We're in "Series of the Century" territory starting this week when the Yanks and the Sox kick off their best-of-seven championship series.
I'm not a fan of either team, but this is a matchup that no true-blooded sports fan can resist. There are rivalries such as Lakers vs. Kings and Bears vs. Packers. There are rivalries such as Florida State vs. Miami, Cubs vs. Cardinals and Phil vs. Riley. There are RIVALRIES such as Ohio State vs. Michigan, North Carolina vs. Duke or Biggie vs. Tupac. And then there is THE RIVALRY.
Yes, there's no greater matchup of two teams in all of sports and no greater stage for such a pinning than the MLB playoffs, which get more intense and dramatic than "Desperate Housewives."
But with all that said, don't we already know who's going to win this series? The world will end before the Red Sox win a series, and we've got too much living to do.
Boston is a team cursed for all time. Pedro Martinez runs under 10 ladders on the way to the mound before each start, and I hear Manny Ramirez can actually juggle four screaming black cats at once. There's this culture of losing, a notion planted in the entire team's subconscious. Sox players think they cannot win a World Series, especially not if they have to go through the Yankees.
I think it's penance for all the whining and complaining by Boston fans and columnists about how bad they have it. I guess the best team in the history of sports - Russell's Celtics - and the Super Bowl champs aren't enough for these babies.
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I know the Yankees will win for a lot of different reasons. Mariano Rivera is the king of the playoffs and quite possibly the best big-money pitcher in the league in terms of clutch, timely outs. He's been choking a bit more regularly lately, but it's hard to see him not coming through these next two weeks.
They also have Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui. Anybody- following baseball this year knows how nasty Sheffield has been to opposing pitchers, and he'll probably get walked two or three times each game.
The problem with walking Sheff is that Matsui is up next, and he comes through. And then there's Derek Jeter, the Tom Brady of baseball. The guy is just so solid, so clutch when it counts. Like Brady, it almost seems as if he saves himself for the playoffs, when he transforms from a good player to a positively spectacular one. Jeter is good for three or four breathtaking plays in each postseason.
Yeah, Schilling's a badass, and David Ortiz and Ramirez will hit it to the clouds. But come on. I haven't even mentioned A-Rod or Bernie Williams.
We know what's going to happen here.
No year will ever be the year for the Red Sox. It's too early for us to be facing an apocalypse.
