The World Series

Thankfully, the Phillies made the World Series at least somewhat interesting.

Just so you know, I am a pretty big fan of baseball. I love all things Americana and Baseball parallels and in some ways epitomizes our history. I love the leisurely pace, I love the push and pull drama of pitcher versus batter, I love the idiosyncrasies of the different parks. It is, in fact, one of the few things I love about summer. But I especially love baseball in the fall.

The World Series is one of my year's highlights. The weather is turning cooler and you can feel the excitement of the playoff atmosphere radiate from every corner of the parks. Even better, this year's match up features two teams that I like.

I realize it is more fashionable to hate the Yankees. I am fully aware of the way they have exploited baseball's financial inequities to their advantage. I empathize completely with teams like the Royals or the Pirates that are forced to compete in what is essentially an unfair playing field. However, all this being said, I still think the Yankees, with their rich history, are still good for the sport. You need the powerhouse teams to love and you need them to hate.

I haven't actually liked the Yankees these past few years, though. I loved the Paul O'Neill/Tino Martinez/Bernie Williams era and lost a lot of interest when they were replaced by players such as Gary Sheffield and Randy Johnson. That's another story, however. Suffice to say that the current version of the Yankees, although still nowhere near my favorites, is still a decent lineup that actually resembles a team rather than just a collection of high priced stars. I take a lot of ridiculing from my friends for being a fan of Derek Jeter, but I think he plays the game with a great deal of class - something that is very important to me.

I like the Phillies too. This is mostly because most of them were on my fantasy baseball team for the last few years and they helped me win take first place in four of the last five. Plus, I tend to like the older, storied franchises and the Phillies certainly fit that bill.

So with the Phillies facing the new/old look Yankees, this should be the greatest World Series in a long time, right? Well, oddly enough, I haven't enjoyed this one as much as the other series. Mostly this is because I'm not really rooting for either of these teams. I'm okay with either one winning. This takes a lot of the passion out of watching for me. Instead of being involved and biting my nails when my team is behind, or cheering when they score, I'm sitting back, somewhat detached and simply hoping it will be a good all around series. After the Yankees went up three games to one, it looked like it wasn't even going to be that.

But the Phillies won last night, which salvaged the series and gave baseball fans hope that there might be some drama left in it after all. I finally have a team to root for, at least for game six. I want the Phillies to win and push this to a seventh game. If that turns out to be the case, I may go back to my uninvolved bystander status. but at least for the next game, I have a vested interest.

Go Phillies!