The Bad Meets Evil World Series
It's come to this. By November 6th, either the Yankees or the Phillies will be World Series champions.
This is what happens when Bad (the Phillies) meets Evil (the Yankees). The outcome disastrous. Suffering across the land. No alternative but to watch with despair.
As a baseball fan, and as someone with an interest in the misfortune of both teams involved in the contest, I have my desired outcome. There is nothing enjoyable about this topic, so I'm going to make this post short and to the point.
I hope the Phillies beat the Yankees, for several reasons. First off, the biggie, in the interest of The Curse I have to root against the Yankees. This is as black and white as it gets for me.
Beyond that, if the Yankees win the World Series, then both of our principal rivals will have won World Series' in the past two seasons. The Phillies already have something to lord over us (they have since 2007), so what's one more prize?
But if the Yankees win, prepare yourself for a whole new level of in-your-face annoyingness. When the Phillies win we at least have a buffer zone. I mean, has anyone even seen a Philadelphia newspaper before? I haven't.
But if the Yankees win then get ready for a full court press in the local newspapers, ESPN, SNY, your local news channel, everything. It'll mean a ticker tape parade just blocks from where I work. It'll mean all your New York City transplant coworkers going nuts and patting each other on the back.
I know we've been the Phillies' sons the past few years but this is the Yankees we're talking about. We've been arguing with people about the Yankees our entire lives.
No matter how much heartache the Phils have caused us the past three seasons, it's not the same as a lifetime of Mike Francesca, the late 90's, the 2000 World Series, Roger Clemens, the heartache of seeing Doc and Straw in Pinstripes, and the insufferability of virtually every Yankee fan you've ever known.
So for me, in a meeting of Bad and Evil, I want the Phillies to win the World Series.
More than anything, I just want it to be over fast. Usually I root for a 7-game epic; not this time. I suspect that each day this World Series goes on another little piece of me will die inside.
- A.F.O.M.G.
This is what happens when Bad (the Phillies) meets Evil (the Yankees). The outcome disastrous. Suffering across the land. No alternative but to watch with despair.
As a baseball fan, and as someone with an interest in the misfortune of both teams involved in the contest, I have my desired outcome. There is nothing enjoyable about this topic, so I'm going to make this post short and to the point.
I hope the Phillies beat the Yankees, for several reasons. First off, the biggie, in the interest of The Curse I have to root against the Yankees. This is as black and white as it gets for me.Beyond that, if the Yankees win the World Series, then both of our principal rivals will have won World Series' in the past two seasons. The Phillies already have something to lord over us (they have since 2007), so what's one more prize?
But if the Yankees win, prepare yourself for a whole new level of in-your-face annoyingness. When the Phillies win we at least have a buffer zone. I mean, has anyone even seen a Philadelphia newspaper before? I haven't.
But if the Yankees win then get ready for a full court press in the local newspapers, ESPN, SNY, your local news channel, everything. It'll mean a ticker tape parade just blocks from where I work. It'll mean all your New York City transplant coworkers going nuts and patting each other on the back.
I know we've been the Phillies' sons the past few years but this is the Yankees we're talking about. We've been arguing with people about the Yankees our entire lives.
No matter how much heartache the Phils have caused us the past three seasons, it's not the same as a lifetime of Mike Francesca, the late 90's, the 2000 World Series, Roger Clemens, the heartache of seeing Doc and Straw in Pinstripes, and the insufferability of virtually every Yankee fan you've ever known.
So for me, in a meeting of Bad and Evil, I want the Phillies to win the World Series.
More than anything, I just want it to be over fast. Usually I root for a 7-game epic; not this time. I suspect that each day this World Series goes on another little piece of me will die inside.
- A.F.O.M.G.
posted by A Friend of Mr. Glass' at 1:28 PM
5 Comments:
I have to disagree with you (although I appreciate the position that promoting the curse has put you in). As a die-hard Mets fan, like yourself, I feel I have no choice but to not only root for the Yankees, but root hard.
I reflect on 1999, following one of the most amazing (but for the ending) playoff games in history, and remember wanting one thing and one thing only as Kenny Rogers collapsed into the Pitcher's mound: Atlanta blood. It's not that I wanted to root for the Yankees, but I had to.
Why?
Two reasons. First, The Yankees are, for better or worse, the big brother. They've been around longer, and accomplished more and for better or worse, we'll be always be held up to what they've accomplished. That said, when we do prevail, when we overcome, when we are the star of the family (NYC) its such a sweet, sweet moment (think Dave Mlicki 1997).
In the end, if we can't win, I'd rather not have them in the spotlight. Let us both sit on the sidelines if the Mets can't sit front and center. But, if the Mets clinch the NLCS, and the Yankees are in game 7 of the ALCS... I am pulling for a subway series all the way.
Second, with the Phillies, like the Braves of yesteryear, its more than a competitive rivalry. It is gut-wrenching hatred. In 1999, when John Rocker would sprint into the game, there was something other than my love of the Mets bubbling over into my passion. I hated the Braves. I hated their players. I hated their fans. I hated their city.
Right now... I hate Philadelphia. I would never, and could never find myself rooting for the Phillies in any circumstance. I would never pull for an NLCS against Philadelphia.
And so right now, as I watch Game 1, I am pulling for the pinstripes. I'll pick a fight with big brother tomorrow. For today, I want Philly, their fans, the fanatic and their team to lose, and lose bad.
Anyway... how many days until spring training?
could not agree more with a friend of mr glass, nor agree less with mike.
it's quite clear the skanks have to go down, the harder the better. last night was a good start.
here's one last reason to root for the phils: should they win, not even the wilpons could continue to fool themselves that the mets, as constituted, have enough to compete in the division. a phils win might be the only way to blast them out of their complacency.
I might agree with you on your last point damaged, if I thought that the Wilpons were appropriately motivated owners. The past 7 years of Wilpon's solo ownership have seemed to be more about wanting more back page space than the Yankees than about building a championship team...
All this being said, it's not like I'm crying over last nights game.
That's a very good point you make, Damaged Goods.
Mike, I hear you, and I respect your position. Ultimately there is no right answer to this one--each of us comes by our answer honestly and according to our own perspective.
That all said, a troubling thought has seized me the last day or two, partially in response to your comment. You say you hate Philadelphia, and by extension the Phillies... the truth is, for some reason I don't really feel that way.
Believe me when I say I hated the Braves exactly the way you're describing; and god knows I hate the Yankees with that kind of passion.
For some reason the Phillies don't inspire that level of hatred in me. The don't stand for things that I find loathsome (a la the Yankees). They haven't been good forever (like the Yankees and Braves). I hate Philly fans, yes, but their players don't really bother me that much--not even Jimmy Rollins.
Perhaps the difference though is that, to me, I don't even feel like the Phillies have ever handed us a truly gut wrenching loss. I know that sounds crazy given what happened in 2007, but somehow, in retrospect, that feels more and more like a situation where the Mets beat themselves than the Phillies making good on Rollins' team to beat rallying cry. In 2008 I feel like a flawed Mets team simply ran out of time and got exposed in the end.
More than anything, I have a kind of grudging respect for the Phillies. As I've written, and I hate admitting this, the Phillies are a lot like what I hope the Mets will be some day. A hardnosed, mostly homegrown, expensive but not overpriced, never say die type team.
As I said earlier, it's a troubling realization, but it goes a long way toward explaining the ease with which I'm pulling for the Phillies over the Yankees.
Think I'm nuts?
Absolutely. If the Mets are going to be relevant at all in the next several years, the rivalry with the Phillies will only deepen, because they're clearly the best team in the division right now. We can't afford to let them have two rings to wave in our face.
I would much rather see a team from New York win than watch the Phillies celebrate another World Series. I really don't care that much about the Yankees... if they win you can say they bought a championship but really they just made the right moves in the offseason last year, something the Mets front office is consistently either afraid or incapable of doing. Where were we on Mark Teixiera? Instead we extended Carlos Delgado, who promptly got hurt for the entire season.
The Phillies, on the other hand, stand for everything I despise. This is as enthusiastically as I have ever rooted for the Yankees.
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