Friday, October 10
This is another one of those baseball-related notes, so if you're not a baseball fan, skip it.
As I mentioned last year, I'm a huge Anaheim Angels fan, and I have been since I was a kid growing up about 45 minutes from Anaheim. The Angels won the World Series last year, and it was probably the single greatest thing that's ever happend to me. Yes, I'm that insane!
This year's playoffs, however, are pretty damn incredible, even though the Angels came nowhere near them (ah, but that's because of injuries--just wait until next year!). Back in July, I told my friend Ben that I was rooting for a Cubs-Red Sox series, and he just laughed, adding, "Sure, it'll go seven games, and the seventh game will go 87 innings before they just call it a tie." [by the way, if that makes no sense to you, then you didn't read the note at the bottom--this is for baseball fans! Go away now! If you're a fan, then you know what I'm talking about.] We just laughed about that scenario. Ah, but just today on ESPN I heard someone mention that exact scenario. I guess Ben and I weren't the only ones to envision this. In fact, judging from the TV ratings, a hell of a lot of people are gearing up for a Cubs-Red Sox situation.
And, let me just add that if either or both of those teams actually make it to the Series, then they have the Angels to thank them. You see, the Angels' history though not as long or as well known as the histories of the Cubs or Sox was (until last year) just as painful. The Angels, you might remember, lost to the Red Sox in the 1986 AL Championship series, after they were only one strike away from finishing the Sox off (in game 5). Donnie Moore gave up a home run, and the Angels went on to lose that game and the series. A few years later, Moore killed himself--due largely to his blown save that October afternoon. Now, check this out: I was 18 at the time, living up in Stockton, CA (about 80 miles from San Francisco). I was watching the game, my arms held high in the air, waiting for the final out so I could celebrate--and then the home run (to the truly evil Dave Henderson). I was in shock. All those asshole Sox fans who bitched that their team blew game 6 of the World Series that year (Buckner's error)--just remember that the Angels lost to YOUR TEAM. How could the Sox be more pathetic than the Angels in loserdom if the Sox could beat the Angels?
So the Angels winning last year was truly a wonderful, incredible achievement, destroying 42 years of abject failure and putting to rest all of the "curse" talk surrounding my team. And now, here we have the two bigger, more popular "cursed" teams in baseball, the Cubs and Sox, on the verge of reaching the World Series--just one year after the Angels, the lowly, pathetic Angels, managed to burn their curse into the ground once and for all. Coincidence? No way. In destroying their curse, the Angels left the "curse-be-gone" door wide open. Now it's up to Boston and Chicago to take their respective curses and kick them through that door. Will they do it? I hope so. It's now or never, guys. Either those two teams meet up for what will be the greatest single event in American sports history, or we'll all have to suffer through another, stupid Yankees parade.
As I mentioned last year, I'm a huge Anaheim Angels fan, and I have been since I was a kid growing up about 45 minutes from Anaheim. The Angels won the World Series last year, and it was probably the single greatest thing that's ever happend to me. Yes, I'm that insane!
This year's playoffs, however, are pretty damn incredible, even though the Angels came nowhere near them (ah, but that's because of injuries--just wait until next year!). Back in July, I told my friend Ben that I was rooting for a Cubs-Red Sox series, and he just laughed, adding, "Sure, it'll go seven games, and the seventh game will go 87 innings before they just call it a tie." [by the way, if that makes no sense to you, then you didn't read the note at the bottom--this is for baseball fans! Go away now! If you're a fan, then you know what I'm talking about.] We just laughed about that scenario. Ah, but just today on ESPN I heard someone mention that exact scenario. I guess Ben and I weren't the only ones to envision this. In fact, judging from the TV ratings, a hell of a lot of people are gearing up for a Cubs-Red Sox situation.
And, let me just add that if either or both of those teams actually make it to the Series, then they have the Angels to thank them. You see, the Angels' history though not as long or as well known as the histories of the Cubs or Sox was (until last year) just as painful. The Angels, you might remember, lost to the Red Sox in the 1986 AL Championship series, after they were only one strike away from finishing the Sox off (in game 5). Donnie Moore gave up a home run, and the Angels went on to lose that game and the series. A few years later, Moore killed himself--due largely to his blown save that October afternoon. Now, check this out: I was 18 at the time, living up in Stockton, CA (about 80 miles from San Francisco). I was watching the game, my arms held high in the air, waiting for the final out so I could celebrate--and then the home run (to the truly evil Dave Henderson). I was in shock. All those asshole Sox fans who bitched that their team blew game 6 of the World Series that year (Buckner's error)--just remember that the Angels lost to YOUR TEAM. How could the Sox be more pathetic than the Angels in loserdom if the Sox could beat the Angels?
So the Angels winning last year was truly a wonderful, incredible achievement, destroying 42 years of abject failure and putting to rest all of the "curse" talk surrounding my team. And now, here we have the two bigger, more popular "cursed" teams in baseball, the Cubs and Sox, on the verge of reaching the World Series--just one year after the Angels, the lowly, pathetic Angels, managed to burn their curse into the ground once and for all. Coincidence? No way. In destroying their curse, the Angels left the "curse-be-gone" door wide open. Now it's up to Boston and Chicago to take their respective curses and kick them through that door. Will they do it? I hope so. It's now or never, guys. Either those two teams meet up for what will be the greatest single event in American sports history, or we'll all have to suffer through another, stupid Yankees parade.
