I was at a presentation at work today, and my dad called. Not wanting to walk out on the presentation (which was scheduled to last for another 20 minutes or so), I chose to defer to voicemail. As the presentation was letting out, he called again. As I answered the phone, I returned to my office to see that he’d tried calling me there too. I’m thinking something serious has happened. Turns out he was just really excited.
He was in the car, on his way to St. Louis to attend game 5 tonight. He had another ticket, and wanted to offer it to me. Before I go into my reasons, I’ll say up front that I turned him down. And this, I hope, will offer an insight into how deep is my hatred (and that of Cubs fans in general) for the St. Louis Cardinals.
Given that after last night’s debacle, the Cardinals are now up 3 games to 1, consider the possible outcomes:
- The Cardinals win the World Series. This is pretty much the most devastating thing in all of sports, save for perhaps the Green Bay Packers winning the Super Bowl. There is no way I want to be present for this event, especially if it takes place in St. Louis. The only thing I hate more than the Cardinals is their fanbase, and seeing them celebrate a championship, in person, in St. Louis, would probably result in some jail time, one way or another.
- The Tigers win tonight, thus sending the Series back to Detroit. This is, obviously, what I’m rooting for. If this were to happen, I’ll be sad that I wasn’t present with my dad when he got to see his team win a World Series game.
- The game gets rained out, and I’m stuck in St. Louis for the evening, without having even seen a game. Then I further have to decide if I want to stay in St. Louis for another day, to have another shot at seeing the game tomorrow night. Then I’ve blown an entire weekend in St. Louis, a city where they think that Budweiser is a good beer.
Basically I am banking on the supposition that this will not be the only time in my life I am offered the chance to attend a game in the World Series. I’m sure my dad will enjoy it, though, and I hope the Tigers win. I really hope the Tigers win.
I don’t blame you. Neither love nor money would have persuaded me to sit in the cold drizzle in Sancta Luigi tonight. As it is, I’m sitting at home enjoying a very good bottle of Chopin vodka and watching spring training caliber baseball. If the Cards win, the fans there will no doubt feel they got their money’s worth. But that’s a very localized point of view. This is crap baseball, and the fans got ripped as badly as the year of scab baseball. FOX got what they deserved, IMHO; the lowest ratings World Series in history.