I’m not so angry that the Rays lost the series, and I’m not so upset that it was the Phillies that finally brought an end to their spectacular season; but the real reason that I’m not mad about the outcome of the series is Philly fan.  I can’t stand them.  I know that I’m not the only one out there that thinks this way, Philly fan has a reputation for being raucous and finicky, but do they have to be such big jerks?  What in the world gives them any right to be that way.  It sure as heck can’t be that they are winners.  They are far from it.  This is there first major sport championship in almost thirty years.  So where does it come from, they have no reason to be so cocky and arrogant.  it must just be all the alcohol that the city consumes.  It gives them a false sense of accomplishment and entitlement.  Maybe when the wake up from their hangover tomorrow, they will realize what a bunch of jerks they were the night before with the beer in their collective hands.

The World Series.  It is a dream for all young baseball players, a dream that goes unrealized for almost everyone of them.  The Rays did something that nobody thought was possible, and I include the Rays players and management too, they made it to the series.  In only their tenth year of existence, and what makes it even more remarkable, is the fact that they finished dead last every other year.  Until this year, 2008, the magic year when everything finally came together.  Think about this- the Cubs have not gone to a series in 50 years or so and have not won a championship in over a hundred years.  This will be the third time in 11 years that an expansion team from Florida plays for the title.  Just something to think about.  Also another thing that makes this series compelling is the match-up.  Not just the players on the field, but the cities they represent.  Once again Tampa has to go through a Philly team to win the championship.  In 2003 the Bucs had to beat the eagles to go to the superbowl and the next year the Lightning had to beat the Flyers to go to the Stanley Cup finals.  It almost seems like destiny that the rays will have to beat the Phillies for their championship.  Which will happen.

Sports movies have a certain way of not feeling like the real thing.  They have a hard time feeling and looking authentic and realistic, and at the same time being entertaining.  Some movies can do one of these things, but not the other.  Rocky, for example.  Completely unbelievable, but also not just one of the greatest sports themed movies of all time, but one of the best movies period.  The fighting, while choreographed, was not believable.  Nobody could take or dish out the punishment that Rocky and Apollo Creed took and handed out.  They would have been killed.  But, the story and the setting and characters were so well balanced and compelling, the un-reality of the actual fights could be overlooked.  It wasn’t about the fights anyway, it was about taking a chance, trying to do something that nobody thought was possible and believing in yourself.  Most movies can’t pull of the brilliance of Rocky, but can be entertaining as well.  Major League, Any Given Sunday and Slap Shot come to mind.  But some movies can transcend their sports theme like Rocky and be classic movies.  Raging Bull, Chariots of Fire, BASEketball to name a few.  These movies don’t need the sports to help them along, but use the sports as a way to tell the story, which is usually bigger than the sport it uses.  Many people say that sports can be an analogy for life, that we can use these types of events and happenings as metaphors for the everyday ups and downs and what we learn from sportsmanship, competition and learning to lose can somehow be translated to the concepts of winning and losing not only on the field of play, but in life as well.

The BCS rankings will be coming out next week, and like every other year there will be controversy and discontent.  It is a mixture of three polls each worth one-third each.  The coaches poll, the Harris poll and a computer generated concoction the makes almost nobody happy.  I know that they are student athletes and they can’t be playing all sorts of playoff games to find out who the best team is, but you’d think that they could come up with something a little better.  With a good schedule, a decent team and a little bit of luck, your team could end up as a top two ranked team and get to play for the championship.  But what about third place which might have just as good a record, but the computer ranked them lower because of some obscure tiebreaker?  The teams should be ranked on how good they are against the competition that they play against if this system is going to continue.  They shouldn’t just be ranked by wins and losses.  A two loss Florida team is almost always better than a one loss Boise team.  A two loss USC team is almost always better than a no loss Missouri team.  Right?  Otherwise, if they are going to be ranked by wins and losses, it would not be a problem setting up a 16 or 32 team playoff schedule over the course of three weeks at the end of the season.  I think then that a real winner could be found and the computers could be left to more important things like Metal Gear games and Grand Theft Auto games.

It’s getting closer and closer.  The October classic is just around the corner and we might have an idea of who’s playing in it by the end of tonight.  The Phillies can wrap up their series against the Dodgers tonight with a win and make their first World series in 15 years.  It looks more and more like the resilient Phils are going to do it.  They just keep pounding on the Dodgers and just when you think they may have a weak spot, they hit you in the teeth and win.  The Dodgers on the other hand are a one-man wreaking ball, that goes by the name of Manny Ramirez.  He’s playing lights out and the rest of the team needs to get on the ball and help him out.  The ALCS is more important to me and more exciting.  The up-start Rays are on the verge of their first World Series in their abysmal ten year history.  I’ve always loved them and rooted for the under-talented, lowest paid, gimmicky team that they had been.  How were they ever expected to compete with the likes of the Yanks and Bosox?  They couldn’t and resorted to gimmicks just to get people in the door.  Does anyone remember the “Hit Show”?  Those days are thankfully gone and better times are here.  David Ortiz was seen wearing a t-shirt asking “Got Manny?”  If that doesn’t sum up what’s going on in Boston, then I don’t know what does.

Finally, the rays got a win.  Now it is going to be interesting.  It’s a whole new series.  Best of five.  We can only count on this series to be interesting.  So far none of the other series in the post season have been interesting or compelling.  With the losing four teams in the first round combing for a whopping three wins total.  That doesn’t bring in the big numbers that the networks want.  After a futile game one loss to Boston by the score of 0-2, the bats lit it up last night in St.Pete, combining for seven home runs between the two teams.  It was a tie for the most home runs in a post season game.  It went to the 11th inning before the rays finally put it away.  Final score 9-8.  Tomorrow is game three in Boston and both teams look to take an advantage in the series.  The Dodgers on the other hand have their work cut out for them.  Tonights game is a must win for the Dodgers.  It’s not easy digging yourself out of a two games to none deficit and we’ll see if Manny and company can get it done in LA.

They did it.  The Rays won in game four.  I had my doubts if they could pull it off or not, but in the end they won their first playoff series against the Chicago White Sox in their very first appearance in the post-season.  They beat the Sox 6-2 in Chicago after being beat 5-3 yesterday evening.  It was pitching and timely hitting that did it for the Rays.  Just like they’d been doing all year long.  They play team ball and that’s why they are so good.  They move the base runners over and they earn the runs that they put together.  And yes, they could beat you with the long ball too.  They have some very good young hitters and most of them can hit with power.  Tonight it was B.J. Uptons turn to hit two home runs.  Andy Sorensen had a good outing as well, giving up just one run in 5 1/3 innings.  It was great.  Tampa fans need to enjoy it now, because it won’t be long before these kids are going to want to get paid on the open market.  I have no fear of the Red Sox or Angels.  I think the Rays can beat either one of them.  Right now, it’s anybody’s game to win.  It could be a World Series appearance for the Rays.

The Cubs are not just losers.  The Cubs are not lovable losers.  I think that it has gone past the feel good for the feel bad fans of the Cubs.  Now it’s just sad.  I want to feel sorry for them, but I can’t.  This shouldn’t have happened.  It’s one thing for the superstition, and the curses, and what ever else you want to use to explain their post season futility.  But this year they had a real chance, the were contenders and they lost to a team, no offense LA, that they should have beat.  And it wasn’t a goat,curse, or a loser sticking his glove where it didn’t belong.  It’s worse because it’s all on the Cub’s players this time.  They didn’t choke because that would entail an actual effort and a chance at victory was even attainable.  No, they didn’t choke, what they did was far worse, they flat out didn’t show up.  They didn’t show up at any of the three games.  maybe the pressure of opening at Wrigley as favorites was just too much.  Who knows.  All I do know is that they let a golden opportunity slip away and there’s always next year.  How’s it feel to have to say “There’s always next year” a hundred and one times in a row?