BOSTON (AP) – The mayors of Boston and St. Louis may not be making any bets on the World Series, but top officials in each city are.  Boston City Councilor Bill Linehan and St. Louis Alderman Christine Ingrassia have wagered some local delicacies over the outcome of the series that starts Wednesday at Fenway Park.

Linehan has put up a six-pack of Harpoon Oktoberfest beer; an order of shepherd’s pie from Amrheins restaurant; and a quart of clam chowder from Legal’s Harborside restaurant.  Ingrassia’s wager is a six-pack of beer from the Schlafly brewery; an order of toasted ravioli from Ricardo’s restaurant; and a smokehouse specialty from The Shaved Duck restaurant.

The loser must also wear the winning’s team gear their next meeting.

w/ Jim Field

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Class 1-A Regionals:

• (3-0) Adair-Casey 25-25-25, Glidden-Ralston 19-7-12
• (3-0) Coon Rapids-Bayard 25-25-26, CAM 11-6-24
• (3-0) Guthrie Center 25-25-25, Paton-Churdan 10-14-6
• (3-0) Griswold 26-25-25, Exira-EHK 24-16-16
• (3-0) Essex 25-25-25, South Page 11-11-9
• (3-0) Stanton 25-25-25, Nishnabotna 15-21-23
• (3-0) Bedford 25-25-25, Diagonal 12-11-12
• (3-0) East Union 30-25-25, Lenox 28-21-15
• (3-0) Orient-Macksburg 25-25-25, Clarinda Academy 6-11-5
• (3-0) Sidney 25-25-25, East Mills 20-9-17
• (3-1) Boyer Valley 25-26-22-25, Ar-We-Va 16-24-25-17
• (3-0) Woodbine 25-25-25, Charter Oak-Ute 10-15-18
• (3-0) Fremont-Mills 25-25-25 Heartland Christian 15-12-10

Class 2-A Regionals:

• (3-0) Audubon 33-25-25, A-H-S-T 31-18-14
• (3-0) IKM-Manning 25-25-25, Panorama 5-10-19
• (3-0) Missouri Valley 25-25-25, Riverside 10-18-16
• (3-2) Earlham 22-25-21-27-15, Nodaway Valley 25-20-25-25-9
• (3-0) Tri-Center 25-25-25, Logan-Magnolia 9-17-11

Hawkeye 10:

• (3-0) Harlan 25-25-25, Denison-Schleswig 9-13-7
• (3-1) Kuemper Catholic 25-23-25-25, Glenwood 11-25-17-22
• (3-0) Lewis Central 25-26-25, Shenandoah 18-24-19

Others:

• (3-0) A-D-M 25-26-25, Carroll 14-24-23

Hunters heading to the field for the opening weekend of pheasant season are encouraged to review safe hunting practices before they head out. “Brushing up on safety should be part of every hunting plan,” said Megan Wisecup, with the Department of Natural Resources Hunter Education Program. “Go through the zone of fire with the hunting party, talk about avoiding target fixation and swinging on game.”

Wisecup said hunters should get reacquainted with the techniques used to hunt pheasants – be sure to walk in a straight line and know where members of the hunting party are at all times, especially in low visibility areas like terraces, tall switch grass and standing corn.

“Wear plenty of blaze orange especially on the upper one third of your body. We are encouraging hunters to wear more blaze orange than the minimum required.  The goal is to be seen by other hunters,” Wisecup said. “The top pheasant hunting incidents all are related to not being seen. The shooter swings on a rooster, the victim is out of sight of the shooter or the rooster flew between the shooter and the victim.”

Wisecup said safety also extends to the canine companions. “Avoid low shots to prevent injuring your hunting dog,” she said. “The hunting plan and safety practices are all part of a responsible hunt. The goal at the end of the day is for everyone to return home safely.”

Tips for a Safe Hunt

• Iowa law requires hunters to wear at least one of the following articles of visible, external apparel with at least 50 percent of its surface area solid blaze orange: hat, cap, vest, coat, jacket, sweatshirt, shirt or coveralls.
• Hunters should stay in communication with each other and to stay in a straight line while pushing a field.  Conservation officers have investigated a number of incidents where hunters have been in a semicircle and had been shooting towards one-another.
• Discuss the hunting plan that spells out how the hunt will take place, each person’s role in the hunt and where each person will be at all times.
• Make sure to unload the gun when crossing a fence or other obstacle to avoid it accidentally discharging.
• Properly identify the target and what is beyond it.  This will be especially important for the next few weeks if hunting in fields that still have standing corn.
• If hunting with a dog, never lay a loaded gun against a fence.  Hunting dogs are usually excited to be in the field and could knock the gun over causing it to discharge.
• Share the hunt.  Take someone new along to help keep Iowa’s great hunting tradition alive.

Iowa pheasant hunters can expect to find the best bird numbers in northwest, north central and central Iowa during the open of the season this weekend. And while the number of birds in the field is well below peak years, good hunting opportunities still exist.Todd Bogenschutz, upland wildlife research biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says “Even with low counts some hunters will have excellent hunts and plenty of opportunities and others will be able to flush a bird or two and put one in the bag. The key is good habitat and good dogs.”

The latest crop harvest reports indicate nearly half of the corn remains in the field. As more corn is harvested, pheasants will be concentrated in available habitat.  Areas with excellent winter cover like cattails or switch grass have the potential to hold some birds, and currently, the best cover is primarily on public land.

Bogenschutz said “Hunters looking for birds and are flexible should identify public land with good winter cover in north central, central or northwest Iowa. Those regions have the better pheasant numbers.”  Hunters can use the DNR’s online hunter atlas to do some “online” scouting of these areas.

Also available is more than 7,500 acres of private land in 27 counties; to be utilized for public hunting through Iowa’s Hunting and Access Program (IHAP). A list of areas and maps is available at www.iowadnr.gov/ihap

Hunting pressure will be highest during the first two weekends of the season, and then around the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Based on the results of Iowa’s upland game survey, hunters should expect to harvest 100,000 to 150,000 pheasants during the October 26-January 10 season.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – St. Louis Cardinals radio broadcaster Mike Shannon is being honored at the Catholic high school where he starred more than 50 years ago. The former Cardinals third baseman was a three-sport star in the mid-1950s at Christian Brothers College High School as well as Missouri prep player of the year in football and basketball. His father, three sons and three grandsons are also CBC graduates. The private school is raising money toward a new Mike Shannon Stadium at Cadet Park.

The 74-year-old announcer recently had heart surgery and limited his broadcast duties to Cardinals home games during the National League Championship Series.

ST. LOUIS (AP) – In a break from tradition, there will be no bet between the mayors of this year’s World Series cities.  The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay tweeted Monday night that there will be “no mayoral sports bet.” But the Democrat said he would welcome a visit to St. Louis from Boston’s longtime mayor, Thomas Menino.

Menino was trending Tuesday on Twitter, after telling reporters he hoped the Boston Red Sox would win the “World Series cup.”  Menino wasn’t impressed with what he called “fried raviolis” that Slay sent to him to settle a bet after the Cardinals lost the 2004 World Series to Boston. Toasted, not fried, ravioli is a St. Louis specialty.

BOSTON (AP) – At least one cardinal is rooting for the Red Sox in the World Series. The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Boston, Cardinal Sean O’Malley, is wagering that the Boston Red Sox will beat the St. Louis Cardinals in the series that begins Wednesday at Fenway Park.

If the Red Sox win, St. Louis Archbishop Robert Carlson will donate $100 to Boston Catholic Charities. Should the Cardinals win, O’Malley will donate $100 to the St. Louis archdiocese’s charity fund. Catholic Charities in Boston and St. Louis provide a spectrum of social service care to thousands of people.

BOSTON (AP) — Michael Wacha remembered passing Will Middlebrooks a few years ago back in Texarkana, the small northeast Texas city where they grew up. “One of the guys that everyone looked up to,” Wacha said Tuesday. “Like he’s walking by, ‘That’s Will Middlebrooks there.’ It’s pretty crazy.”

Texarkana has a population of 36,411, according to the last U.S. census. That’s slightly fewer than the crowd that will jam into Fenway Park on Wednesday night to watch the old friends face each other when the Boston Red Sox host the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series opener.

Middlebrooks was a senior at Liberty-Eylau High School in 2007, when Wacha was a sophomore at Pleasant Grove High, about a 10-minute drive away. Now the pair will be in the spotlight as Series rivals. Wacha, 22, has been a sensation since joining the Cardinals’ rotation in September. The 25-year-old Middlebrooks has seen extensive action at third base for Boston during the last two seasons.

Big Ten football teams are getting two Saturdays off for the first time this year. Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz says there are a lot of unprecedented things happening these days in college football because of conference expansion. The byes give players a chance to rest and relax during two weeks when the regular season starts in late August and ends after Thanksgiving. Coaches, meanwhile, evaluate their programs, players and plays before hitting the road for recruiting.

Teams — such as Indiana against Penn State — have taken advantage of having two weeks to prepare for a game they ultimately won. The Nittany Lions, coming off a bye, hope the extra time they had last week helps them upset No. 4 Ohio State on Saturday night.