Sometimes David gets in his licks at Goliath!
The Mighty New York Yankees (aka The Evil Empire) were eliminated from the run for the World Series title this afternoon. The Detroit Tigers, who hadn't been to the post season in nineteen years, a team that finished with 119 losses three short years ago, and were considered massive underdogs going up against the Bronx Bombers, found the pitching, found the hitting and provided the fielding to cause some major angst in the Centre of the known universe.
Suddenly all is almost right again in the outer fringes of that universe. The Yankees of course are the best of excess; a lineup that consists of far too many superstars than any one team should have, and featuring a payroll ($200 million) that would probably work wonders in many a developing country. They were loud, brash and yes even talented, but not invincible.
In a best of five series, they came up two games short, losing the final game 8-3 and the series 3 games to 1. It was a cathartic moment for Detroit, a city that has been kicked around for decades now as a declining empire of their own, the jobs moving away, the people moving to the suburbs, the engine of the economy the automotive industry a shell of what it once was in Michigan. Add to that the misery of the Tigers over the years and its no wonder they partied long after the final out on Saturday.
The post game celebration broke loose from the dressing room and back onto the field as the players brought out champagne to spray on fans, stadium ushers and cops all to show that on a Saturday afternoon in October, city and team were one. It was a wild scene as players scrambled atop dugouts climbed into the stands and hugged fans, high fived kids and acted like a little league team that had just won its city championship.
Detroit of course has had many sports champions over the years recently the Pistons and Red Wings have held the flag high for Michigan and the Motor City. But baseball has a special place in Detroit, a city that celebrates its baseball heroes like McLain and Lolich, Kaline and Horton, Sparky Anderson and now Jim Leyland, a most grandfatherly looking manager, who came out of retirement to manage this team and was carried off the field by his young players, giddy in joy at what they had just done.
Many will ask well what exactly have they won. There is after all, still much baseball left to play before a shot at the World Series comes up. In fact, the next phase for the Tigers is just as dramatic as the past, a match up with a very, very good Oakland A’s baseball team, another squad steeped in baseball history.
While it may have looked like the Tigers were celebrating a bit too early, there’s but one simple explanation. They beat the Evil Empire, and because of that the champagne was flowing far from Detroit. The bottles were uncorked in every small baseball burgh which year after year can only watch in awe as the Yankees pull out a pen and a chequebook and redesign the baseball world in their manner.
Detroit may never win another game in this playoff run (though one would be foolish to suspect that will be the case) but by sending the Yankees off to their winter homes, the Tigers have done a great service for baseball fans everywhere (well everywhere but where a Yankee heart beats).
I’ll count myself as those humbled by the show of Tiger spirit, I had already penciled in a subway series for the finals of this baseball year. An expected battle for the bragging rights of the Big Apple. So yes, I end up with the egg on my face for that call, and unless the Padres get it together for one other prediction as well.
But I’ll take my lumps gladly; The Evil Empire has been knocked off. And underdog lovers everywhere have a new dog to love!
The Mighty New York Yankees (aka The Evil Empire) were eliminated from the run for the World Series title this afternoon. The Detroit Tigers, who hadn't been to the post season in nineteen years, a team that finished with 119 losses three short years ago, and were considered massive underdogs going up against the Bronx Bombers, found the pitching, found the hitting and provided the fielding to cause some major angst in the Centre of the known universe.
Suddenly all is almost right again in the outer fringes of that universe. The Yankees of course are the best of excess; a lineup that consists of far too many superstars than any one team should have, and featuring a payroll ($200 million) that would probably work wonders in many a developing country. They were loud, brash and yes even talented, but not invincible.
In a best of five series, they came up two games short, losing the final game 8-3 and the series 3 games to 1. It was a cathartic moment for Detroit, a city that has been kicked around for decades now as a declining empire of their own, the jobs moving away, the people moving to the suburbs, the engine of the economy the automotive industry a shell of what it once was in Michigan. Add to that the misery of the Tigers over the years and its no wonder they partied long after the final out on Saturday.
The post game celebration broke loose from the dressing room and back onto the field as the players brought out champagne to spray on fans, stadium ushers and cops all to show that on a Saturday afternoon in October, city and team were one. It was a wild scene as players scrambled atop dugouts climbed into the stands and hugged fans, high fived kids and acted like a little league team that had just won its city championship.
Detroit of course has had many sports champions over the years recently the Pistons and Red Wings have held the flag high for Michigan and the Motor City. But baseball has a special place in Detroit, a city that celebrates its baseball heroes like McLain and Lolich, Kaline and Horton, Sparky Anderson and now Jim Leyland, a most grandfatherly looking manager, who came out of retirement to manage this team and was carried off the field by his young players, giddy in joy at what they had just done.
Many will ask well what exactly have they won. There is after all, still much baseball left to play before a shot at the World Series comes up. In fact, the next phase for the Tigers is just as dramatic as the past, a match up with a very, very good Oakland A’s baseball team, another squad steeped in baseball history.
While it may have looked like the Tigers were celebrating a bit too early, there’s but one simple explanation. They beat the Evil Empire, and because of that the champagne was flowing far from Detroit. The bottles were uncorked in every small baseball burgh which year after year can only watch in awe as the Yankees pull out a pen and a chequebook and redesign the baseball world in their manner.
Detroit may never win another game in this playoff run (though one would be foolish to suspect that will be the case) but by sending the Yankees off to their winter homes, the Tigers have done a great service for baseball fans everywhere (well everywhere but where a Yankee heart beats).
I’ll count myself as those humbled by the show of Tiger spirit, I had already penciled in a subway series for the finals of this baseball year. An expected battle for the bragging rights of the Big Apple. So yes, I end up with the egg on my face for that call, and unless the Padres get it together for one other prediction as well.
But I’ll take my lumps gladly; The Evil Empire has been knocked off. And underdog lovers everywhere have a new dog to love!
To borrow and transplant a quote from hockey and the late Bob Johnson, “It was a great day for baseball”
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