Lab Results for "Dark Spot" on Blanton's Cap Are In...

Tampa Bay Ray's Manager and local Hazelton god, Joe Maddon, asked MLB officials to confiscate Phillies pitcher Joe Blanton's baseball cap immediately after last night's Game 4 of the World Series. Blanton pitched well through 7 innings and seemed to confound the majority of the Rays' hitters. During the third inning, Maddon's brother John called Joe on his personal cell phone and exclaimed that due to his Hi-Def feed and 1080 i flat screen television, he could see a mysterious substance on Blanton's brim. The hat was bagged and sent to a third party laboratory, where technicians worked through the night to discover the molecular makeup of the spot and test it for any possible illegal substance. The results were delivered to MLB commissioner Bud Selig's hotel room this morning via Liberties Parcel. He states, "Aside from the results being revoltingly disgusting, there were no illegal substances found and I absolve both Joe Blanton and the Phillies organization of any wrong doing." A piece by piece break down of the lab results follows just below..

Rays Manager Joe Maddon Does Not Approve of Your Beer Choice

It's been widely regarded that Philadelphia fans are some of the toughest in sports. Although it's rarely discussed by the national media, the Philly fans even booed Santa Claus once. But not often do they get it in return, especially from the opposing team's manager.

During game 3 of the World Series Saturday night, Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon traded verbal jabs with some Phillies fans seated near the Rays dugout. However, at one point Maddon hit below the belt - attacking a man's choice in beer.

"Down by the dugout I had a good time with a bunch of guys sitting up in the stands. I was actually giving a guy a hard time for drinking Coors Light in Philadelphia," said Maddon. "We went back and forth with that, and I said 'where's the Schmidt's?' At least some Rolling Rock. Don't be going with Coors Light. It's so unfashionable for a Philly dude."

The Phunyun was able to catch up with Brandon Hudson who was Maddon's sparring partner and defends his beer choice.

"First of all I don't know where the hell Joe Maddon's been but the Schmidt's brewery closed in 1987, so maybe he should get some new references," said Hudson. "And secondly, I just grabbed a beer from the vendor who was selling in our section. Sorry I didn't want to wait in line and wanted to actually watch the game, unlike the fans in Tampa."

Sarah Palin Removes Curse From Flyers, Places It On St. Louis Blues

After the Flyers failed to win in their first six games following Sarah Palin's ceremonial puck drop for their season opener, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate removed the curse Friday night, placing it instead on the St. Louis Blues.

While campaigning in Missouri Friday, Palin made an appearance at the Scottrade Center to drop the puck before that night's Blues/Kings game. Meanwhile, 900 miles away in Newark, New Jersey, the Philadelphia Flyers broke out of a 3-2 deficit entering the second period to win their game against the New Jersey Devils 6-3. As expect, the Blues lost their match to the Kings 4-0.

Experts across the sports world agree Palin is placing some sort of curse on the home teams she drops the puck for. The self-described "hockey mom" is now being mentioned in the same breath as "The Curse of the Billy Goat," "The Curse of the Bambino" and "The Curse of Being the Clippers."

Oliver Klozoff, professor of Paranormal Studies at Temple University, says "The Palin Curse," like most of the other curses, is very real and should be taken seriously by any other NHL team thinking of allowing the VP candidate to drop the puck.

"A lot of people might look at this and say, 'oh that's just a coincidence' and those people are kidding themselves," said Klozoff. "There is something at work here, I don't know if it's because she feels there aren't enough Alaskans in the NHL or what. But I'll tell you this, if you see the Dallas Mavericks tank when the NBA season starts I think we have a real epidemic on our hands."

Klozoff also believes Palin's power is increasing and her potential to cause havoc on professional sports teams may be growing with each appearance.

"Take a look at tonight's game with the Blues," said Klozoff. "Not only did they get shut out by a bad Kings team, but their goalie was injured tripping over the carpet she walked out on. This is getting scary."

Before the ceremony involving Palin, Blues goalie Manny Legace accidentally stepped on the red carpet and tripped. Legace allowed two goals on 12 shots during the first period and did not return for the second period with what the team is calling a "lower body injury."

Calls to the Palin campaign were not returned by press time.

Phillies Relent to Fans, Howard to Sit, Myers to DH

Although he almost single-handedly put the Phillies in the playoffs with his September play, first baseman Ryan Howard will sit the bench tonight in a move that Phillies fans have been calling for since the playoffs began. Taking the place of Howard in the clean-up spot will be pitcher Brett Myers according to manager Charlie Manuel.

"People probably, you know, they probably don't know it, but like, I listen to advice from the fans," said Manuel. "And they make a good, you know they make a good point about Howard not hitting. So, we're going to give Myers a shot since, like, he's batting .800."

Streams of calls to sports radio stations, and sports blogs in the Philadelphia region have been calling for the benching of Howard with his .229 batting average during the playoffs. By contrast, Myers is batting a red-hot .800 over the same time span.

Phillies fan Andrew Christopher said he thinks this is the right decision.

"Howard fucking sucks," said Christopher. "He just sucks, I dunno."

Phillies Choose Other Christopher Walken SNL Skit to Combat Rays' "More Cowbell"

One of the images and sounds that has become synonymous with the 2008 Major League Baseball playoffs has been Tampa Rays fans ringing cowbells and holding up signs reading "More Cowbell," a reference to a 2000 Saturday Night Live skit starring Christopher Walken. In an effort to combat this, the Philadelphia Phillies are asking fans to chant "wowee-wow-wow-wow" during the World Series.

John Brazer, director of publicity for the Phillies says "wowee-wow-wow-wow" gives fans who might not know the difference between a fair ball and a fair catch a reason to cheer.

"Let's be honest, by the time you're in the World Series, a lot of the people at the ballpark are just there because it's the cool place to be," said Brazer. "But as we saw in Tampa, where people clearly know and care nothing about baseball, a line from a Saturday Night Live skit can excite people who don't even know what baseball is."

The "wowee-wow-wow-wow" line comes from a recurring skit on SNL called The Continental starring Christopher Walken. Brazer says The Continental skit was chosen because of the popularity of Walken in the Cowbell skit, but also because The Continental had a longer track record.

"I mean you've got The Continental that appeared on SNL six times. Six Times!" said Brazer. "That Cowbell sketch only ran once and really it's Will Ferrell that makes that sketch funny."

As of press time it was unclear how the Phillies plan on implementing "wowee-wow-wow-wow" into the games at Citizens Bank Park, but they expect it to rank high in sports meme lure.

"It's going to rank up there with Rally Monkey for the Angels and the Tomahawk Chop for the Braves and Gino for the Celtics," said Brazer. "It'll be pretty huge."

Shane Victorino's Little Brother Arrested by Dog the Bounty Hunter.

The Phillies extended family has received yet another blow in the days leading up to their first World Series appearence since 1993. Just days after head coach Charlie Manuel lost his mother, Phillies centerfielder Shane Victorino received word that his little brother, Mau-hulo, had been apprehended by television star and bounty hunter, Duane Champman. Mau-hulo Victorino was sought after repeatedly missing court appearances before Hawaiin judges and was handed over to authorities by Dog and company early this morning. The world's most famous hunter of men said, "He's a good kid that just went in the wrong direction. He's going to jail, but things could be worse... he could be dating a black girl."

As if Victorino didn't have enough to worry about with the impending series, Shane must attend the funeral of his grandmother who just recently passed away. When asked if this would affect his performance on the field, Victorino stated, "No questions asked," before boarding a plane for his home island of Maui.

Republicans Crowd Philadelphia Streets After Third Presidential Debate

A sea of red filled the streets all over the Philadelphia region last night shortly after the end of the third Presidential debate aired last night. Although most news outlets called the debate a win for Barack Obama, the throng of Republican-red worn by those in the crowd seemed to show Philadelphians' support for John McCain.

This kind of spontaneous outpouring of support for a political candidate is virtually unheard of  and typically reserved for sporting events. But last night, about 45 minutes after the end of last night's Presidential debate in Hempstead, New York, thousands of McCain supporters filled streets, emptied bars and began honking car horns. Although some chants from the fans were inaudible, a clear "We won!" could be heard repeatedly from fans who believed McCain won the debate.

When asked what he thought of the night's events, Mike Hunt of Mayfair said, "Fuck the dodgers," a clear sign that he felt Barack Obama had dodged questions in the night's debate.