Jake Arrieta (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea – USA Today)
Having become sick to death of the election, my thoughts turned to baseball.
First off, let me say that the Blue Jays obviously have not only a good team on paper but a good one in the clubhouse and that’s extremely important. They have a great spirit, although it’ll be interesting to see how that holds up if their pitching doesn’t.
I am no closer to being a fan than I ever was. As I have said before, I don’t know why the hell I should have to be just because the team is located in Canada. The majority of their followers are Johnny’s-come-lately who, like Canucks fans, have a great interest in the Blue Jays if they are winning and next to nil if they aren’t.
If you look at CBC Internet and the two papers today, you have to look pretty hard to see that Kansas City beat Toronto last night. I think that’s the sort of crap that pisses me off more than anything because, would you believe it, the most complete and fair coverage is in the Toronto Globe and Mail this morning.
Not only did they report the Royals’ victory in full and fair terms, they also have a story on the Chicago Cubs which really is the baseball story of the year thus far.
If Toronto wins against the Royals and wins against whomever in the World Series, most of the pundits predicted that anyway. On paper at least, the Jays are the favourite.
But baseball isn’t just about favourites, it’s also about guts, determination, and surprises. The Chicago Cubs beat the Cards, who had the best record in baseball. They are underdogs, big time. You would certainly not know that from watching the news on CBC Internet or the local newspapers.
That to me is the shame of it all because baseball has always been about not only the favourites, the Yankees particularly come to mind in the past, but about underdogs like the New York Giants in 1951 who came back from a 13 1/2 game deficit to beat the Dodgers in a playoff.
Everybody alive at that time remembers Bobby Thompson’s home run. What is forgotten, and this is my point, is that they lost in six games to the Yankees in the World Series.
The Chicago Cubs, if they win the National League pennant, will have pulled off a minor miracle and that’s quite a story – somehow only a Toronto paper seems willing to talk about. The rest of us are supposed to be so dedicated to the Blue Jays that we’re uninterested in any other team, even the one the Jays are playing. That’s not baseball and that’s not what real fans are all about.
I enjoy watching the Blue Jays play because they have an exciting team to watch. Nevertheless, in sports parlance, I hate their guts and while there is no rational reason for that, that’s baseball.
I don’t like the American League and haven’t since I was a little boy. I particularly don’t like it now that it has the designated hitter rule. If I have a team I do like, it’s a recent affection – the Royals – mainly from their performance last year but I don’t live or die by them or any other American League team.
You been waiting for me, I’m sure, to say something about the Dodgers. You cannot be a Dodger fan of my vintage without being used to living with them losing. I lived all through the Boys Of Summer who got slaughtered year after year, except one, by the Yankees. They blew a big lead in 1951 to the Giants. I am angry they lost both last year and this year because their teams were too good for that, but again, I’ve seen it before.
Not having the Bums to cheer for it will be the Cubbies or Mets but win lose or draw, it’s been a great year and the Blue Jays have a big share of the credit for that.
And I hope they get their asses kicked.
My choice also … but the Cubbies are done!