• If it's 11 p.m., you know it's time for the late-night news. Except in October, when it's probably time for the seventh-inning stretch.

Everyone knows baseball games last longer than they used to. But here's an indication of just how much longer they're lasting.

In 1977, there were 15 postseason games: the Dodgers over the Phillies in four games in the NLCS, the Yankees over the Royals in five games in the ALCS and the Yankees over the Dodgers in six games in the World Series.

Of those 15 games, only three lasted three hours or longer. The longest was 3 hours, 24 minutes, the Yankees' 4-3 win in 12 innings in Game 1 of the World Series.

So far this year, there have been 10 league championship series games, the shortest of which lasted 3:05.

The times of the Phillies' four games against the Dodgers in 1977: 2:35, 2:14, 2:51, 2:39.

And the times of the five Phillies-Dodgers games in 2009: 4:02 (for nine innings!), 3:05, 3:12, 3:44 and 3:40.

The Yankees and Royals in 1977 concluded their business in 2:40, 2:58, 2:19, 3:08 and 3:04.

This year's first five games of the Yankees-Angels series: 3:18, 5:10 (13 innings), 4:21 (11 innings), 3:38 and 3:34.

In the 1977 World Series, the Yankees and Dodgers made it through their six games in 3:24 (the 12-inning game), 2:27, 2:31, 2:07, 2:29 and 2:18.

Imagine that: five straight nine-inning games that were completed in 2:31 or less.

Of course, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Phillies fan who cares if the games last five hours. Last year, they didn't really care that Game 5 of the World Series lasted three days.

And the baseball the past few weeks has been amazingly compelling.

Consider Jimmy Rollins' heroics in the ninth inning of Game 4 against the Dodgers, or the Angels' comeback against the Yankees in Game 5.

But the teams in 1977 also managed to pack a lot of drama into their games.

Game 3 of the 1977 NLCS was the Dodgers' 5-4 comeback win at Veterans Stadium on what Phillies fans now know simply as Black Friday.

Game 6 of the World Series was the contest in which Reggie Jackson hit home runs in three consecutive at-bats.

Incredibly, Mr. October did all that in a game that lasted only 2:18, yet fans across America couldn't wait to turn off their televisions. You might recall, Howard Cosell was a color commentator in that World Series, and Howard could make even a crisply played game seem to last forever.

By the way, the final game of the 1977 World Series was played Oct. 18. Game 1 this year is Oct. 28, and Game 7 is scheduled for Nov. 5.

Will Ryan Howard be Mr. November?

• If you're a Penn State football fan, you'll want to check out the Oct. 26 edition of Sports Illustrated. Joe Paterno is the subject of an excellent eight-page feature story by Joe Posnanski.

The issue also includes SI's NBA preview. The 76ers are picked to finish with the 10th-best record in the Eastern Conference, which means they'd miss the playoffs in Eddie Jordan's first season as coach.

SI picks the Celtics over the Lakers in the finals.

• The Eagles aren't going to try to claim their trip to Oakland last week as a business expense, are they? Let's see them try to convince the IRS that they weren't on vacation.