Nine reasons why I'm rooting for the Giants to win the World Series
Nine of 'em as a reminder that baseball teams are supposed to field nine players, not ten.
#1- Of course, National League loyalty reigns. An NL team would have to do something pretty egregious, like play their home games in Chicago or New York, for me to consider rooting against them in the Fall Classic. This year, Games 3 and 4, and 5 if necessary, will be especially exciting to watch as they will be played in San Francisco, and therefore nine players will oppose nine players at all times, not the aforementioned and irregular ten vs. ten formation that AL teams employ that are a slippery slope of specialization that will eventually lead baseball to become like football.
#2- Don Denkinger. Decent guy, but ugh, he blew that one badly.
#3- I don't believe the Royals are an "underdog." Being operated for maximum profit for three decades does not make one an underdog.The Royals possessed the exact same set of resources the Cardinals had when both teams left the field after Game 7 of the 1985 World Series-- plus momentum! One of the two teams took the indignity that had been thrust upon it that year and rose to the top. The other accepted an illegitimate championship and took on the form of a Pacific Coast League team for two generations.
#4- Being King of the Midwest, as the Cardinals are, is unfortunately a zero sum game. It may seem harmless to some Cardinals fans that the Royals get one year in 30 to boast, but that's all it takes for some idiot manager of a television network affiliate in Iowa to decide that the Royals should be the Saturday Game of the Week each weekend next summer instead of the Cardinals. Or worse, the cable operator drops Fox Sports Midwest in favor of Fox Sports Kansas City. Then what do I do? Watch a pitch-by-pitch simulation of the games on the internet? Go sit in my car and listen to them? No.
#5- The natural order. Screw underdogs anyway. Baseball has its historic winners and its historic losers, and the demarcation has worked out fabulously. I appreciate that other Cardinals fans want to root for a cross-state rival whose fans are overwhelmingly friendly and gracious, but if a Cards fan says to me something akin to: "I kind of like that the Royals are getting their chance this year," my obvious next question will be-- and has been, "Would you feel the same about the Cubs next year?"
#6- I fully expect to see Barry Bonds' fresh mug on camera multiple times when the two teams get to the action in San Francisco. Take that as your going away gift, Bud.
#7- I hate to use such loaded political language, but the Giants win in a very admirable way. They're classy about it and they respect the game. Statements like that annoy some people now. I don't understand why but I don't care.
#8- Yes, the Giants have represented the National League in the World Series 20 times, compared to the Cardinals' 19. (It's been back-and-forth now for five consecutive seasons-- rather exciting as unreported news stories go.) But the Giants have won only seven of those Series to the Cardinals' 11. Also, when a team changes cities, the numbers need to re-start. You can't leave 99% of your fans 3,000 miles away in the dust and expect to still be considered the same team at the remove of a half-century and a full-continent. The West Coast Giants have won the league only six times and taken the World Series just twice. So it's not that close. The get-togethers to watch the World Series among old New York Giants fans are not so well-attended these days, and even fewer of the old gang will be at the ballpark in San Francisco for the games. It's somebody else's team now. I will not be following the Rams back to Los Angeles.
#9- For a long time, I've noticed an illogical trend among sports fans to root against the team that eliminated their team from a shot at the title. We need to distance ourselves from that temptation. It's in bad form.
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Speaking of our grand national game: The fall colors are glorious this year, but the photo below has to be my favorite taken this week...
posted by CM @ 6:25 PM
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