Who To Cheer For

As we head into yet another September pennant chase without a Blue Jay team to cheer for, I don't know if you're like me, but I usually try and find another team to sort of root for down the stretch. Last year, I picked the Rays, mostly because that meant it would have knocked at least one of the Yankees or Red Sox out of October. That's not to say that I would cheer for the Rays to win over the Jays (in fact, when Tampa Bay was one of the victims of last season's late 10 game winning streak, I was pretty happy), but when the Jays weren't involved, I was usually pulling for the Rays.

As it turned out, they weren't a bad choice. They won the division (making sure the Yankees would miss the playoffs for the first time since the strike), had a pretty easy go of it in the Division Series, almost choked away the ALCS before holding off Boston in 7 games, but went down pretty easily in the World Series to the Phillies.

I know this isn't for everyone. A lot of fans might just tune out once their favourite team gets knocked out of contention, but not having a horse in the race for going on 16 years now has left me without many choices if I want to make post-season baseball a little more exciting.

Anyway, though, I'll take a look at some choices for who I might be pulling for as the pennant races heat up heading into late August.

New York Yankees

What's to like: Um, the history?

What's not to like: Let's see. They're the fucking Yankees. I know that they've been usurped a bit in terms of hatred by the Red Sox in recent years, but that doesn't mean I have to like them. There's not really any player on the team that I particularly like. I really don't want to see A.J. Burnett win a World Series and I REALLY don't want to see Eric Hinske make a third straight World Series. Besides, them making the playoffs is pretty much a foregone conclusion at this point, so where's the fun in cheering for them? I also don't like hearing about how great the new ballpark is.

Boston Red Sox

What's to like: Fenway's pretty cool, I guess, if you ignore the people at the game.

What's not to like: Massholes. Lot's of douchebag players. The media referring to Jason Bay as 'Canadian Jason Bay' during every BoSox highlight package is really annoying, too. Also, they've really been treating this team as a fantasy team this season. Not so much in how much money they spend, but just the picking up and releasing of players. Like the Adam LaRoche situation. They need a corner infielder, so they pick one up. Oh, a better one is available in Victor Martinez, so they get him and dump off LaRoche on someone else. And Martinez has catcher eligibility as well, sweet! And how many guys have they tried at SS this year?

Tampa Bay Rays

What's to like: Fans aren't known douchebags, yet. Carl Crawford is fun to watch. Joe Maddon seems like a cool guy.

What's not to like: Starting to lose their 'underdog' label. The fact that they've made the Jays the fourth best team in the division is starting to set in and it depresses me. Jeff Niemann might beat out Ricky Romero in the Rookie of the Year voting if the Rays have a strong finish.

Detroit Tigers

What's to like: Not seeing much here. In '06, it was a good story, not so much this year.

What's not to like: The Tigers have scored less runs than the Jays, given up more, and are in first place. As winners of a weak division, they might not have a very good chance to make if out of the ALDS.

Chicago White Sox

What's to like: Maybe you like beating up 1st base coaches.

What's not to like: They're only in the race because of their weak division. They have Alex Rios now, so a lot of Jays fans might not want to see him succeed in Chicago. They don't even have a long championship drought anymore, which might have swayed some people a few years ago.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

What's to like: It would be nice to see Vlad Guerrero win something in his career.

What's not to like: Kinda boring team, not in the style that they play, just that they're always just kinda there, but never seem to do anything since '02.

Texas Rangers

What's to like: I think this is the closest parallel to the Jays this year. Bit of a long playoff drought (since 1999), they haven't really been awful in the past few years, but haven't been great, either. If they win the Wild Card, then they knock out 2 of the other AL East teams out of the playoffs.

What's not to like: Probably not that much better than the Jays, but are having better results. Elvis Andrus might take away some Romero RotY votes if the team finishes strong.

Philadelphia Phillies

What's to like: Maybe Matt Stairs can be a playoff hero again this year.

What's not to like: They're from Philly. They won last year, so what's the fun in picking them again? Tried to steel Doc from us, too.

Florida Marlins

What's to like: It's kinda cool when they fill up Joe Robbie/Pro Player/Dolphin/LandShark Stadium up with 65,000+ people for a baseball game. They've also never lost a playoff series, so cheering for them in October has been a pretty safe bet.

What's not to like: Jeffrey Loria is their owner. That's all you need to know. No self-respecting Canadian baseball fan should cheer for anything related to that piece of shit.

Atlanta Braves

What's to like: Bobby Cox is alright, I guess.

What's not to like: A bunch of empty seats during playoff games, the Tomahawk chop, the way they handled the Tom Glavine situation, the fact that they made the playoffs 100 years up until a few years ago.

St. Louis Cardinals

What's to like: Albert Pujols.

What's not to like: THE BEST FANS IN BASEBALL. They won the Series a few years ago with a shitty team.

Chicago Cubs

What's to like: It would be pretty cool if they finally won it this year.

What's not to like: We'd be beaten over the head with Steve Bartman bullshit if they even came close.

Los Angeles Dodgers

What's to like: I guess Orlando Hudson winning would be cool.

What's not to like: The Joe Torre love fest that would ensue if the Dodgers won it all. Not to mention, Ned Colletti's many faults as GM would be glossed over as he's celebrated for putting together a championship team. Oh, and all the media outrage we'd be subjected to if 'Manny Ramirez: ROIDER' won another title.

Colorado Rockies

What's to like: I really got nothing here.

What's not to like: Already had their Cinderella run in '07, let someone else have a chance. We might have to hear more about how the Jays should have drafted Tulowitzki instead of Romero some more.

San Francisco Giants

What's to like: Tim Lincecum is fun to watch.

What's not to like: Eerily similar to the all-pitch, no-hit '08 Jays team. The Jays didn't sniff the playoffs while the Giants are in a pretty good position to win the Wild Card. Not to mention that with every Lincecum start, we'd be wishing that in some alternate reality, the Giants had accepted the Jays trade offer of Alex Rios and Lincecum would be plying his trade in Toronto.

Those are all the teams that have a legitimate shot at making the post-season this year, I think. The Yankees are looking like the only sure thing right now, but the Phillies, Dodgers, Cardinal, and Angels all seem to be becoming safer bets by the day.

To me, I think the team I'll pick this season is the Rangers. They currently have the Wild Card lead (0.5 games ahead of Boston) and are enough of an underdog that I don't really feel like a front runner by mildly cheering for them. And I'm sure they'll give the Jays a shitty loss or two when the teams hook up in Arlington in a few weeks. Or, maybe the Jays will win a few games, just to spite me.

'93-peat

After dusting off the ol' VCR and popping in the '92 World Series video, I figured I'd do the same for the '93 video, as well (which contains Jim Hughson's great call that inspired the post title after the Jays clinched their third straight AL East title).

Like I said the other day, I remember more about that series than I do the 1992 one, but even then, the memories aren't exactly fresh in my mind.

Obviously, the Joe Carter home run is something I'll never forget. Sitting in my living room while my dad yelled louder than maybe any time I've ever heard him yell as the ball went over the wall has stuck with me for 16 years now and will hopefully stick with me for many more.

I think game 4 is where I really started paying attention (though I do remember the discussion about where Molitor would play and whether or not they'd sit Olerud). I remember Todd Stottlemyre's ill advised slide into 3rd base and my 10-year old self being pretty forgiving (of course he couldn't run the bases well, he wasn't used to it) before being told that if he couldn't run the bases well, he shouldn't try going from 1st to 3rd on a single. I don't remember what time I went to bed that night, but it being a school night, it was long before it was over. I just know that the next morning my dad woke me up and rushed me into the other room where there was a TV in time to see the end of the highlights and the score.

Game 5 also being on a school night, I wasn't able to stay up and watch the potential clincher, but that didn't matter in the end.

Game 6 was obviously the big one, and thanks to whoever it was that put almost the entire 9th inning online.

While watching the '92 video, it seemed to me that Tim McCarver seemed a little better as a colour analyst, at least compared to how he is now, and thought maybe, at one point, he had been half decent. Watching that 9th inning again, I guess I was wrong. That 9th inning also has that awesomely cheesy early-90s Coke video.

The video also highlights what a tremendous douchebag Curt Schilling is. I can understand being nervous, considering the situation, but for him to sit in the dugout, covering his ears and putting a towel over his head while Mitch Williams was pitching was such a prick move.

I also need to mention how awful the turf in Philly looked. It being football season, you can see the outline of the gridiron stretch across the whole playing field. While I may be a bit upset that the place of the Jays' first championship victory no longer exists, I don't think too many people feel the same way about the Vet.

The credits of the video roll over the TV call of the Carter home run, as well as both the home and away radio calls. While the Tom Cheek call is probably the most beloved call about Blue Jays fans (and deservedly so), Sean McDonough's call on CBS is what I always associate with it, probably because that's the call I heard as it was happening. Also interesting is Harry Kalas's call for Phillies radio. I would love to hear Vin Scully's call on the national radio feed, as well, but sadly it's not included here.

I think this video is done better than the '92 one. The segment on game 4 is great, as there is very little narration and instead lets the play-by-play from the TV broadcast tell most of the story. Also, it seems there is less Tim McCarver, which is always a bonus.

Again, it's always great to go back and take a look at why I fell in love with this team and allow myself to be put through the wringer by them every year since then.

Memories of '92

In honour of the Back2Back weekend, I popped in the 1992 World Series video, mostly just to remind me why I like this game and why I'm putting myself through the torture that this season has been since late May.

While I wasn't old enough to appreciate that something special was happening, watching the video still brought back a ton of memories. As I mentioned in the comments of eyebleaf's post, about the only thing I remembered from the video itself was the narrator saying that guys like Ed Sprague and Derek Bell didn't "ride the benches, they worked the trenches", I hadn't realized that had played such a big role in the success of the team. Bell's reaction after Sprague's 9th inning home run is great, I think he's more proud of his trenchmate than he is happy that the team's probably going to win the game.

It's also a little depressing to me that the ballpark where the Jays won their first World Series is now a parking lot. I'm sure Turner Field is a much nicer place than old Fulton County Stadium, but I love watching Dave Winfield's double go down into the corner and bounce off of the bullpen mound and Ron Gant slip on the weird, chalky warning track they had there.

I'll probably pop in the '93 video sometime soon, too. I remember more of that series, even though I still wasn't old enough to appreciate how truly special winning 2 straight championships was. I just hope I don't have to wait another 16 years for the team to get close again.