It was an exciting weekend in sports as the stage for the World Series was set and the cream is starting to rise to the top in the NFL.

And The Table is Set...

The New York Yankees guaranteed a date in the World Series with the defending Champion Philadelphia Phillies with a 5-2 win over the Los Angeles Angels, avoiding a game seven that would have been played Monday night. This is the Yankees first Pennant in six years.

The Phillies-Yankees series is set to begin Wednesday and will pit two former Cleveland Indians pitchers, Cliff Lee and C.C. Sabathia, against one another. Coincidentally, they are also the winners of the A.L. Cy Young award the last two seasons.

Giant Collapse?

After losing big to the New Orleans Saints the week before, you'd expect that the New York Giants, playing at home against the Arizona Cardinals, to rebound with a good effort and a solid win. I mean, Arizona has only won twice in their last 17 visits to the Meadowlands, so it's a no-brainer that the Giants would steamroll the Cardinals, right?

Wrong.

The Cardinals came in with a chip on their shoulder and out muscled the Giants to a key win. Led by a defense that forced four Giant turnovers, the Cards cruised past the once NFC favorites.

"Tonight," Cardinals quarterback KurtWarner said, "we definitely fed off our defense."

Perfect No More...

The honeymoon is over for Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings as they faced their first taste of defeat at the hands of the reigning Superbowl Champs, the Pittsburgh Steelers. A defensive battle the entire game, the Steelers D took it up a notch in the 4^th quarter with two turnovers returned for touchdowns. The Vikings had no answer for the late miscues and suffered a disheartening 27-17 loss, giving them a 6-1 record. The Steelers, meanwhile, have reeled off four straight wins and are appearing again like the team that won it all last season.

Revenge is SWEET!

It was a chance to get one over on his former team, the Chicago Bears, that he feels wronged him and Cedric Benson of the Cincinnati Bengals took that chance and ran away with it. He rushed for a career high 186 yards and a touchdown in the Bengals 45-10 route of the Bears and he loved every minute of it.

"Everybody knew it was going to be an emotional day," said Benson, who spent two turmoil-filled seasons in Chicago. "Everybody knew. What a wonderful day and a wonderful thing, to go out there and strut your stuff."

Almost lost in the great day for Benson was Cincy's QB Carson Palmer's performance. He tossed for 233 yards and 5 touchdowns in the win.