One Sunday in October

English: (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

October 2, 2016 was a day like any other day in the autumn.  The sun was shining, the leaves were either falling or turning colors.  Yet most of us chose to stay inside and watch sports on TV, with NFL football running on various channels for more than 12 hours (there was a game in London during the morning).  Here's what else happened that day.

U.S. Wins Ryder Cup

Having not won golf's most prestigious international event since 2008, there was plenty of skepticism about the Americans' ability to stay on the same course with Europe's superior golfers.  But at the Hazeltine course near Chaska, Minnesota over the weekend, great golf manifested itself in Rory McIlroy's passionate play and Phil Mickelson's and Sergio Garcia's epic final day match.  The United States defeated the European team 17-11 to take the Ryder Cup.

The event was marred by a few individuals who, fueled apparently by too much beer and paying too much for a ticket, felt it appropriate to yell obscene comments at McIlroy and his teammates.  Because this is not a normal tournament where silence and and polite applause are expected from spectators, cheering and flag-waving are encouraged as if this were the Olympics.  After what happened this weekend, Ryder Cup officials might want to cut back on the booze and the nationalism.

Minnesota Twins:  59-103

Thus endeth this misbegotten baseball season, marking the fifth time in the last six years that the Twins have lost at least 90 games.  The worst record in Major League Baseball is also the team's worst since the franchise moved from Washington in 1961 (and the Senators had some awful clubs too.).

Yes, the Twins need pitching in the worst way.  They also need better fielding and offense, Brian Dozier notwithstanding.  And maybe it's time to concede that all the young talent they've brought up in the past couple of years just isn't working out.  That said, the Twins do have the number one pick in next year's MLB draft.

After much criticism that the Twins Way is woefully out of date in the Moneyball era, the team finally joined the 21st century in hiring Derek Falvey as its Chief Baseball Officer.  Falvey, hired away from a similar position with Cleveland, might know analytics.  But now he has to deal with the whims of manager Paul Molitor and the Pohlad family for the 2017 season and possibly beyond, so office politics might be one thing he should bone up on.  No sense looking for quick fixes here, folks.

Vin Scully and Dick Enberg Retire.  Oh My.

There has been lots of fanfare for Vin Scully, who just did his final Los Angeles Dodgers broadcast after 67 seasons behind the microphone.  He has also been the voice of baseball for almost that long, having called many a World Series or an NBC Game of the Week whether the Dodgers were in in or not.

Dick Enberg, another broadcasting legend from Southern California, also chose to sign off after nearly six decades.  Most of us know him as the sportscaster who covered the big events like the Super Bowl, Final Fours in men's college basketball, tennis' Grand Slam tournaments and many others.  But Enberg began his career in the Los Angeles area, calling Angels baseball, Rams football and UCLA sports.  He's spent the past few years as the TV voice of the San Diego Padres.

It's nice that both Scully and Enberg left the broadcasting booth on their own terms, instead of having to be dragged off.  They were both the soundtrack of our lives, and it will be hard to replace them.  Now they can just enjoy the game like the rest of us.

Semi-Official World Series Matchup  

Boston Red Sox vs. San Francisco Giants