Despite all the misfortune that has befallen it through its long history, our National Pastime is experiencing its umpteenth rebirth as it heads into the final weekend of the 2007 regular season.
Attendance is at an all-time high. There is greater parity among the 30 major league teams than ever before. Excitement is at a fevered pitch with all four playoff berths in the National League still up for grabs among seven teams. A new generation of superstars is emerging. The game has survived the steroids scandal and all its other attempts at suicide.
Yes, the most democratic of our three major sports (football and basketball depend too much on players of outsized physical proportions --7-footers and 320-pounders) is in good shape.
What fun these next three days will be for fans from the concrete canyons of New York City to the natural canyons of Arizona, from historic Philly to tacky Tinseltown, from the heartland precincts of Chicago and Milwaukee to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
Baseball. What a magical institution.
6 comments:
You forgot the lakeside splendor of Cleveland!
I was referring only to the National League races. The American League playoffs teams already have been determined. By the way, is that lake still on fire?
Agreed Rascal. Also, baseball for some reason is under a much greater microscope than professional football. Steroids are still in commom usage in football but the sport doesn't get near the criticism that baseball does. And the number of football players who have been convicted of various crimes and have done prison time puts all other sports to shame. There's also the physical abuse of women perpetrated by football players. Most football fans just shrug.
Football is a metaphor for all that is evil in our society. My only interest in football is rooting for certain teams to lose.
It was a river, not a lake -- the mighty Cuyahoga!
Oh, yeah. I should have known. Ohio's rivers are much more flammable than its lakes.
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