The ROOT of all EVIL

The ROOT of all EVIL

Last night I rooted for the Yankees to lose.  They did.  I gloated.  Julie warned me that that’s bad hoodoo.  I could upset the baseball gods.  But I’m an Agnostic, so is that really an issue?  It is when your team is facing elimination.

Tonight the Phillies host the Cardinals for the last time in 2011.  No matter what happens, these 2 teams are done playing each other until 2012 (the year the world ends – so I guess the Cubs will win it all next year).  I have already been told by a coworker, that if the Phillies lose tonight it’s my fault.  “You were too cocky” is his reasoning.  Not “Our 161 million dollar pay roll team forgot how to hit a baseball” but “You were too cocky.”  And honestly, I wasn’t.  I have been cocky in the past.  But this year, all I said was, “I’m not worried.”  Is that cocky?  Don’t get me wrong during the game, I am on the edge of my seat.  I scream at umpires (and cats when they attempt to climb the TV – they love squirrels, who knew?).  I die with the lows and am reborn with the highs.  But in the end I’m not worried. 

But when the Yankees got eliminated (on an A-Rod strike out nonetheless) I had a sinking feeling.  Not that I was worried, but that if we beat the Cardinals and then go on to beat the winner of the Brewers/Diamondbacks series, and finally play the Rangers or Tigers (Rangers) on the World stage, will it mean the same?  We had unfinished business with the Bronx Bombers that will remain unfinished no matter what happens tonight.  That’s kind of a bummer.  Don’t get me wrong. The World Series is the World Series.  Hell, we beat the Royals and the Rays in our franchise history (Rangers would keep the alliteration alive).  But to beat the Yankees would have been glorious!

Hold the phone bubba!  You gotta get there first!  This I’m aware of.  I know it could all come crashing down tonight.  But I’m not worried.  I had a great time this year.  Even struggling to get tickets as the ball park seems to be busting at its seams with capacity every game.  Where were all of these “fans” when Travis Lee was playing first base?  If our season ends tonight, there will undoubtedly be throngs of people labeling this team a FAILURE.  “This shouldn’t happen with this pay role and these pitchers.”  Tell that to The Red Sox Nation.  But I’m not worried.

I have built in a contingency plan:

I have a very good friend, Gordon Wood Holmes III (that’s right, there are 2 others!) who is a huge Cardinals fan.  Right now, our friendship has a mandatory BLACKOUT.  We haven’t talked since this series began, nor will we until sometime tomorrow.  I have no problem calling him to congratulate him if that comes to pass.  If the unthinkable should happen and St Louis should win this series tonight, I will also have no problem rooting for that squirrely team the rest of the way.  But I have been reading Games Of Thrones.  If the Cardinals win and Gordon gloats, I’ll ruin the whole fucking series he holds so dearly. 

I’m not worried.  But the Starks should be.

Go Phillies!