Here’s another Padres fan’s perspective on this postseason.
The Padres fielded their best team in years and came
within inches of the postseason. At least I can be happy
that the Padres were still alive during the last week
of the regular season.
1.
It’s about defeating the Evil Empire.
(NOTE:
As of this writing, Game Six of the ALCS was yet to
be played. The Yankees still haven’t put away
the Red Sox, but it would be a stupendous feat for the
Sox to make it to the Series.)
Yes,
the sting of the Yankees beating the Padres in the 1998
World Series still hurts, but I’m not just upset that
they lost. I’m not just upset that they were swept by
the Evil Empire. I’m upset that they were swept AND
I had tickets to game five. I missed my chance to go
to the World Series because the Yankees beat the Padres
in four straight games (and because Game Four was on
a Tuesday, the same day as Res Life staff meetings at
UCSD, but for some reason I don’t blame them).
Okay,
so I sound bitter and petty (and maybe I am), but that’s
not the only reason that I want the Yankees to lose.
I believe that there is more to sports than having the
highest paid players on your team. This is why
I hate the Lakers, especially last year. During
the NBA playoffs, I declared that I wanted the Lakers
to get swept in the Finals, just to show that money
alone cannot win championships. And, in what has
been called the only five-game sweep ever, it happened.
Justice was served. So, I make the similar declaration--I
want the Yankees to be swept in the World Series.
2.
It’s about Loyalty.
I
think free agency is a great thing...for the players.
It gives them a bigger (perhaps deserved) piece of the
pie. So what if inflated player salaries has sentenced
small-market teams to all but inevitable failure?
So what if inflated player salaries has led to the demise
of the NHL (at least for this season)?
I
don’t care if it’s any of the four major pro sports--they
are all about teamwork. No one person can do it
alone. Yet, with the high turnover rate in pro
sports, many fans have started to follow players rather
than teams. I became a Gretzky fan when he came
to LA. When he left, I was still his fan, and
my interest in the LA Kings waned greatly. I’d
say the same thing about Jordan, but I got sick of his
indecisiveness about retiring. I’m a big fan of
LaDanian Tomlinson, and when he leaves San Diego (as
so many pro athletes must do once they become good),
I’ll follow him.
Enter
the Killer B’s. The last time I went to a Houston Astros
game, the year was 1988 and it was played at the Astrodome,
with its glorious electronic lightboard in the outfield
that would show a thrashing bull whenever the home team
hit a four-bagger. Playing that night was the rookie
catcher, Craig Biggio. Since then, he’s moved to second
base and now to the outfield, and he’s moved to a new
stadium, but he’s still a Houston Astro. Then there’s
Jeff Bagwell, who has played in Houston since his rookie
year in 1991. Here are the last two specimens of a dying
breed--the franchise player. (I won’t count Derek Jeter
since he’s on the Yankees, and everything involved with
that organization deserves an asterisk because they’re
evil.) I had completely forgotten about the Killer B’s
when Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. retired. These guys
both got the chance to go to the World Series (though,
regrettably, Tony never got his ring), and I think that
the Killer B’s deserve the same chance. For their loyalty,
I think they deserve the get their own rings.
3.
It’s about Vengeance.
I
want to see Roger Clemens beat the Yankees. When
the Red Sox gave up on him, he won 41 games in two years
with the Blue Jays. Then, when the Blue Jays gave
up on him, he helped the Yankees win consecutive World
Series titles. Now that he has come to his senses,
left the Yankees and gone home to play, he’s won 18
regular season games. But that’s not enough.
Beating them in the World Series would be enough.
Plus, Roger’s World Series rings have asterisks on them
(since he won them as a Yankee), and he deserves to
have a real ring.
I
want to see Jeff Kent win a ring, and Barry Bonds retire
without one. He put up with Barry for six years in San
Francisco. He deserves a ring. Or at least a Medal of
Honor for patience above and beyond the call of duty.
I want to see Barry be deprived of the one thing that
has eluded him his entire career while he has to watch
his former teammate be sized up for a new piece of jewelry.
Sure, Barry has some impressive numbers. But he doesn’t
love the game. The only thing that Barry loves is Barry.
Remember--it’s a team sport. Players need to give their
best for the team and play the game with heart. It will
be a sad, sad day when heartless Barry is inducted into
Cooperstown while Pete Rose is still warming the bench.
4.
It’s about Making History.
If
the Astros win the World Series, it will be the fourth
year in a row that the champ has been a team that has
never lost a World Series. The Astros would join
the elite cadre of teams that are perfect in World Series
appearances: the Angels, Marlins, Diamondbacks,
and Blue Jays. This is good for baseball.
Spread the championships around the league. Give
different cities something to celebrate. In a
time when the league has to relocate a franchise because
it can’t survive in its current market, it can use all
the help it can get. If the Yankees lose the World
Series for the their third appearance in a row, will
they lose their merchandising stranglehold? I
don’t think so. But an Astros win might generate
a few new fans in Houston...a few more members of the
rebel alliance.
Oliver
can be reached at oliver@babblog.com.
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