Thursday, October 16, 2003
Gone With The Wind
I'm a person who in 26 seasons of being a Giants fan has never tasted a World Series championship. And no San Francisco Giants fan who wasn't a New York Giants fan before has either. But that's nothing. Holy smash sakes, what it must be like to be a Cubs fan.
The Florida Marlins took a 3-0 lead in the first inning, lost the lead on a home run by the opposing pitcher, fell behind 5-3, and then rallied again for a 9-6 victory over the Chicago Cubs in Game 7 of the National League Championship Series last night, celebrating the N.L. pennant on the grass in the middle of an absolutely stunned Wrigley Field crowd.
This marks the fifth time in five playoff series in Marlins' history that they have emerged victorious. All without ever winning a division title to boot. And now they move on to their second World Series, to face either the New York Yankees or the other wild-card team, the Boston Red Sox.
I caught a glimpse on television of an elderly woman crying in the stands after the game. Now if the Cubs had won and I'd seen a Marlins fan cry, I would have thought, yeah, your team lost, deal with it, whatever. But seeing a Cubs fan cry is different, especially an older one. There is something about that. I really do feel sad for these people. They just keep having to suffer and suffer through years of something just this side of ignominy. I have no idea what words to use. They'd have to say it themselves.
(oh, and did I mention that Pudge Rodriguez did in fact win the NLCS MVP award, as I predicted? Just thought I'd drop that in here.)
The Sox brought it to the table yesterday with a comeback 9-6 win over the Yankees to force Game 7 tonight. The game will feature Pedro Martinez and Roger Clemens again, and it promises to be a wild night in The Bronx. I'm thinking security forces might be expanded for this one, but I do think cooler heads will prevail and the game will go on without incident. There are more important things tonight than worrying about who's showing up who, who's throwing at who. There's a game to play, and that sometimes get lost in mental matchups like these.
