10/28/07: World Series...of Baseball

I’m a bit disappointed about the World Series this year, and the baseball playoffs in general. Tonight is Game 4 in a series currently led by the Red Sox 3-0. Twice during the playoffs, my insomnia has been cured watching these games, most recently in Game 1 when the Rockies were dismantled 13-1. I missed the Sox offensive onslaught in the 5th inning where they banged out 7 runs. But it was already 6-1 when I dozed off, so it wasn’t like I was watching a nail-biting pitcher’s duel.

I had higher hopes for the Colorado Rockies. They were definitely the exciting story of the last few weeks of the baseball season. They came on like gangbusters winning 20 of their last 21 games and then sweeping the Phillies and Diamondbacks to earn the right to represent the National League in the World Series. Then their fairytale ended. Their momentum was broken. Despite what any non-athlete with a microphone might tell you, momentum is huge. If you’re hot, the last thing you want to do is take a break. You want to keep it going as long as possible. The San Francisco Giants were sailing along until the Loma Prieta Earthquake forced the delay of their Bay Bridge World Series back in 1989 against my Oakland A’s. They never won another game and were sent back to the ‘Stick with their hats in their hand. LeBron James and those other 4 guys that suit up with him surely wish that they could’ve played the Spurs in last season’s NBA Finals immediately following the Detroit game in which King James scored 25 straight points to win the game. The Rockies had to wait 9 long days before they could take on the Boston Red Sox, because the Red Sox were having lots of trouble dispensing of the Cleveland Indians.

I guess that’s where it kind of fell apart for me. I was loving the fact that after being written off by everyone back in May, the boys in the pinstripes stormed back and almost caught the Red Sox for the A.L. East title. Yes. There, I said it. I’m a closet Yankee fan, and as a result, can’t really get excited about the Red Sox. The A’s are my team, but I like the Yankees too because, unlike my A’s, they choose to pay their players and as a result, keep the same roster year in and year out. There’s something about a Fox telecast with its frequent cut-aways to see Joe Torre’s facial expressions, Joe Buck and Tim McCarver and their random banter, Derek Jeter doing something clever, Jorge Posada being the un-sung hero that never gets any credit but gets it done all the time, and then my main man Mariano Rivera turning out the lights on any thoughts of a rally, that just does it for me. This year it was not to be though. The Yanks were pretty much blanked by the Indians and, adding insult to injury, TBS had the first two rounds of playoffs on their network. Their broadcast teams were TERRIBLE. They may as well have let the guys that bring us the Tour de France on Versus or even the WE Network cover the baseball playoffs . Tony Gwynn in the booth was about as exciting as he was on the field. I actually missed the first two days of the playoffs trying to find the games, searching frantically with my remote control on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, and Fox. I was dumbfounded.

So tonight, I may or may not watch Game 4. If I do watch, I’ll probably be switching back and forth between the Sunday Night Football game (now THERE’S the gold standard for broadcasters: Madden and Michaels). I’m about as interested in that baseball game as I am in the daily World Series of Poker.