Game Over

Yes, I did watch The Game last night. Yes, it was awesome. Yes, this could very well mean that just about anything (even a Philly team winning a championship) is on the horizon. But the funny thing is, the whol ordeal was rather anticlimactic. If that had been any team other than the Yankees on the losing end, that game would have been a snore after the second inning. If that was the Cards-Astros game, most people would have given up once the score hit a ridiculous 8-1. But instead, we all watched with baited breath… waiting for the other shoe to drop…

But it never did. The Yankees were never really in the game. One hit through 6 innings against a starter people were hoping could make it to 5? The only life they showed was a short awakening when Pedro came out, only to have him slap them right back down. With 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth, everybody was nervous as hell when that routine grounder was hit to seemingly end the game. Even the second baseman seemed confused by the ease of the final out. And then I realized that another dynasty was going out with a whimper – just as the Lakers had done against the Spurs. There was nothing to fear from them. There was no mighty magic that would save them from such an ignominious end. There was no Yankee mystique to be found.

Nevertheless, I’m happy that it’s over. I can only hope that the Sox finally put this whole “curse” nonsense to rest. Afterall, I am a Philly fan… I need to believe in miracles.

10 thoughts on “Game Over”

  1. It’s not just a dynasty that is ending, it’s an 84 year old tradition of the Red Sox being put down and denied by the Yankee Juggernaut. IMO, yesterday’s win broke the curse and the World Series is merely a formality. The Sox in the past were never able to win because they needed to get this Yankee monkey off their backs. Now they’ve done it.

    The foregone conclusion of the World Series is like that of the 1980 USA Hockey team or the 1986 Mets. Both of the unbelievable, hump-clearing wins were NOT the clinchers. Team USA’s gold medal game followed the win against Russia and the Mets still had another game they could feasibly lose. My point is, though, that even when it happened you KNEW they wouldn’t lose. Just like I believe the Red Sox won’t lose now.

    Now, wouldn’t it be a wonderfully fitting scenario to have the Sox face the Astros? A political analogy played on the diamond. Will the winner serve as an omen for the election? One can only wonder 🙂

  2. Forget the Sox-Yanks, I’ll be watching the result of this game a little more closely 🙂

    A political analogy played on the diamond
    I can see it now… Red Sox accuse Houston of giving tax cuts to season ticket holders, Astros label Boston as “wrong on baseball.”

  3. Mike – I do kinda feel like it’s a foregone conclusion at this point. I just couldn’t imagine the Red Sox blowing it at this point. And yeah, I also thought about the major turning points with the 1980 US Hockey team and the ’86 Mets and how they weren’t the clinchers. Then again, I also was certain that the Eagles couldn’t lose to Tampa Bay when every trend indicated they would win…

    Mark – I forgot about the Skins game, although people on the EMB mentioned it earlier. There are some others, like whether or not the Lakers win. But the Redskins game is the most impressive – and as Snopes say, Go Pack!

  4. Then again, I also was certain that the Eagles couldn?t lose to Tampa Bay when every trend indicated they would win?

    Or Carolina. At least they won this last meeting soundly.

  5. Carolina wasn’t nearly the heartbreaker Tampa Bay was. That 2002 season was amazing. And they had beaten the Bucs 4 straight games, including owning them twice in the playoffs (beating them 31-9 in the previous year and 21-3 the year before that). On top of that, Tampa Bay never won a game in that cold of weather. Everything was going for the Eagles right up to the first series of the game. Then Reid decided to orchestrate the greatest choke job of all time.

    The real kicker is that we would have easily handled the Raiders in the SB – our first Lombardi, and revenge on the team that beat us in our first SB. This year, however, may finally result in the Patriots/Eagles SB that everybody has been anticipating for the last couple years. And unlike this year, I think the Birds would win it.

  6. I was just going to mention Carolina. When the Eagles got that 4th and 26 and won I assumed the rest would just fall into place.

    Sorry to say, but they seem to buck the trend a lot. I hope that changes this year. If the RED SOX can win…:-p

  7. Oh yea, Thom, Eva needs to tell you an Eagles-related story sometime… you won’t believe who she goes to class with.

    Mike, not a word out of you 🙂

  8. Mark – can’t wait to hear about it. Especially if that person can get me tickets 😉

    Mike – actually I wasn’t refering to this year so much as the previous one for the Lakers. That last game they played against the Spurs – in their own stadium! – was just pathetic. They had quit before the 4th period, and it showed.

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