Sports Writing

Schadenfreude is a terrible, terrible aspect of human nature. That said, here are selections of an essay created by the Essay Generator: An essay on how much the Yankees choked

That absolutely superb Nike “Fenway Park” commercial is available for download. Subtle and deadly effective.

Boy, I wonder how stale that Yankee champagne is going to get. Remember the Sox putting the World Series logo at Fenway before Game 7 was over last year? Caple says the Yankees raised a “Mission Accomplished” banner above their dugout after Game 3. Ooh. Them baseball gods don’t like it when you toy with fate.

Okay, for those who predicted an ALCS victory, who had the wins coming this way? Derek Lowe 1, Schilling 1, Wakefield 1, Leskanic 1? Apparently the secret to getting him to pitch is to tell him the season is on the line. Game 4 and Game 7 - marvelous. Now there’s no shame in having Lowe as my icon on this page.

For the first time in my life as a baseball fan, I will see the Sox play in a World Series. Thank you. I love this team. And I think questions of paternity have been settled.

Over on his blog, AmShazam has another good Schilling story. Schilling - a good man, local hero. Love what he did? I’m sure he’d love a charitable donation to Curt’s Pitch.

Jim Caple on how big Game 7 is. As if you didn’t know. But the column has lots of good Curtis Leskanic quotes. Curt the Second I guess is becoming the go-to guy for wit:

True story: I woke up this morning chanting “4-2” “4-2” “4-2” to myself as I brushed my teeth. Refused to load up ESPN to start checking the game updates until that was done.

Thanks, A-Rod, for wearing those white gloves to make the interference easier to see. Oh, and here’s the whine: ‘‘I don’t want those umpires to meet anymore because every time they meet, it goes against the Yankees." (Link)

The amount of information flowing in from the postgame today is amazing. More than just the usual platitudes. Schilling had sutures in his foot. And Theo apparently just said Pedro was throwing on the side tonight so he could be available tomorrow night in relief. Pedro as closer. This is the stuff of legends.

Even Jeff Bagwell, involved in a great game like the Astros-St Louis game, couldn’t help scoreboard-watching: I really can’t help it, because the scoreboard is right in front of me. As much as I didn’t want to concern myself with it, I did grow up in New England, so I still wanted the Red Sox to win. (Link)

The Globe has even more David Ortiz love. Two game-winning postseason hits on the same day will do that to you. Oh, and Theo Epstein knows how to admit a mistake:

And it’s hours later, and I still can’t get the game out of my mind. I suspect this is in the pantheon of classic games.

In other baseball news, the Rockies declined their option on Steve Reed. Okay, he’s 39, but he still had a 3.68 ERA while pitching for Colorado. 3.68! Good enough for a 138 ERA+. Guess I don’t see what the issue was. Spaeking of the NL, how about that Backe-Lidge combo? Two great Championship Series games today.

Between Dave Roberts (half-Japanese) and Johnny Damon (half-Thai - although this Southeast Asian assumes his capacity for growing facial hair comes from the Amerian side), the Sox have got the half-Asian fanbase all sewn up. Helps too when they score tying and winning runs on back-to-back days. There may have been better individual postseason games (Game 6, 1975? Twins-Braves, Game 7, 1991?), but for two in a row this is hard to beat. Here’s a good interview with Roberts from his Dodgers days, talking about his roots:

Once more, into the breach: Now I’ve heard there was a secret chord That David played, and it pleased the Lord But you don’t really care for music, do you?

David Ortiz will never have to walk a day the rest of his life. A crew of Sox fans will just carry him around like the King he is. Oh, and the word for today is REDEMPTION:

I love how Ortiz’s finger pointing thing has become so iconic that the New York Times can use just the hand to indicate the Sox victory.