Anyone's Series
I'll never understand the sports media's obsession with premature postmortems. A team falls behind 3-1 in a series and all of a sudden they're dead and buried.
Now, I appreciate that very few teams have ever overcome a 3-1 deficit in a World Series (or League Championship Series for that matter). And I understand that the majority of World Series teams are very difficult to beat three games in a row.
But to my mind, a team down 3-1 is only one win away from making it anyone's series again, as the Phillies did with a win in Game 5. In drawing it to 3-2, the Phils are in a position now where they are one win away from an even series and all the momentum at their backs.
Don't get me wrong, any team that takes a 3-1 series lead is the clear favorite to win that series. But when I see articles like Gene Wojciechowski's the other day (subtitle: "New York is turning a potential classic into a ho-hum romp toward a 27th title"), I have to wonder where the sports media's sense of certainty comes from.
Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. Sports commentators have been given to excessive hyperbole for years. Whenever they find themselves without a point they scramble for some machismo nonsense about how somebody has "no chance" to do something that's eminently doable -- why not? Says who?
I remember the articles the New York tabloids churned out in 2004 when the Yankees took their 3-0 lead on the Red Sox. Few things looked as certain as the Yankees winning the series, but we all know how that ended.
The point is that nothing is over until the final out is recorded. Reared on the '86 Mets tape and witness to too many Mets collapses against the Phillies/Braves/Cardinals than I care to remember, perhaps I'm just oversensitive to that point.
Maybe the Yankees win tonight and the writers get their preordained ending after all. I'm just saying, what's the harm in writing the obituaries only after the team is actually finished off?
* * * * *
As for now I'm looking forward to tonight. For one thing, I want Pedro to do well on the big stage against the Yankees. He's pitched too well not to be back next season, but a win tonight would cement his legacy against his principal foe. I also have a deep dislike of Andy Pettitte (very sick of his pick off move and hearing how he never loses in the big spot).
Moreover, if the Phillies can somehow come back to win this thing, can you imagine the ammo we'll have to use against Yankee fans? Like the collapse against the Red Sox, a Yankees collapse in this World Series would pay dividends for years.
In an otherwise dreadful season, it's the last, best hope we've got.
- A.F.O.M.G.
Now, I appreciate that very few teams have ever overcome a 3-1 deficit in a World Series (or League Championship Series for that matter). And I understand that the majority of World Series teams are very difficult to beat three games in a row.
But to my mind, a team down 3-1 is only one win away from making it anyone's series again, as the Phillies did with a win in Game 5. In drawing it to 3-2, the Phils are in a position now where they are one win away from an even series and all the momentum at their backs.Don't get me wrong, any team that takes a 3-1 series lead is the clear favorite to win that series. But when I see articles like Gene Wojciechowski's the other day (subtitle: "New York is turning a potential classic into a ho-hum romp toward a 27th title"), I have to wonder where the sports media's sense of certainty comes from.
Maybe I shouldn't be so surprised. Sports commentators have been given to excessive hyperbole for years. Whenever they find themselves without a point they scramble for some machismo nonsense about how somebody has "no chance" to do something that's eminently doable -- why not? Says who?
I remember the articles the New York tabloids churned out in 2004 when the Yankees took their 3-0 lead on the Red Sox. Few things looked as certain as the Yankees winning the series, but we all know how that ended.
The point is that nothing is over until the final out is recorded. Reared on the '86 Mets tape and witness to too many Mets collapses against the Phillies/Braves/Cardinals than I care to remember, perhaps I'm just oversensitive to that point.
Maybe the Yankees win tonight and the writers get their preordained ending after all. I'm just saying, what's the harm in writing the obituaries only after the team is actually finished off?
* * * * *
As for now I'm looking forward to tonight. For one thing, I want Pedro to do well on the big stage against the Yankees. He's pitched too well not to be back next season, but a win tonight would cement his legacy against his principal foe. I also have a deep dislike of Andy Pettitte (very sick of his pick off move and hearing how he never loses in the big spot).
Moreover, if the Phillies can somehow come back to win this thing, can you imagine the ammo we'll have to use against Yankee fans? Like the collapse against the Red Sox, a Yankees collapse in this World Series would pay dividends for years.
In an otherwise dreadful season, it's the last, best hope we've got.
- A.F.O.M.G.
posted by A Friend of Mr. Glass' at 9:51 AM
6 Comments:
so if this was Mets vs. Red Sox and you were a Yankee fan you would root for the Sox? Funk that! I hate both these teams and love my Metsies but I'd rather have the Yanks win and beat the piss out of Pedro than have the phucking Fillies win back to back. Of course as soon as the game ends and the Spanks win I will immediately hate them again, my only joy coming from the tears of the Fillie phans...
to be clear, the skank's '04collapse -- up 3-0, with the lead in the 4th game and the ace closer on the mound, only to lose and three subsequent games -- is the single greatest collapse in the history of organized sports.
there is no expiration date on a choke of that magnitude.
Anonymous:
There are two problems with the analogy you're trying to draw. First off, the Mets aren't a rival to the Yankees on anywhere near the same level as the Red Sox are; honestly, what have the Mets ever done to the Yankees besides live in their atmosphere? Second, where rivals go, conflating the Phillies-Mets relationship with the Red Sox-Yankees relationship is unfair. There's too much history between the latter two teams. Before 2007 (i.e., two years ago), what history was there between the Mets and Phillies?
I know the last few seasons have been bad; as I've said, the Phillies have made us their sons repeatedly. I get that. For me though, it just doesn't compare to the lifetime of disrespect, second fiddle-ness, etc. that comes with rooting for the Mets in this town. It doesn't compare to the lifetime of obnoxious Yankee fans I've had to endure.
Look, if the Yankees win tonight (and they're well on their way), there's a part of me that will take solace in the pain of Philly fans. Just ultimately I'd take more solace in the pain of Yankees fans.
But that's just me.
YANKEES WIN - THEEEE YANKEEES WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fuck those Republicans... I mean Yankees.
Ha ha! Your raison d'etre is obsolete!
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