Thermal underwear, gloves, hat, parka, ski mask, tickets... got your wardrobe ready to attend a World Series game?  With the Phillies in and Yankees in command, it looks like another fall classic will be played in some wintery conditions.

Like many, I've ridiculed for years the irony that the "Boys of Summer" must prepare to play in football-weather if they want to win a World Series.  On the other hand, if you want to win an NFL Super Bowl, you'd better have your sunscreen ready (unless it's in a dome at Detroit, Minneapolis or, as in 2012, in Indianapolis).

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, not exactly a paradise for those enjoy a nice climate.  But I disagree anytime someone, aware of that fact, says on a frigid day, "You must be used to the cold".

Wrong.  No one gets used to being cold.  Just like you don't get used to feeling pain or experiencing hunger....I still get cold when temperatures drop.

This Eskimo must be new to Alaska Give him a few years to get more accustomed and he'll be able to shed the coat

Some health experts believe that blood thickens when exposed to colder temperatures for periods of time.  Others disagree and, as for me, I can't bring myself to be in the company of a physician long enough to discuss.

But in my lifetime of watching major (outdoor) sports, it does seem like warm-weather teams are at a disadvantage when playing in the cold, and vice-versa. 

In MLB, the Yankees and other teams based far north of the equator, including the 2008 Philadelphia Phillies, excelled in late October while Atlanta and San Diego (or, the 2008 Tampa Rays) had not.

In the NFL, the Buffalo Bills of the 1990's were tremendous in the playoffs but not so much when they'd play the Super Bowl in a sunny city.  But the great San Francisco 49ers of the 1980's and early 1990's wouldn't miss a step from the conference playoffs until the big game.

In college football, I watched Big Ten Conference teams grind out November victories in less than favorable conditions, then travel to southern California only to get destroyed by a Pac-10 team that appeared so much quicker that I often waited for Michigan or Ohio State to get called for "Delay of Game"... while they were running an offensive play!

Has the colder weather adversely affected this year's NLCS and ALCS for the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Los Angeles Angels?  Here's Angels 1st Baseman Kendry Morales before their Game 1 loss to the Yankees in New York, you be the judge...

Did we mention it was still 45-degrees when Game 1 started???