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Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Fedex Field and the Pennant Race 

I must interrupt the impressive and weighty series of posts from Tigerhawk with a frivolity, but man cannot live on political commentary alone. I returned today from Monday Night Football at FedEx Field in DC, where the Skins lost a close one to Dallas by a score of 21-18. It was my first professional football game in 17 years, so I don't have a lot to measure it by, but I was surprised to find the atmosphere to be quite intense, almost a playoff atmosphere. It was LOUD, and not all of it was generated artificially (although some of it was).

I was also surprised at how many Dallas fans were there, brazenly wearing their colors. Their presence became increasingly heard as Dallas built a lead it would never relinquish. I just kept thinking to myself that this would never be tolerated at Yankee Stadium. If such circumstances occurred in the Bronx, a lot of people would have been ejected defending the honor of the house that Ruth built. I guess Dan Snyder hasn't built up that kind of loyalty yet.

My benefactor in this case happens to have outstanding seats, and so I was also able to come away with the belief that the Redskins cheerleaders are world class. For the skeptics among you, I invite you to do your own research.

Meanwhile, Boston clinched the AL Wildcard spot yesterday, which lets baseball fans everywhere commence with their analysis of Boston's chances of winning it all. Godd pitching staff, anything can happen in a short series, yada yada yada. The Sox best focus on their next opponent rather than on vengeance against the Yankees, because the Twins, their likely first round opponent, took their season series 4-2.

Meanwhile, for those hoping for at least the possibility of a potentially mythic Redsox-Cubs World Series, the Cubs hang onto their 1 game lead for the NL Wildcard with 6 games to play. There is no point in making predictions at this point, especially after their inexplicable series loss the the hapless Mets last weekend. Every game counts, and if they win out they are in.

If the Cubs fail to make the playoffs, or go out with a whimper, the story will be the incredible disappearing Sammy Sosa, who seems to have lost the ability to even make contact with a thrown baseball. His impotence was pronounced on Saturday, when he was offered two opportunities with the bases loaded and struck out and grounded into a double play in a game the Cubs lost 4-3 in 10 innings. Not terribly unlike Nomar Garciaparra with the Red Sox last season, now that I think about it.

2 Comments:

By Blogger SportsProf, at Wed Sep 29, 12:18:00 PM:

Great comment attributed to Tim McCarver, apparently, when Sosa grounded into the double play after striking out four times in the game you mentioned. It was something like, "Oh, come on, Sammy, how come you couldn't have struck out when your team needed it?" Ouch.

Villian, when are you going to address the pressing questions as to who the MVPs are in each league, and who the Cy Young Award winners are. Do you go with Guerrero, Bonds, Santana and Clemens, or how about Sheffield, Beltre, Schilling and the Big Unit? Enquiring minds want to know.  

By Anonymous Anonymous, at Thu Sep 30, 12:40:00 PM:

I definitley agree with the cheerleader assessment, but I disagree with the part about Skins fans failing to "defend the honor" of Fedex Field. First of all, Dallas fans are like a virus because they live among all life forms (including Philadelphians) waiting until the host is weak to make their presence known. Second, Skins fans are the most civilized fans in the game because despite their rabid love of their team and tradition, at the end of the day they know that it’s just a game, not their life.  

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