PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Pirates were among the late night viewing options available on Monday night/Tuesday morning.
In fact, they were still on long after Letterman and Leno had signed off.
Their game against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field didn't start until 11:40 p.m. because of a rain delay that lasted three hours and 37 minutes. The last out was recorded at 2:28 a.m.
Once the game ended, the Pirates had to pack up and head back to Pittsburgh for a 7:05 p.m. game against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Is this any way to run a pennant race?
Of course not. It didn't have to be that way.
The Cubs had no business scheduling a night game in mid-September knowing it was getaway day for the Pirates.
The Cubs knew a day game wouldn't sell many tickets. They have separate ticket packages that include just the night games at Wrigley, and they made Monday's game part of that.
The official paid attendance was 33,017, but it's doubtful more than a few thousand fans even saw a pitch from the stands. The number was inflated by those season tickets for night games.
The three previous games in the series were all played in daylight. The last one should have been, too.
Under control
Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark had a rocky start in Sunday's game against the New York Jets.
But Clark settled down and was probably the Steelers' best defensive player.
Clark was fired up after sitting out the season opener in Denver. He was probably too fired up for his own good.
Clark said he was somewhat out of control at the start of the game, and that extra emotion didn't help. What turned things around?
"I stopped being a knucklehead," he said.
It's great to play football with emotion, but it has to be controlled emotion. There's still a cerebral aspect to the game, and it's easy to lose touch with that when emotion completely takes over.
Bad call?
Rex Ryan talks a lot as the New York Jets' head coach, but is he that good at his job?
Ryan didn't use Tim Tebow much in Sunday's loss to the Steelers. Given the way quarterback Mark Sanchez was struggling, why not try something different?
Maybe Ryan is the new Sam Wyche, a guy who talks a better game than he coaches.
Mehno can be reached at johnmehnocolumn@gmail.com
