New York makes for great loser
Highest paid team in history makes Sox' win one for the
books
Jonathan Hillyard
Posted: 10/22/04
The true test of a man comes when he knows he's made a mistake. The honorable thing to
do is to admit your inaccuracies and move forward. That is what I am going to do for you
today.
I wrote a column Feb. 18 that said the acquisition of Alex Rodriguez and the $190
million payroll of the Yankees were bad for baseball. I said that this Yankee team, the
highest-paid team in baseball history, was a stain on the sport. I could not have been more
wrong.
I, like any other sports fan with a pulse, was glued to my television Wednesday night
watching game seven of the American League Championship Series. Not having any
affiliation with either team, I began to contemplate just exactly why I could not turn my
eyes away from this game.
Was it because the Red Sox had the chance to become the first team in baseball history to
rebound from a 3-0 series deficit to win the series? Yes.
Was it because I could identify (being a Braves fan) with Boston's heartbreak in 2003 on
the Aaron Boone home run? Probably.
Was it because we all like to cheer for the underdogs, especially the ones believed to be
stuck in the middle of an 86-year curse? Without question.
However, the most intriguing thing about this game was that the Red Sox' opponents
were the Yankees. That's right sports fans - the 26-time world champion New York
Yankees. This is the most storied franchise in sports, the best team that money could buy,
the undeniably most-stacked team in sports history.
And how perfect was it that New York would lose, in Yankee Stadium, the house that
Babe Ruth built, to a bunch of unshaven self-proclaimed "idiots" like the Boston Red
Sox? Was anyone else tired of seeing Yankee fans holding up pictures of Ruth's ugly
mug all night? Any way, a year and a half ago, you couldn't have convinced me of this,
but this is without a doubt the greatest rivalry in sports.
Just looking at the lineup cards makes me want to smile. The Yankee lineup is filled with
future Hall of Famers like Jeter, Rodriguez, Sheffield, Giambi and maybe even Matsui.
Could anybody other than true Yankee fans be cheering for Rodriguez, who, despite
maybe being the most talented player in the game today, feels like he needs to slap at a
player's glove to win a baseball game? Boston pitcher Curt Schilling later called the
move by Rodriguez "bush league" on ESPN. He's absolutely right, and he has every right
to say such a thing.
Schilling, whose teams are now 2-0 against the Yankees in postseason series, went out on
the mound in game six with a tendon basically hanging off his ankle. This man risked his
career for his teammates, and he pitched a one-run masterpiece in the process.
Outside of Schilling, you have to root for the rest of this Red Sox team. You have guys
like Johnny Damon, Boston's version of Gamecock Jesus, who came through when his
team needed him most. You have guys like Kevin Millar, who is the epitome of a
goofball and obviously loves playing baseball more than anything in this world. By the
way, has there been another player in recent memory as clutch as David Ortiz?
At the same time you almost feel sorry for some members of the Yankees' squad. Derek
Jeter, who plays harder than any baseball player you'll ever see, probably deserves better.
Mariano Rivera is probably the best closer in baseball history. Kenny Lofton is still
looking for his first World Series ring. But you have to wonder what Yankee owner
George Steinbrenner is thinking right now. 'I wonder if Randy Johnson is available?'
'How much am I going to have to pay for Carlos Beltran?' He's probably leaning back in
his multi-million dollar recliner, wondering whom to fire for this one, the biggest
collapse in sports history.
But let's not fool ourselves - the Red Sox won this one. And we are the lucky ones, my
friends. We true sports fans will never forget this series. This truly is, in my mind, one of
the most remarkable accomplishments in sports history, if not the most remarkable. It just
wouldn't have been right if it was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays coming back to beat the
Colorado Rockies after being down 3-0. It was just perfect. Who do we have to thank
though? George Steinbrenner, that's who. So George, you got what you wanted, the best
team in history, on paper. Now they will sit at home, waiting on your pink slip. It's a
magnificent story. I can't wait to buy the movie.
© Copyright 2006 The Gamecock