This will be the last baseball-oriented rant until at least spring 2005.
So the Red Sox won it all. Let me say that my pre-World-Series prediction (that not one starting pitcher for either team would get a win, i.e. it would be an offense-based series) was completely wrong. I guess the Sox had a date with destiny.
For game 3, I sat at a bar next to a life-long Cardinals fan and we got along great, actually talking about baseball history and game mechanics. That was cool. A lot of fans out there - of any team - actually don't know jack about the game or their team. They're just fair-weather fans...the kind who, once their team gets beaten, either automatically root against whatever team beat theirs, or just stop watching altogether. In fact, in the ALCS game 1, I was at the same bar and the Yankees scored a couple of runs and some bimbo waitress started cheering. My buddy started ragging on her for being a Yankees fan and she started going on about how she was from New York and blah blah. He asked her who their shortstop was - she didn't know the name. He asked her who their closer was - she didn't know the name. See what I'm getting at?
And finally, the "dumbass reporting" award goes to the Fox sportscasters, who consistently made inane comments during the Series, e.g. "It's been 86 years since 1918" and "If they don't get some baserunners, they can't score any runs." Their lowest moment was after the game 4 win, as the Red Sox were celebrating their championship, and the Fox Sports woman asks Terry Francona "So what are your plans to bring back the big free agents for 2005?" What a dumb time to ask that kind of question. No tact, no class. Let the damn team enjoy what they just won, for at least a day. Geez.