Right on, Audrey.
I am old enough to remember the 1981 Series, in which the Dodgers beat Steinbrenner’s Yankees in six–and this clod had the nerve to apologize for the Yankees losing! Good God, Steinbrebnner, do you think winning the series is the Yankees’ birthright? (don’t get me started on the Yankees’ sucess after the Black Sox Scandal…)
And another thing: By the time the Dodgers and Yankees played in 1977 and 1978, MLB came up with the brilliant idea of giving the post-season series to the networks to cover, even if the teams involved were from places other than New York. The prejudices showed crystal clear, especially with Joe Garagiola as a network announcer during the Series. He and Yogi Berra grew up in the same neighborhood in St. Louis; it goes without saying that he would support his friend’s team. And this even played on KTTV-Channel 11 in Los Angeles, which carried the Dodgers’ games during the season!
Howard Cosell, of all people, joined the network broadcast team for the 1981 Series. (Sparky Anderson, to his credit, joined Vin Scully for the coverage on CBS radio.) Cosell, an alumnus of New York University, brazenly showed his pro-Yankee bias, even referring to the Yankee pitchers as “our pitchers”–Cosell’s own words–then, during the broadcast of the next game, lied, saying he didn’t say that. Cosell, you’re a lawyer–you know better than that! :mad:
Steinbrenner and the Yankees deserve a great big hand. Right across the mouth.
Some other thoughts on the games that you probably didn’t see on TV or hear about…
For Friday’s game the stands at kickoff weren’t full. In LA/Orange County traffic is attrocious and as the game started you could see a line of cars stretching forever trying to exit the 57. But on Saturday’s game, there were very few fans who came in late, traffic obviously was lighter.
There were few Yankee fans in a ballpark that is called “Yankee Stadium West” when the Yankees come to town. It was literally a sea of red in the stands. Friday’s, Angel fans were polite to the Yankee fans–Saturday’s, there was much roasting and jibing. I know I , usually a very polite person had ribbed a Yankee fan at the Del Taco before the game. I said that the Yankees had to go thru Tampa Bay to get to the playoff, the Angels had to go thru Oakland and Seattle. So that means the Angel fans have taken back their stadium, but we will allow you to visit us next year to watch your team get defeated by us again. I take special pleasure in seeing Jack Nicholson see NY lose, how could he show up wearing the wrong teams hat?
One thunder stick has a tingy sound, a group has a booming sound, a stadium full is deafening.
The catcher Bengie Moline has a gorgeous smile. I went to a spring training game and he stopped in front of where we were sitting to sign autographs (no I did not get one nor did I ask for it). Those from other parts of the country have yet to get the opportunity to see Jose, but both young men seem like great guys.
I think this next series is going to be great. I don’t know if my nails can survive any more much less my nerves. Minnesota is a good team. They also have their fans behind them. Did you hear the attendance at Oakland today–only over 32K fans. What a disgrace, but the reason given was that there was too much going on in the Bay area.
** 5 time champ **, of course there is a kickoff, isn’t there? blink blink
bwahaha, once again I have dumbfounded the spectators with my humor. When talking about going to a hockey game, I will say that first pitch is at [insert start time] time. With football, I will say that … gosh I don’t know that I talk about football that much, but I do admire the tightends, if you know what I mean.
Appier is going for the first game. When he is on, he is unhittable, so let’s hope he brings his A game to the twinkie dome. I personally would pitch Lackey next, but that is just an opinion and if Mr. Scoccia wants to do something different then I will trust his judgment. But then again Ramon Ortiz has been good all year, his only problem with the game he pitched was he was too excited. I wondered if that would happen because he has been known to overthrow in the past. I just know that alot of times he will overthrow in the first and then settles down after that, but he didn’t do it this time, fortunately we had Lackey in the bullpen to step in.
Add me to the list of Sox fans loving Anaheim this week.
But Flymaster, this wasn’t always true – up until recently, MLB was uniquely suited to following two teams, with the entirely distinct NL and AL. That’s how I became a secondary Giants fan (National League baseball is way better anyway). What with this newfangled interleague chicanery, though, you’re right. One team per sport.
I wanna see a return to the old Twins logo - “Win Twins!” with the two twin kids on it. Or do they have that now? They were playing so well I hardly noticed.
Now! All I need is for the Giants to knock off the Braves, and we got us a playoffs!
Ino Pohlad was also going on about how ‘this’ should make us see that we really DO need a new stadium and it will get built if the Twins keep winning.
Gah.
Pohlad, you old fuck, build your own stadium. If I had a business I wouldn’t expect anyone else to pay for the building.
I hope rabid badgers knaw on your older-than-Methusalah wrinkled ass.
I was delighted to see the Yankees bounced out of the playoffs. They’ve had their fun in the playoffs in recent years, and it’s time for some new faces in the World Series.
I was delighted to see the St. Louis Cardinals evict the Arizona Diamondbacks from the playoffs. Nothing personal against Arizona, and Randy Johnson has always been one of my favorite pitchers to watch, but the Cardinals have been patient in recent years building a great team.
I was thrilled to see the Minnesota Twins topple the Oakland Athletics. To me, the prospect of the Twins in the World Series is probably one of Bud Selig’s secret nightmares. This was a team that Selig and Pohlad wanted to delete out of existence, and if the Twins go on to the World Series and win it, that would be a like a giant middle finger to those old bastards. I’m rooting for these ultimate underdogs all the way.
Now, if the San Francisco Giants would do their part and dispose of the Atlanta Braves tonight, then this will have been a most satisfying round of baseball playoffs.
Well, I’m not saying that it’s a sports crime that’s as worth of punishment as, say, reaching over the fence and grabbing a ball that’s still in play. It’s just one of those things that kinda irks me, you know? I certainly have SYMPATHIES with certain NL teams, such as the Cubs, and inside, I’m secretly happy when they win, but I don’t think it’s quite right to come out and say that you’re an actual fan of two teams.
Just ask any Cubs fan if you can be a fan of both the White Sox and the Cubs. It’s the same thing to root for the Angels and the Dodgers, just with much less history.
But if you want to go on being a fan of both, go ahead, no skin off my nose. On the grand scale of sports infractions, dual fansmanship only really merits about a 3/10.
No, I agree with you. I’ve stopped calling myself a Giants fan. I’m just saying, sympathy is warranted because of the circumstances. I mean, time was I would have argued it was better to be a fan of 2 teams, because otherwise there’s little reason to watch NL games.
But now it doesn’t work any more, and rooting for two teams is as forbidden for baseball as it is for football.
Anyway, don’t mean to be too much of a hijack. I want to see the Twinkies go all the way – 30th highest payroll in baseball! But I’m guessing the Angels will send them home. If they don’t, though, we could be seeing a rematch of the '87 series, which would be sorta cool.
