Congratulations to the Philadelphia Phillies on winning their second consecutive National League Pennant. I very much hope to invite them to the Bronx. But the Angels are a great team and I am not counting them out yet. It does certainly look, though, like the Yanks and Phils are on a collision course. And neither team has the feel of a loser. Could be an epic seven-game knockdown drag-out brawl.
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BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
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What do you do in a situation like this? Hometown team vs. longtime favorite (if I recall correctly)?
I personally have never faced this. Both my L.A. teams are collapsing with shame, and I have never ever been able to tolerate the tyranny of the East.
Apparently we Californians don’t like baseball, you see. Numerous people keep insisting this, so it must be true–and yet I still have trouble believing that.
But San Diego, of course, has had no hope since 1998 (the 2004-2007 run was nice, but those weren’t playoff teams). Oakland stunk too. The Giants, well…there’s always next year.
Anyway, I ultimately live in a National League family, so…Go Phils! A repeat would be sweet if it means the Yankees go down.
I wouldn’t say that Californians don’t like baseball. But the Northeast is where people are most passionate about it. We don’t have college football teams of any note. In Michigan, the Wolverines are much bigger than the Lions or Tigers. Down south, people love their college football, too, and NASCAR. Los Angeles puts the Lakers first.
It’s different here. The Yankees, Mets, and Red Sox are all that matters. Philly is more balanced. The Eagles are huge.
In any case, it’s not a contest for me. I’ve been a Yankees fan since 1976. That year I watched as many games as I could. I started walking like Mickey Rivers and my parents had no idea what was going on. It was a love affair that I’ll never give up. The Phillies? They’re on my teevee every night and I never even turn them on. I like their team. I don’t root against them. I’m happy they’re back in the World Series. But I am rooting for my Yanks.
Hey. Don’t judge us all! There are a TON of baseball fans here. There’d be more if we won a couple of World Series championships, though. That’s why the Lakers are so popular. They keep winning.
I used to live in LA from 1989-1992. The Dodgers were coming off a World Series championship and the Angels were competitive. But more people talked about Benoit Benjamin and the LA Clippers than talked about baseball. Magic Johnson ruled the roost. It’s a basketball town. And back then they actually had two NFL franchises. Didn’t matter.
You’re right – I just don’t like it. I walked into a bar Monday night and had to beg to turn on the NLS championship series game – they were all tuned to football. I’m like, it’s only the START of the season there – this is the big enchilada. Few seemed to care. But those of us who do are hardcore!
I can see where that would worry a parent. But then I used to run the bases like Mickey Mantle – although not nearly as fast.
I’m still a Yankee fan but not nearly as rabid as I was. I still see A-Rod as a juicer and a cheater even though many others seem to have forgotten all about it since he started hitting in the post-season.
Much like me and the Steelers when it comes to my hometown Lions.
As a Boston fan, I find myself wondering: is there any possible scenario where no team wins the world series? That’s really my preference at this point. I can’t stand the Angels, Philly fans will be absolutely insufferable if they win two in a row, and the Yankees are… the Yankees.
Red Sox fans are not entitled to characterize any other fans as insufferable, even hypothetically.
It’s like Beck followers accusing anyone else of being overly susceptible to emotionality and indifferent to facts.
Agreed. Those are the rudest people I’ve ever encountered. Not that I don’t count some as friends, mind you..!
Rudest? I’m not so sure about that. What I am sure about is that I’ve put up with literally decades, continuing to the present day, of:
Noooooooobody has suffered for their team as we have!
Noooooooobody lives and breathes and hopes and dies for their team as we do!
Nooooooooobody knows the game of baseball as thoroughly as we do!
Nooooooooobody —
[click]
(I write “click” as if it were always as easy as shutting off Doris Kearns Goodwin in a Ken Burns documentary. If only …)
I saw a line attributed to somebody at a Mariners blog where, having (for obvious reasons) not much else to do, they got into the question of whether Yankee fans or Red Sox fans were more obnoxious. The line was, “Red Sox fans are worse. Yankee fans are arrogant about their team; Red Sox fans are arrogant about themselves.”
Bingo.
I’ve come around on Red Sox fans. They are passionate and knowledgeable. And that’s what makes them great baseball fans. Worthy adversaries. They’re paying attention to every pitch.
But they’re all too convinced they’re the only ones who are.
It will be an epic battle, and either team could win. I kind of hope now it’s the Phillies, because they beat us. But who knows?
On a side note – I won a custom bat today from 22Fresh in their contest – you had to pick the first HR of the NL game, and name the inning, player, and count. My guess was Either in the 1st at 1-2. I tweeted it three hours before the game.
And that’s exactly what happened! And I used logic. I figured there’s no way he’d get out of that inning without a home run, given the Dodgers’ recent pounding. I also knew he’d only let one ball go by and then swing at everything else, and that’s also what happened.
At any rate – the cool new maple wood bat will go to a friend’s ten-year-old baseball-playing Dodger fan. (I think they do this for every playoff game. 22Fresh has a Facebook page with details, if you want to try your hand at prediction.)
I have to say, too, there was a feeling like the Phillies had been preordained. They were just magical in this series, beyond belief. So they definitely deserved the victory. Yanks better not get too cocky. This will be a tough team to beat. Assuming, as I do at this point, that it will be the Yanks.
Best of luck to the Phillies. I liked both teams, the Bums and the Phillies, so I really had a tough time seeing the Dodgers go out in five games. However, the Phillies will be my choice in the World Series.
I’m still disturbed that you root for both the Giants and the Yankees. I feel like you should do the decent thing and root for at least one consistently inconsistent team.
Anyway, I think there’s a nice bookend symmetry to a Yankees vs. Phillies World series. The very best franchise in history vs. the very worst franchise in history. Obviously, I’ll be routing for the Phillies in the proper Philadelphia fashion – by waiting for the implosion and assuming the worst.