Donovan McNabb tried to jump into a lifeboat, but somehow wound up hurling himself into the furnace. Bad communication... I guess.

I will say that we definitely are contending for the next few years, Packers.  Especially since Jermichael Finley went ahead and sold his soul to the devil to be able to do some of those things he does on the receiving end of a football.  And I will also say that living in Philly and not being an Eagles fan is like being in one of the rowboats paddling away from the Titanic.

But the road to the Superbowl is paved with teams who just couldn’t get it together, whether it was the defense, or a key turnover, or just an embarrassing inability to catch the ball.

The World Series, however, can be a victory that puts a beautiful filter on the rest of a year’s occurrences, in sports, or, otherwise.  A defeat on the way to or in the middle of the October Classic can put a bad taste in your mouth that won’t go away, no matter how deep you go in the red during the offseason.

With the repairs made to the Phillies this winter; some massive overhauls, some minor tweaks, we no doubt are maintaining our composure as the dominant life force in the NL.  I feel comfortable enough, though perhaps a bit uneasy, to say we will be just as competitive, if not moreso, in 2010.

Well, kick that theory to the curb, says Las Vegas, and bash its head in with a brick.  Because apparently the Yankees are your 2010 world champions of baseball.

VegasSports-Odds.com has provided the totally normal and not at all pre-emptive odds on who will win this year’s World Series, and wouldn’t you know it, the Yankees have the best odds at 11/4.  Nipping at their heals are those adorable Red Sox with 11/2.  They were gracious enough to put us up there with the Sox at 11/2 odds for a Phillies title.

I mean, whatever.  No, I am not actually going to complain about Vegas odds.  In fact, if anything, this just makes baseball season seem all the more closer.  It seems like just yesterday I was biking down Broad Street dressed in a Phillies jersey and a Jason mask, handing out muffled screams and obscene gestures to every Yankees fan I saw, regardless of age.

Classy.

Also, having your team eliminated from the NFL playoffs does a lot for your desire to see baseball again, too.

You especially can’t put a ton of credibility on these Vegas odds because people like the Cubs and Mets are given pretty good odds as well, at 18/1 and 14/1 respectively.  The site itself even mentions that the Cubs “never win the World Series” (as if its as easy as taking out the trash) and the Mets get votes “simply because they are in New York.”

Speaking of the Mets, here’s some lusty Jose Reyes news to feast your eyes on.

But also because the populace is suffering, and, just like in Toronto, somebody owes me a GOD DAMN EXPLANATION.

“From start to finish, it felt like everyone involved in this deal had their middle finger firmly raised in the fans’ direction,” Sandler writes of the recent Roy Halladay deal (Wait, WHAT Roy Halladay deal?!?).  “The final deal — Halladay for three prospects — might have been the best offer this month, but it likely was not the best offer this year.”

Ha ha, yeah, I agree.  Terrible.  Toronto’s in the middle of a professional sporting success drought rivaling… hmmm, Philadelphia.  That’s kind of funny.

“Halladay, too, ultimately gave his former team’s fans a lump of coal for the holiday season.  Sure, the former Cy Young winner loyally served Toronto’s cause for nearly a decade. He did nothing wrong by asserting his right to control his destiny when his deal with the Blue Jays expired. But he had decided Toronto was not the place for him anymore.”

I look at this picture and want to throw the hell up. But if it were of J.P. Ricciardi, a Blue Jay fan may have the same reaction.

Okay, now, but think for a second.  First of all, low temperatures are bound to make anyone consider taking flight. Outside of packing a gunny sack full of potaters and hopping in a freight car, my current plan to stave off the cold is to hope for a stray animal to wonder through my back alley so I have something warm to cuddle with.

But we both know it had nothing to do with that.  Temperatures, I mean.  I don’t think snuggling a possum had much to do with the Halladay trade.

What, was he going to stay in Toronto until they were championship caliber team?  The Blue Jay brass don’t seem to be in any hurry to make that happen, and Roy’s already 32.  Can you really call a guy out for wanting to play for an organization with at least a hint of recent success?  Pin the “future Hall-of-Famer” prefix to him all you want, it’s not the same thing as a WS ring on your finger.

Don’t get me wrong.  I sympathize.  As upset as we all are about Cliff Lee, Roy’s not a consolation prize.  He’s the prize. So that offsets a bunch of the sting. Until opening day, when it offsets all of it.  But this was inevitable, and it could be worse.

Maybe the ultimate irony will occur and Roy Halladay will somehow hit the World Series-clinching walkoff home run off Mitch Williams, too.

Brand new FanSided Blue Jays blogger Mat Germain isn’t complaining, so I guess I shouldn’t either.

In other news, shut up, Chan Ho Park, and pitch for us.  What’s the matter?  You want to be a starter?  You want a better contract?  You don’t want to live in a city where no-name bloggers are telling you to “shut up”?  Too bad.

I mean, damn it.  The guy’s a lighthouse for the bullpen.  He throws strikes as consistently as I throw inapplicable metaphors.  This feels like another deal that was made needlessly complicated by unreal demands.  No, Chan Ho, you’re not going to be a starter.  We just picked up Roy Halladay (Who?!) and you’re a 36-year-old guy who’s been pitching out of the bullpen for years.

What’s that?  ”Jamie Moyer is 47 years old”?  Ha ha, yeah, but… come on, that’s just funny.  At this point I want to see how much further he’ll go without anybody stepping in.  Like a nursing home escapee on the lam until the battery on his rascal dies.

Wow, that was mean.  Sorry, Jamie.  It’s freezing in here and I’ve got no food.  How viable is possum meat?

JUSTIN’S FANTASY FOOTBALL NEWS

• Hey, Ben Roethliswhatever.  My bench thanks you for the 32 fantasy points you showed no sign of being capable of these past few weeks.  And so do my Packers, a team that could use playoff berth much more than you and your faltering band of knee-bucklers.
• But we are in Philly, so I like to throw a bone at the Eagles once in a while.  Also, DeSean Jackson is a source of warmth on a fantasy roster that has been all but frozen solid, so we’re cool.  How comfortable and warm does playoff berth feel, guys? Bet it’s nice.

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