The World Series issue
With this year's World Series, a Yankees series victory means the Cardinals become the clear-cut choice as National League team of the decade. Granted, this is a title as mythical as the college football national championship. Still, I'm rooting for the Phillies because they're not the Yankees. There are only three acceptable reasons for being a Yankees fan-- 1) you live in the South Bronx, 2) you currently play for-- or at one time played for-- the Yankees, or 3) an immediate family member plays for-- or at one time played for-- the Yankees (two or fewer generations ago).---
I nearly spit out my low-fat strawberry yogurt when I sat down to watch the World Series pre-game show Wednesday night. Sound techs at the new Yankee stadium piped in Darth Vader's "Imperial March" for the introduction of the Phillies' starting lineup, then, as the Yankees' starting nine was introduced, they blared the triumphant "Throne Room" piece that ended the first installment of "Star Wars" in '77. Uh, huh. That's right-- the Phillies are the Evil Empire, and the Yankees are the rebel alliance. I immediately recalled that scene in "Star Wars" in which Han Solo charged the blonde farmboy $1600 for a seat in the Millennium Falcon Legends Suite and then Lando Calrissian accepted the 10-year, $275 million contract to fly attack missions against the Death Star.
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Look no further than Pedro Martinez for evidence that club owners were colluding last winter in refusing to sign veteran free agents. A 37-year-old pitcher with a 214-99 lifetime record, 3,000+ strikeouts, a five-time league ERA champion, and a guy who threw six scoreless innings with six strikeouts and no walks during his showcase performance in the World Baseball Classic in March couldn't find work with any of 30 Major League teams, each of which always claiming to "never have enough pitching." Pedro wasn't signed by Philadelphia until August, and then for only $1 million, a little more than double the league minimum salary. He proceeded to go 5-1 over the last month and a half of the regular season, and has allowed only three runs in 13 postseason innings thus far. Fans of other National League teams, be sure to congratulate the Phillies on their 2009 league pennant. That should have been your team.
Generations of steroid use by players could still never come close to matching the scale of damage that's been inflicted upon baseball's competitive integrity over the years by club owners colluding to hold down player salaries.
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When I hear news stories like the one about the Philadelphia woman arrested for allegedly offering sex for World Series tickets on Craigslist, I have to just shake my head. Why in the fuck are our financially-bankrupt municipalities wasting time, money, and energy on policing that sort of activity?
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Why is it that when Andy Pettitte wins Game 3 of the World Series behind his own RBI single and a two-run homer by Alex Rodriguez, there's not a peep about steroids in any of the post-game commentary? Meanwhile, nearly every major sports website has a posted editorial by some nitwit columnist explaining why the Cardinals shouldn't hire Mark McGwire as their hitting coach even as said-columnist continues to whore the retired slugger for more column inches of income. Why doesn't McGwire absolve himself with the fans and the media, they ask, the way Pettitte did, or A-Rod, Gary Sheffield, or Jason Giambi? In other words, why wasn't McGwire a Yankee? Always remember that Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Barry Bonds had already been marked for life as villains because of their exploits on the field. They slugged their way through both Ruth and Maris, and even Mantle (with his 54 "rivalry" home runs in '61) and laid claim to the most-prized individual achievement in all of Yankees history, lore and birthright-- the single-season home run record.
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Baseball is still the nation's punching bag of sport: It's steroids, next it's blown calls by umpires during the postseason. Meanwhile, the NBA is more crooked than its ball.
posted by CM @ 4:39 PM
1 Comments:
Its funny to think back about 20 years or so when everybody thought the baseball was juiced. Turns out it was the players.
I think a big reason why MLB is criticized more than the NBA and the NFL is because MLB still has too many whites. Therefore, you can criticize MLB and not be called a racist.
TA
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