The San Francisco Giants are World Series champions, winning their second title in three years by focusing on three of the most simple yet fundamental parts of the game: pitching, defense and timely hitting.

It seems silly to overcomplicate what happened in the Giants' four-game sweep of the Detroit Tigers. San Francisco was the better team because it pitched better and played better defense, and when the time came for a key hit to plate another run, someone on the Giants roster always seemed to come through.

At times, baseball can get really complicated. There's a stat to measure everything that happens in the game and undoubtedly another stat that disproves or validates the first, maybe even both at the same time. A player may have good numbers to one analyst and bad to another, depending on which numbers each analyst believes more strongly in using.

Still, with all the microanalyzing of the sport, baseball can almost always be simply broken down into pitching, defense and timely hitting, three facets of the game that propelled the Giants to another championship.

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Andy Reid is 13-0 after the bye week.

Keep saying that over and over until kickoff on Sunday. Andy Reid, the head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles since 1999, has never lost a game after a bye week.

Now, imagine what will happen if he does.

The Eagles are 3-3 on the season, coming off a bye week that saw Reid fire defensive coordinator Juan Castillo—promoting first-year Eagles assistant Todd Bowles to the position—and promising more dominoes may fall if the Eagles don't turn their season around.

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Check the calendar. It's not 2010 anymore, certainly not for Barry Zito and Pablo Sandoval.

You've already heard the story of Zito's return to relevance. It was well documented before (and during) Game 1 of the World Series that the San Francisco Giants starter was left off the 2010 postseason roster by manager Bruce Bochy, only to work his way back into the starting rotation, getting himself in form to start a game in the 2012 World Series.

Because the Giants needed seven games to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals, Zito's spot in the rotation—thanks in part to suddenly lights-out reliever Tim Lincecum's struggles as a starter—fell in line for Game 1.

An ace, Zito is not. Not anymore. On Wednesday night, however, facing the best starter in baseball in Justin Verlander, the former Cy Young Award winner sure pitched like one for the Giants.

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Both Detroit and San Francisco are fantastic cities with great Americans who are wonderful sports fans.

Now let's try to figure out which city is better!

With the World Series between the Tigers and Giants ready to kick off, we thought it would be fun to determine which city is more likely to host a parade next week, but rather than break down the lineups, the starting rotations, the bullpens and the managers, we're trying to ascertain the upcoming World Series winner through cultural superiority. 

Is it possible to determine the World Series champion based on which city is better in a totally arbitrary assessment of random cultural references from each place?

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The San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals really like making things hard for themselves.

While the Detroit Tigers are enjoying a six-day mini vacation after sweeping the New York Yankees for the American League pennant, both National League teams seem to almost enjoy taking the long way to get to the World Series.

Let's not be naïve. Certainly the Giants and Cardinals would both rather be resting up for the World Series than facing a must-win game, again. Still, here they both are, again.

The Giants should be offering free heart exams before Game 7 at AT&T Park as a service to what they've put their fans through this postseason. The pressure is almost too much to handle, watching the Giants fall down 0-2 at home in the National League Division Series to the Cincinnati Reds before coming back to win that series.

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Lance Armstrong is not having a great few months. There is not a person on the planet watching the methodical takedown of one of the greatest athletes of this generation who would not agree that Armstrong is having a pretty rough time right now.

We all agree on that, right?

Show of hands for anyone who does not agree that Lance Armstrong, banned from the sport of cycling, dropped as a spokesman for Nike and resigning from his leadership position at Livestrong, is having a tough few weeks. 

Nobody? Good. We all agree on something. 

Now that we agree Armstrong is having a seemingly never-ending run of bad days, we can begin to comprehend why some people still refuse to agree on an enormous pile of evidence against him. 

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Roger Goodell is in love with London.

Goodell announced this week that the NFL will play two games across the Atlantic Ocean next season in a decision the NFL commissioner called "a very significant and important step going forward for our fans in the UK, for the NFL in general and for the teams involved."

Goodell specifically referenced growing overseas interest in the sport as a reason to expand the NFL's annual foreign exchange program. Has Goodell heard talk of the UK's love of "football" and convinced himself that means his version?

The NFL press release discussing the expanded London series quoted Goodell as well, with the commissioner suggesting, "We have heard very clearly from our UK fans—they want more football."

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George Steinbrenner must have risen from his grave, walked out to Monument Park following the demoralizing Game 2 loss by his beloved New York Yankees, strolled past the plaques for Babe Ruth and Joe DiMaggio and croaked all over again. 

Or was it Derek Jeter? Did Jeter break his ankle, or did he die on the infield dirt during extra innings of Game 1?

It has to be one of the two, because the only explanation for a seemingly never-ending stream of Yankees obituaries this week would be if one of the team's most beloved figures had actually died. 

It's hard to believe so many people would be writing the Yankees off after two bad games (and one frustrating injury) in the American League Championship Series. Cold as the bats may be, they are still the Yankees.

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