World champions and free agents as far as the eye can see

Monday! Everybody sing along with the Boomtown Rats.

Big weekend, so let’s get right to it.

Congratulations to the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. From their tailspin in September to their tough first-round match-up against San Diego to being over-matched by the Mets in the NLCS to drawing the white-hot Detroit Tigers in the World Series, they were counted out at least four times, and they came through on the strength of some gutsy performances. Hell, even Albert Pujols didn’t play to the level we expect of him, but everyone else came through when it was their turn. It was a total team effort right down to the littlest Cardinal, shortstop and World Series MVP David Eckstein. In the end, the Tigers couldn’t play enough defense to be champs, even with the outstanding pitching they had.

As we all know, I’m not much of a basketball guy, but Red Auerbach’s death is a big deal in the basketball world. As such, it’s a big deal in mine. I don’t know a whole lot of his story, and I don’t have any stories to pass along. Simply the usual condolences. Red’s influence had been felt since he started in the game, and it will never be forgotten.

Probably the craziest story of the weekend is the death of boxer Trevor Berbick. The opening words of the Associated Press story that ran Saturday evening were incredible. “Found dead with chop wounds to his head in a suspected homicide,” and “believed to be 52,” are some of the most incredible sentences I’ve ever had the pleasure to read. Not to make light of the man’s death, but to me chop wounds scream homicide, and believed to be 52 in today’s information age is insane. Like when the kids at the Little League World Series are way older than they’re supposed to be. It just seems incredible that we can’t sort this sort of thing out. But again, condolences to Berbick’s family.

Moving to hockey, you may recall these words about the Buffalo Sabres: “Is there a team in the East that can beat them? If so, they’d be led by Marian Hossa and Ilya Kovalchuk.” I’ve been in the tank with the football picks, but I’m still OK with the puck.

And back to baseball, with an extra-special message for the Gay Accountant that doubles as the Blue Jays’ GM. Re-sign Ted Lilly! Free agency kicks into high gear November 12, but got started Saturday when 59 players filed. Among them: Barry Bonds, Nomar Garciaparra, Frank Thomas, Barry Zito and Alfonso Soriano. For me, the Jays are of most interest. Lilly, Frank Catalanotto and Justin Speier all filed, and it’s not expected the Jays will retain them all since they’re all in line for raises. While a full season from right-hander A.J. Burnett may have landed the Jays in the playoffs in 2006, Lilly was the Jays de facto ace in 2005 when Roy Halladay was injured, and in 2004 when he was the Jays only representative at the All-Star Game. And while he isn’t a front-line starter, he is an outstanding third starter, and a pretty good lefty to counter the hard-throwing righties Halladay and Burnett. He gives the Jays depth, and another insurance policy against extended losing streaks, while taking pressure away from both the front of the rotation, and the back. He will attract a lot of interest, but the Gay Accountant owes it to Jays fans to do something right, and re-signing Lilly is the right thing to do (especially since he’s probably going to trade Vernon Wells away, but that’s another story for another time).