kay will welcome Chris Russo onto his ESPN Radio show, a funny meeting of minds between two people who went head-to-head for years.

Russo, as part of the Mike and the Mad Dog program, typically crushed Kay's show in ratings. A few years ago they had their own public spat, with Russo/Francesa and Kay exchanging verbal jabs. And, also, Russo used to complain that ESPN voices weren't allowed to appear on WFAN.

But now that Russo has cut ties with Francesa to do his own Sirius show (for $15 million!), he'll go anywhere to publicize it, including Francesa's top competitor. Too bad Francesa won't be on the air at the same time - he's off because of the Mets' day game.

Yes, I'm infringing on Neil Best's ground. But he's on vacation. So ha.

(Gotta give credit to mikefrancesa.com for finding this.)

Read a story in Newsday over the weekend about a section of James Blake fans causing a ruckus at the U.S. Open. What crime did they commit, you ask?

You ready for this?

They cheered for Blake.

WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!!!!

Reports indicated that their chants of "James! James! James" and so on took place in between points - when play was dead - so they followed proper tennis etiquette. Or so you would think. Apparently it is now also frowned on to cheer as a group in between points.

The chair umpire even warned them over the loudspeaker, "Your enthusiasm is amazing, but please be respectful."

Give. Me. A. Break.

Sorry for the slow blogging day. I ran 14 miles this morning, had an afternoon commitment and now I'm at the Open shooting video for Newsday.com. Check it out.

But I plan to weigh in on a couple of items this evening, so sit tight.

I just took a stroll through the food court here, saw an ice cream stand and immediately thought of George Costanza's trip the U.S. Open. You know what happened: he made a mess of himself and it was caught on television...

Unfortunately I can't the clip on YouTube or a screengrab on Google Images.

So maybe I'll have to just go out there and recreate the moment live.

Remember when Baumbach ran between Shea and Yankee Stadiums during the day/night Subway Series doubleheader?

Well, this time he's going to run between Shea Stadium and Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Would it be better if he did it in a blimp? While holding a NASCAR pit crew flag? While Islanders prospects fire paintballs at him?

All I know is there will be video.

Just call me Neil Best.

Here's my updates from the U.S. Open blog.

And here's my Web column on Elena Dementieva dealing with gold-medal letdown.

I was scheduled to interview Derrick Coleman today for this week's where-are-they-now. I know, an odd choice, but here's the back story:

I received an e-mail recently that said the former New Jersey Nets talented malcontent would be attending the charity golf tournament held today by Tigers and Red Wings owner Michael Ilitch.

Coleman was always a colorful character, so why not ask him to reminisce of his days in NJ. I specifically wanted to ask him about whoop-de-damn-do, perhaps the most memorable quote in Nets history.

Alas, I received a call today from a nice PR rep who said Coleman was a no-show. I wanted to say, Whoop-de-damn-do, but I held back. Instead I'll interview Cecil Fielder.