We have potential for the tussle of a lifetime, folks. Just picture this for a moment. Savor it. Contemplate the ramifications in these four magical words:
Cubs Versus Red Sox.
Two perennial losers. Two World Series wastes of space, going head to head. The match-up that you can only envision ending in the seventh game, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, game’s tied…and a meteor hits the stadium and obliterates both teams.
Seriously: Who would you root for? I’m not interested in the opinions of fans of the respective teams. I’m talking about people such as–well, myself–who have no vested interest one way or the other. And all of you who are poised over your keyboard about to pretentiously announce that you don’t give a dámņ about baseball…shut the f**k up, would’ja, please?
Me, I’m thinking the Sox, just to get poor Bill Buckner off the hook.
Any thoughts? Let’s ponder it now before events in the playoffs make it moot.
PAD
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Well, I used to ride the Red Line past Wrigley Field every day, so in my heart I’ve got to go with the Cubbies.
If only so the inevitable drunken revelry will thin the yuppie population in Wrigleyville, and make rents there more affordable for regular people.(=
What’s up with all the Yankee hating? Seriously. Am I the lone Yankee fan reply? Just because we lost one to the Twins doesn’t mean we’re out.
I don’t care about baseball, except that it has turned from something almost noble into a simple expression of greed, like all professional sports. But this…this might actually be interesting.
I don’t care who the particular teams are. Take the two bottom-scoring teams in any professional sport and arrange for them to have a year-end battle of their own. Make it especially interesting by something never heard in the last thirty years – LOW PRICED TICKETS, so that ordinary people and not greedy corporations can afford to buy tickets.
Build fan expectation based on that famous line used in “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?” that described the American way of life; you don’t have to be first at everything, but DON’T BE LAST.
Look at it this way. Bottom-scoring teams are under the most pressure to do better at something. That’s different than the pressure on two top-scoring teams, who already have a guaranteed payoff by being in the World Series, the Super Bowl or whatever. This is a place to prove their worth to their fans and themselves.
And to keep it on track, why not do the same for comics? We all know how the JLA/Avengers team-up will do. But what would happen with two low-ranked comics…say, Aquaman and Sub-Mariner? We don’t know, and that alone is appealing.
Jesus Christ, if i hear another thing about the “dream world series” i’m going to friggin vomit.
Cubs! Red Sox! THE NATION CAN’T LOSE!!!! THEY CAN REVERSE ALL THEIR KARMA!!! HOORAY FOR HUMANITY!!!! I mean, for christ’s sake, is there enough syrup for you there? If you’re a baseball fan, you leave all the crap sentimentality to the casual guys, and enjoy the postseason for what it is. These are the same people who stop watching baseball once their team is eliminated, for goodness sakes. Do you want to be among them?
What’s great (and terrible) about baseball’s postseason is that almost everyone has an equal shot at advancing (check out http://www.baseballprospectus.com if you’ve got the time). So enjoy that, instead of playing retarded dream scenarios when you don’t even know the starting lineups of the teams.
And why do we call it the world series? Well, when the UK or cameroon decide to put in a bid for a team, let me know.
If by some bizarre act of divine providence that both the Cubbies and the Sox should make it, I have to root for the Sox. They’ve got a curse to break, don’t they?
The thing that boggles my mind are the Chicago fans. The Cubbies have been perennial loseres. Meanwhile, the White Sox have done pretty well for themselves over the years, but the Cubbies still outdraw them! How does that happen? I’d betcha that the White Sox could win the pennant, the Cubs could place dead last and the Cubbies’d still draw more!
Of course, I’m a Pirates fan. My team hasn’t had a winning record since 1992. Who am I to talk about sense?
Cubs v. Red Sox.
I’m 100% behind the Cubs in that scenario.
Actually, I’m beind the NL team in any World Series scenario (although, as a Phillies fan, I find rooting for the Braves to be extremely distasteful), so it’s not really much a choice.
When the AL gets rid of the DH rule, I’ll consider voting for some AL teams. But not until.
Well, I’m a Blue Jays fan, but I’d really like to see a Red Sox-Cubs series. I have no idea who I’d cheer for. As an east coaster I tend to cheer for the Sox when the Jays are out of the picture. But the Cubs have been doormats for so long that if they actually made it to the finals, I may find myself cheering for them as a sentimental favorite.
Cubs.
Just becuase Billy Crystal’s character liked ’em so much in Running Scared.
Rob
Well, here, in Brazil, we barely know what is baseball.
In fact, I learned how the game works just a few time ago, and for some strange reason I don’t understand, I left my heart in San Francisco (go, Giants, go). : )
But, between Cubs and Red Sox, I root for the last.
I like to see the strange Nomar Garciaparra (please, just don’t ask me why)
Ana Lucia – a little ladybug in the garden
Btw, the Cubs also have a curse, although it’s not as well known as the Curse of the Bambino. Namely, the billy goat curse, due to a local well-known character being ejected from a game in the 1945 World Series due to having brought along his goat (hey, the goat had a ticket…). The curse was that never again would a World Series game be played in Wrigley, and various folk have tried things similar to Red Sox efforts, such as having Father Guido Sarducci perform an exorcism.
Said character, btw, was the owner of the Billy Goat Tavern, a locale that various Second City types hung out in, and which was the inspiration for the original Saturday Night Live cast’s “Cheeburger, Cheeburger, chips” sketches.
Every Red Sox fan should pay me to not pay any attention. The last World Series I watched was 86, and I only caught game 6. My attention equals a Red Sox loss every single time. I have never actually seen them *win* a game. Every single Red Sox game I’ve seen has been a loss.
So in short, whatever team I would decide to root for would lose.
Personally, having been born and raised in Orange County, CA (yeah, “The OC”), I’m an Anaheim Angels fan. So, last year was a great year for me baseball wise. But, between the Cubs and the Red Sox, both of which I hope do make it to the World Series, I’ve got to root for the Cubs. The main reason being that I’ve been to Wrigley Field twice to see the Cubs play.
What’s up with all the Yankee hating? Seriously. Am I the lone Yankee fan reply? Just because we lost one to the Twins doesn’t mean we’re out.
Honestly? It’s because they have the most obnoxious fans in the universe.
Present company excluded, of course.
I would pick the Red Sox because I saw three ladies doing feng shui over Fenway Park (?) on the news. 😉
**In answer to Shed
Actually there are 2 Canadian teams which play Major League Baseball (Toronto Blue Jays & Montreal Expos)**
i forgot about the Montreal Expos. My parents lived in Montreal in the early 70’s and my dad got really hooked on them. He had a whole bunch of penants and got signed pictures of the team which he brought back to the UK with us. (Might still have them somewhere in storage … have to go and check) One thing i still have from him is a glove, ball and bat, signed by a couple of the players.
How are they doing these days ??
“Two perennial losers.”
No, the Red Sox are usually very good, but just can’t win the World Series.
Being a life-long Cubs fan relocated to New York, I would love to see a Cubs/Yankees series because I would be able to go to the series! However, Cubs/BoSox would be cool–two great ballparks, the Bill Buckner connection, and a curse would be lifted. Maybe I should bring my goat to the first game at Fenway…
We’ll just have to ignore the ex-Cubs factor for this series…
Based on last night/this morning’s Sox-As game, it won’t matter if the Sox somehow manage to win the Series this year. The entire fan base will already have died of heart attacks/strokes occuring every time Boston relief pitching takes the mound.
As for Montreal, it’s a sad case. The team is officially owned by the rest of major league baseball, and only still exists due to various court rulings and players union protests about team contraction. This year it played 22 “home” games in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and there’s a proposal for a similar number to be played next year either there or in Mexico. Currently, the team’s being shopped to Portland, OR, Washington D.C., and Northern Virginia (D.C. suburbs).
What’s up with all the Yankee hating? Seriously. Am I the lone Yankee fan reply? Just because we lost one to the Twins doesn’t mean we’re out.
Honestly? It’s because they have the most obnoxious fans in the universe.
Present company excluded, of course.
You’ve obviously never experienced the Adelaide Crows or Collingwood fans from down under.
In the words of one media commentator, “I wouldn’t suppourt Collingwood if they were playing against Al Qaeda.”
From the results of today’s A’s-Sox game, the Sox are hanging on by a shoestring and a prayer right now. Doesn’t look like the “dream” match will happen this time…
jeff
PS – I didn’t say in the other post that I hated baseball, just hate watching it on TV.
Well, if this is going to happen, the Sox better get their butts in gear, as they are now down 2 games to none.
Ahh well, my Cubbies are still in it, and Prior is going to rock tomorrow.
I kinda hoped for Cubs/White Sox series though, since the White Sox are quite the perennial losers as well.
Ray Feist made a comment calling a potential Cubs/Red Sox series the “Suicide Series”, since suicide rates for fans of the losing team may skyrocket. 🙂
Besides, I hate Sammy Sosa and it would make me ill to see him win the World Series. He is one of the biggest phonies in all of sports.
I’d love to hear a logical reasoning behind this comment, because I don’t think you’ve got one.
Unless you think that Sammy is just juiced up on steroids or something. In which case, you might as well toss out a hundred other players in each league as well, including some of your own precious Mets.
Who to choose, who to choose…well, I COULD go for the Sox cuz my Mom was from Massachusetts, or I COULD go for the Cubs since Chicago has the BEST deep dish on this planet…hey, as long as it’s GOOD, who cares? Unlike that last Giants appearance in the Super Bowl…(“What, that WASN’T just a dress rehearsal? D’OH!”)
One other reason for me to pull for the Red Sox:
God, if they won, would it frost the butts of Yankees fans.
PAD
***Oh, good grief.
As a Yankees fan I’d LOVE to see a Red Sox vs. Cubs World Series. (With the Cubs winning, of course.) But it can’t possibly happen. Even if, by some act of god, the Boston Chokers get past the A’s, then they’ll get crushed by the Yanks.
And, no, Yankee fans don’t hate the Red Sox. For pretty much the same reason no one hates the road kill one sees receding in one’s rearview mirror…
If you think about it, Mr. David, the PERFECT World Series matchup is the Cubs vs. Yankees! Yep, the team everyone loves to hate against the loveable losers. The forces of darkness against the forces of light.
GO CUBBIES!!
Er–as a Yankees fan I am perfectly willing to see the Cubs win a World Series every 95 years.
Which they do–like clockwork, every 95 years.***
I’m all for the Cubs!! My son and I have rooted for the Cubs for ever! His dad has taken him to some Cubs games, and I would just love to see his excitement if they won the World Series!!
It has to be the Cubbies. Why? Not just because of the “Loveable Loser” status they have, but because they have the greatest fans in existance.
The Cubs lose? The Bleacher Bums love ’em. The Cubs win? Ditto.
I have never really heard Cub fans curse long or loud about their losing. “Next Year” was always the perennial motto for them.
However, now, the Cubs are on their way, “firing on all cylinders”. And how are the fans taking it? Where most cities would celebrate by looting, rioting, and burning, Cubs fans (both true-blue and fair-weather) are literally dancing in the streets.
Me? Born and bred over in a town in Indiana, ’bout 40 miles east of Chicago. One of the fund raisers my school system would hold would be a basketball game of our teachers vs. a Chicago team. I never found the players of the Cubs or the Bears anything but friendly and gracious. Granted, that was many, many years ago, but I don’t see much changing in that way.
So, yes. It’ll definately be us in the Series. Don’t care of the BoSox make it or not. Don’t think it’ll matter.
And if we lose?
There’s always next year.
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