Didn't watch a bit of the Yankees take home championship #27 tonight; just couldn't bring myself to do it. Kind of reminded me of the time the Cowboys beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl during my junior year of high school. By that point the Cowboys were established as a super team (even though ironically it would be the final time they would even come close to winning a Super Bowl) and I knew the Steelers - who due to Pennsylvania family ties, I had a rooting interest in - had no shot of beating Dallas. So, I hardly watched the game because I couldn't bring myself to watch the Cowboys celebrate. Pretty much like this series. Once the Yanks won two in Philly, I knew the Phills were done and I didn't want to watch New York be happy.
But when I see the Yankees do well, I can't help but think about my favorite baseball team, the Baltimore Orioles. As a long suffering O's fan, it truly hurts to watch postseason baseball, because you know your team has no shot of making it. Between the fact that our organization is bad, and that we can't compete with the huge payrolls of the Yanks and Sox, no postseason ball is coming to Charm City anytime soon.
There was a time though, when the O's could stand toe to toe with the Yankees and actually compete. In 1996 Baltimore pulled off the upset of upsets, knocking off the defending AL Champion Indians before falling to the Yanks in the ALCS (if you'll remember that was the game where that little bastard Jeffrey Maier reached over the railing and kept Tarasco from catching the Jeter homer...Yankees take the lead and win the next four). Then in 1997 the O's were the team to beat. Knocked off New York for the division and then stomped Seattle in the wild card. We were going to the World Series! And then Armando Benitez blew a couple games and we pissed another one away on a crazy play and the Indians went on to the Series.
And that would be pretty much be it for Baltimore baseball fans. Peter Angelos would fire the manager the day he won the Manager of the Year award (because he had a rift with Robbie Alomar - the same one who spit on the ump and the same one who would play exactly one more year in B-more) and we haven't had a winning season since.
So pardon me if I can't bear to watch the Yankees win another World Series. It hurts too much. But, it could be worse...I could live in Pittsburgh. Sigh.
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I'm with you all the way on this Hube. I hate New York. The O's have always been my AL team. It's been really hard to watch them since then. It's a shame that we can't fire Angelos. He trades away all the talent and won't spend the money to keep them. Baseball needs a salary cap!!! If you look at the NFL they have parody. You never know who's gonna be good from year to year. Baseball needs that for the small market teams to just survive. The Royals and Pirates haven't had a playoff team in the last 15 years at least. And it's not just the small market teams, before two years ago the Phillies hadn't been in the postseason in 15 years. The Yankees and Red Sox are what's wrong with baseball!
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