A few things have happened in the world of sports since my last post on the subject back in August. So, let's revisit the topic, shall we?

In (American) football, the Eagles are currently 10-4 and have a slight lead in their division. They are about to start playing here on Christmas Day against the NY Giants, so hopefully they can turn around the three game skid they're on and get some momentum going as the playoffs approach (they've already clinched a spot).

In baseball, the Phillies made the playoffs. They swept the Marlins in the Wild Card round, then handily beat the Braves once again to advance to the NLCS. They beat the Arizona Diamondbacks in the first two games at home. They were beginning to look like a team of destiny. Alas, that's where things fell apart. They lost two of three in Arizona, then lost the last two games at home to lose the series. Disappointing end to a pretty good year. They managed to hold on to most of their players so far this off-season, so they have a good chance to make another run next season.

In hockey, the Flyers have had a pretty decent start to the season. They're currently third in their division, with some good runs here and there. They have some room to improve, but they are already doing much better than they have been the last few years. The Blue Jackets, well, they're having a year. They had a new coach in the off-season, former Stanley Cup-winner Mike Babcock, but he got fired just before training camp started for some inappropriate behavior. So they had to scramble to get a new coach just as things were starting up. They've had some injury issues. They've also had some good things happening with their young players. They just can't seem to string anything together. They're currently at the bottom of their division, though there are three or four other teams who are doing even worse in other divisions. It may be too late to turn their season around, but hopefully they can get things lined up to make an improvement next season.

And that brings us to...

The Columbus Crew won the MLS Cup!!!! And we got to be at the final to see it. IT. WAS. AMAZING!! But I'm jumping ahead. Last I mentioned, they had just beaten FC Cincinnati in the second half of the Hell Is Real derby. That was a lot of fun. They were a bit uneven towards the end of the season, letting games on the road get away from them. But they finished third in the East, so had home field advantage in the first round. They ended up beating Atlanta two games to one, both wins coming at home. And then they had to go on the road to play Orlando, which was a tense match. The game was scoreless through regular time, so went to overtime, and the Crew scored twice to move on to the conference final. Again, it was on the road, and in Cincinnati. FC Cincinnati were the Supporters Shield (best record in MLS) winners, and only lost a couple of times at home all year. We were at GalaxyCon downtown at the time, so we took time out from the convention to go to a watch party at the stadium. FC Cincy scored twice in the first half, and looked to be cruising to a victory. But. The Crew battled back, and out-played them in the second and tied it up. So, for the second game in a row, they went to overtime. Cincy looked tired, while the Crew had more energy as the game went on. And with only a few minutes left, they scored what wound up being the winning goal. And so they got to host the final here at home, against the defending champions, LA FC.

There was drama trying to get tickets, because Ticketmaster fucked it all up. But we did eventually manage to get tickets in the Nordecke. I let Wiccy dye the white bits of my beard (aka most of it) yellow. We even got to go in early and help hang the banners in the Nordecke. We did the march to the match before the game. And the match itself was tense. The Crew scored twice in the first half, and managed to keep LA FC to one goal in the second to win. This was the Crew's third Cup overall, second in the last four seasons.

There was a parade and rally a couple of days later, and I got to go to that. Alas, Wiccy had to work and missed it. It was fun, and a great way to wrap up our first year as season ticket holders. We're very much looking forward to next year.

So that brings us up to current. And at some point, I will make myself make that post about Origins I've been putting off for months. Maybe before the new year. Maybe.