The World Series Edition

This is a World Series that is by the numbers. Baseball has such a long documented history from its earliest gestation to the adolescence that it entertains today. Everyone knows that it has been 108 years since the Cubs last won a title. Some baseball fans know that it has been 68 years for the Indians since their last title. Cub fan had morphed into the lovable loser mentality within the Chicago Bulls era and the White Sox year. Cleveland as a city that had morphed into the mistake by the Lake with the Browns, the Indians and the Cavaliers all sustaining long stretches of futility. Wrigley was becoming a tourist attraction not home to a major league team. The Cubs have barely challenged to even get into the WS since 1908 with one visit in 1945 during WW2 when many MLB stars were still serving the military. But that storied series did give the Cubs the Goat story. It is hard to imagine a hex based on a goat not being allowed into the fall classic but it just shows how furtive Chicago was for an answer or at least some better voodoo. The Indians have not won a title in 68 years which is the second longest drought in the majors behind the Chicago North Side. But the Indians went to the WS twice in the 90’s. If you have time to see the 30 for 30 on the 1997 World Series, it is the most snatched from the jaws of victory losses ever recorded. The champagne was out, the shirts and caps were out, the trophy had been wheeled into the owner’s suite and the Indians were two outs from the first Cleveland title in forever. Those two outs never came and the freaking Florida Marlins won a title in their fifth season of baseball. Cub fan has never had that kind of Deer Hunter gun to the temple roulette options until now. When the Red Sox won in 2004, it had been 86 years since the city had won a title. The coach of that ended that city’s futility is the same person coaching the Indians. Terry Francona seems to be the hex buster as he opposes his old GM Theo Epstein. It will be emotional on all sides of the diamonds as they fight for theirs encrusted on the long awaited ring. With another win tonight, there will be pall that will fall over the Windy City that took over a century to render. 1988 was the year of the last baseball championship for Los Angeles. The Anaheim Angels who think they are in Los Angeles won in 2002 over the Giants which we enjoyed but that does not count for most LA sports fans. 1988 is also the last year that the NBA Champion and MLB Champion were from the same city. The Showtime era was winding down but the Lake show still vanquished the hard charging Pistons to win the title. So there is a chance that for the first time in 28 years the NBA and MLB champ will be from the same city. There is no chance LA will see this scenario in a long time with the Lakers. It has been a long time for the Dodgers without winning a championship. Longest drought since moving to Los Angeles which is remarkable. The Brooklyn Dodgers and the Los Angeles Dodgers each have played in nine World Series. The Brooklyn bunch only won one once in 1955 with the Boys of Summer. Brooklyn fought for mindshare in the city of Yankees fans and their 20 titles. And their loyal Brooklyn fans waited for over 50 years for their first title from the hated Yankees. They got out their party outfits eight times only to do down in defeat. They finally crack the champagne and then moved the franchise to LA three years later. That is heartbreak Yard youth mildly endured when the woeful Rams moved to St. Louis. And here they are back in LA during our lifetime and still woeful. It never seemed the Dodgers were going to make it interesting this year. With all of the injuries, with Kershaw out for three months, with the sketchy starting pitching, it just seemed like a next year kind of year at best. Then they bitch slapped the Giants back into the Wild Card, won their first deciding playoff game in nearly a generation and took a 2-1 lead on the Cubs going into Game Four on their way to their first World Series. We threw our playoff trepidation just in time to throw up in playoff misery for the next six days. After the Dodgers clinched in our nation’s capital, they were off to Chicago and won a stunning game two with Kershaw exorcising his October demons. The rout in game three had Cub fan in a deplorable place. All of the playoff maladies manifested themselves in Game 5. Dr. Phil and son were able to join myself and first daughter to watch Kenta Maeda try and stem the hemorrhaging. He is not the Dr. Phil but I like him better and he is married to my sister. He is a massive Cubs fan but was exceptional in his muted thrill of watching the Cubs maul the Dodgers again. As the game progressed, we regressed into the bitter funk that has emanated from this storied franchise for 28 years. The Dodgers got pummeled in those last three games and even Clayton found time for one of his traditional post season meltdowns. It would be way more painful to be leading by three runs going into a decisive game and give up four to lose and get bounced out of the playoffs in an even numbered year. That is real pain. Getting beat down 26-6 over three games is not a fun thing to observe for sure but the dripping defeat is easier to take than the gripping one. Overtime: The Ryder Cup this past month was brilliant. The US team finally pulled together like a real team with the required underlying individual performances. They pulled together the right mix of up and comers with experience. The Ryder Cup used to just be a US beat down of Great Britain which was not so great back then. The US dominated 18 of the first 21 official Ryder Cups. Then in 1979 it morphed into US versus Europe and it has been game on ever since. I can imagine the Brits, Scots and Irish had a hard time. twelve teammates to combat the American invasion. And oh how it has turned. Before 1979, the Ryder cup was hardly even televised and it was not front page of the sports page news. Now it is like the Olympics of golf every two years. It seems to well attended, TV everywhere, merchandise, players do not get paid, so who gets the money? Patriotism over Benjamin’s how benign.