It's Halloween. Everyone's entitled to one good scare.

We're officially at the midway point of our mid-Movie sabbatical. We've been keeping busy in the interim. Doing what, you say?

- Attending reunions! We've attended formal events for both Regis and Syracuse - and, curiously, both involved significant amounts of bruschetta, beer, and conversations leading off with "I remember..."

- Eating dinner at the bar! OK, we've done this maybe 2-3 times, but in that line of business, you meet the most interesting monsters over a Sam Adams Oktoberfest and a Grilled Chicken sandwich. And they can talk.

- Watching the World Series! Or did I? I blinked. Is it over? Poor Rox. So caught up on the magic carpet ride, they didn't see the train rolling down the tracks. Well, the Sox'll be around for a while. And so will...

- A-Rod Opts Out!* Isn't it amazing how, deep down, nobody really wants a perennial 50 HR, 150 RBI infielder at the prime of his career? "Sign me up for a decade of also-rans and premature postseason exits, please!"

T-minus 10 days to go before Shopaholic commences. Bring on Van Halen, house sitting, and more of the free party mix.

*Ok, I didn't have anything to do with A-Rod opting out. Sue me. I point it out in utter fear of the Mets doing something rash like, say, signing him to a 10-year, $300 million dollar contract. The fact that it's anything but an unequivocal "NO!" frightens me. The Mets need a second baseman and pitching. Neither are A-Rod (nor Wright's suggestion to move to 2B to allow A-Rod to play 3B). A-Rod also doesn't make the Mets the team to beat because he clearly didn't make the Yankees that, either.

A-Rod will go to the highest bidder regardless of that team's standing as a contender. The Mets need that kind of character like they need a hole in the head.

Denver, the Last Dinosaur

I'll admit - I attempted to purchase Rockies' World Series tickets today, and had a plan in place to make it out to Denver for the games. Admittedly, the Rox prepared themselves for the plan as much as I did - and crashed all their servers so no one could buy tickets. We'll try again tomorrow.

This was a far cry from my visit to Coors Field two years ago. I bought the tickets at the Stadium Box Office day of game with no wait.

That's evolution for you.

I get a good vibe from the World Series, which is comforting because the Collapse of '07 left a sour taste for baseball. I'm excited about this week - So what the Rox only joined the league 14 years ago? So what the Sox lost some luster after winning in '04? This feels like baseball. Rox v. Sox for all the marbles? I'm on board.

There's no teams that "snuck in the back door," or seem unworthy. Colorado and Boston earned their keep. They both show a lot of pride, have something left to prove, and clearly aren't in a "We're Happy to be Here" mode. This Series could end up like the '91 World Series - no wins for the away teams.

In which case, that's Boston in 7.

Regardless, it's about the journey since the destination doesn't involve Flushing, NY. Some time very soon - the Mets will get their due. This week, though... just give me a damn good ball game and I'll call it even.

We're moving on, I swear.

I haven't gone on and on about the Mets' Great Collapse of '07 because nothing more needs to be said. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that my indifference about the matter worries me more than their collapse. They blew it, and I don't care. Next season will be about them winning my respect back as it will to get back to the promised land.

And then you get a few more reminders...

...like how you can purchase a $200 commemorative brick to sit in front of Citifield...

...which will be appropriate, considering you most likely won't be able to get INTO Citifield.

There are days where I legitimately hate the business of sports. This is one of them.

That's where we'll find it, the Rainbow Connection.

Radiohead released their new album, "In Rainbows," today. You, I, and everyone else can download it free (and legally) from their website. Or, really, for a "suggested donation" of whatever you feel like paying.

Oasis might follow suit.

I am OK with this development.

$1,011.05

Yep, that's how much I've saved by the Mets and Yankees being eliminated in the playoffs prematurely. Here's the breakdown:

4 Mets NLDS Game 1 Tickets: $228.00
*See, I would've made it to a game if they qualified. Would've cut work and everything.
4 Mets NLDS Game 5 Tickets: $328.00
*It wouldn't have gone 5, but you take what you can get...
2 Yankees ALCS Game 5 Tickets: $209.05
*Was supposed to take Erin to Yanks v. Sox; she shouts obscenities about it now like a true member of Red Sox Nation
3 Phillies NLCS Game 4 Tickets: $246.00
*Blatant attempt to make money reselling tickets after Mets go home early. If I have to put up with Phillies' fans crap until spring, then at least I could've made a few bucks off 'em. Or go eat cheesesteaks. One or the other.

And are we done? We'll see.

And now, we retire our late September sports blog and return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

An old friend of mine (we'll call him "Super Cool") turned me on to '80s hair metal while at Syracuse. I couldn't get into it before college - it just seemed so shallow.

Then, I learned the wonders of Poison, Bon Jovi, and the like. I learned to appreciate (not always enjoy) the reincarnation of Nikki Six, the requisite monster ballads of, well, all of them, and that Van Halen did indeed have a third front man (Gary Cherone, formerly of Extreme).

There's a fascinating duality in hair metal that I feel other music doesn't emote. On the one hand, you have visions of masculinity - a cowboy riding on his steel horse, with a woman at home he can't describe in mere words while recovering from a past love, his thorny rose. It's good, honest, simple music.

On the other hand - it's inexplicably awful. Leather pants. Long hair. Some of the corniest lyrics this side of a boy band. It's awful.

Still, it's their songs. It's not recycled, or canned in Hollywood. There's no pop irony such as Natasha Bedingfield's "There Words Are My Own" (writing credit to Stephen Allen Kipner & Andrew Marcus Frampton).

And so, I continue to hope to see Bon Jovi in concert next month - he's playing for 2 weeks at the new arena in Newark - and not rolling eyes at future attempts.

Who's with me?

And now those NLDS tickets are refunded.

"I cannot get rid of the hurt from losing, but after the last out of every loss, I must accept that there will be a tomorrow. In fact, it's more than there'll be a tomorrow, it's that I want there to be a tomorrow. That's the big difference, I want tomorrow to come."
-Sparky Anderson

That one's my stock quote whenever the Mets get eliminated. I read it shortly after the 2000 World Series. It resonates.

The Mets blowing a 7-game lead to the Phillies with two weeks to play? That'll resonate, too.

And not just because if you watch the TBS commercials for the MLB postseason, they still feature the Mets because who blows a 7 game lead with two weeks to play?

I get pipe dreams about winning the World Series everywhere. Usually misguided, but this year - it made some sense. It had some basis in reality. And yet, I get football and hockey season a little too early once again.

I wish I could say "Wait till next year."

"Think it was September, the year I went away,
For there were many things I didn't know.
And I still see him standing, tryin' to be a man;
I said, someday you'll understand.

"Well, I'm here to tell you now, each and ev'ry mother's son,
You better learn it fast; you better learn it young,
cause, someday never comes."
-John Fogerty, "Someday Never Comes"