Preaching is not really my style. High-class sermons on the state of professional sports are something I avoid like flossing. However, I’m going to climb up to the pulpit and attempt to eloquently discuss something, rather than make 18 stupid jokes that only 3 people understand? I recognize that such a shock to the system is not necessarily something that our reader will be happy about, but I beg of him/her, please don’t quit us after you read this, you’re all we’ve got.
What the Tampa Bay Rays did last night was great for baseball and great for professional sports. This might seem like an awfully obvious thesis statement, akin to “Douglas over Tyson was a big upset”, but let me explain why I felt the need to make the obvious point. There have been rumblings ever since David Price got Jed Lowrie to ground out that a Rays/Phils World Series was bad for everyone but the people living in those two cities. Bad for TV, bad for advertisers, bad for the precious fans in Boston, New York, LA, Chicago, etc. This is simply not the case. In a sport where virtually every team, from the crappy ones to the great ones, makes a nice profit, TV ratings are not the most important thing. And yes, I’m sure FOX wanted a sexier, bigger market matchup, and I’m sure Joe Buck is not thrilled that he’ll be broadcasting from a dome with all the charm of a washed-up porn star, and a bandbox with a bunch of angry, bile spewing ex-convicts, but this World Series is going to have some major juice where it counts—on the field.
The popular argument against the Rays making it to the Series is that, well, they have bad fans. And this isn’t even a statement I’m going to try and refute, because when a team is in the playoff chase in late September and can’t draw even 15,000 people for a big game, there’s a problem. Part of the mentality of some of these fans, though, is understandable. The Rays have been beyond laughable for their entire existence up until this year, so there were no die-hards that populate so many other stadiums game-in and game-out, confident that their patience will be rewarded by a winning team, just people that didn’t have anything better to do on a given night. Success changes all of that. New fans are right now being cultivated in Tampa/St. Pete, and they’re young, impressionable, and know only that a group of young, enthusiastic players are playing their guts out for a little glory. The added bonus is that very few, if any of these guys are making big money. It’s easier to root for players that, though they may be rich by every other standard, are paupers in the baseball salary game.
The other big argument against this World Series, and it’s really the bigger of the two, is the point of view that assumes that, since a major media market isn’t involved (and since when is Philly not a major media market—you’d think it was a town of 300,000, not a city of 2 million) this series has no real tie to the common, neutral fan. This statement or thought process is so backwards it makes me think of Kris Kross. For every displaced Yankee, Red Sox, Cubs, White Sox, Dodgers or Angels fan in the country, there are at least 6 or 7 fans that love an underdog story more than anything. There are long suffering fans in other cities, that, while they might not like the Phillies, can at least relate to Phildadelphia’s 28 year championship drought. (Hello Cleveland!) This elitist idea that sports don’t matter if they aren’t played in Boston, New York, Chicago, LA or Houston/Dallas/Miami, et al is ludicrous. If this really is the case in the minds of anyone but TV executives, why bother having teams in other cities. Let’s cut this down to the top 6 to 10 media markets in the country for each sport, and then have them battle it out. For sure, the talent level on teams and the quality of play would go up, but just try and legitimately visualize that scenario. It sucks. It alienates the majority of the country. It is, in the long run, not so good for sports. But some would have you believe that it is.
One thing I’ve always hated about the Chicago Cubs and the Boston Red Sox is the romanticized view the media gives to their fanbase, as if they’re the only ones that have ever suffered through a long losing drought. Granted, what the Cubs have done over the last 100 years is pretty staggering to think about, but to make it as though their fans somehow “deserve” a championship is silly. I’m a loyal Pirates fan, and I can say with 100% honesty that I don’t feel they’ll ever win a championship while I’m alive. Does that make me as a fan pitiable? I hope not. Sticking with your team through thick and thin, good and bad, nauseating and exhilarating is the essence of being a fan. And really, this “pat ‘em on the back, don’t worry guys next year is your year” crap that the media gives to Cubs fans is mostly due to their status as a big-market team. When do you hear about the Cleveland sports title drought? Not too often. Put 3 million people in Cleveland and you’ll start to hear about it a lot more, whether it’s justified or not.
But let’s get back to the field, for a minute. This series sets up as possibly the most intriguing matchup of any we could have had from the 8 teams that started the playoffs. Yes, Cubs/Red Sox would have been interesting on the field because it matched two exceptionally strong offensive clubs that also had dominant pitching staffs, at least during the regular season, but what we’re about to be treated to is a contrast in styles that almost guarantees exciting, compelling baseball. Are you a baseball purist, that believes in pitching, defense, productive outs and timely hitting? Please step into the Tampa corner (though they did mash it all over the yard against the Red Sox). Are you new-school, a steroids-era fan that loves the long ball? The Phillies hit a ton of them. Do you like dominant closers with just a little hint of past failure, guys that you feel bad not rooting for, despite not having a reason to? Meet Brad Lidge. Do you like a young gun in your closer role, a guy who was just thrust into the spotlight last night and exceeded expectations completely? I have David Price on line 1. Do you like scrappy role players who step up at big times? Shane Victorino and the entire Tampa Bay team outside of Crawford, Longoria, Upton and Kazmir would like a word or two with you.
Point is, there’s plenty of compelling to go around during this series. There’s going to be a story that plays out one way or another that will appeal to virtually everyone; either a city will see its championship drought end, or an unfathomable Cinderella story will write an utterly improbable final chapter. Whatever the outcome is, don’t let anyone tell you that it isn’t important because it isn’t in New York or Chicago or Boston or LA. It’s damn important for that very reason.
Enjoy the games everyone, Rays in 6.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment