The Blob

Friday, August 01, 2003

Business As Usual

Pity the Angels. Or more to the point, the World Champion Anaheim Angels baseball team. In a classic example of post-championship letdown, the team is enduring a rough year, beset with injuries and sub-par performance. A team which last year exceeded all expectations to stun the major leagues and win the World Series in seven thrill-a-minute games, it's different this year.

Last night's game against the New York Yankees was a case in point. Ten innings of darned good baseball were decided at the very end with a single against the Angels' closer, Troy Percival, with the final score 2-1. After playing terribly in two previous games, the Angels produced a tight pitching duel, punctuated by walking the Yankees 11 times during the game. That turned out to be the winning factor.

What made last year's championship win so exciting and satisfying was that the Angels broke all expectations of the pundits. They won playing little ball, a barrage of singles and doubles by a committed team, not a giant homer by some overpaid superstar. A group of relative unknowns, working together, beat the best that the major leagues had to offer. Teamwork and team spirit won the day. That was probably not welcomed by the major TV networks or newspapers, who naturally expected, and probably rooted for the New York Yankees, the big media draw, to take it all. The World Series win by the Angels upset the natural order of the powers that be. It was quite a moment for everyone who believes in the underdog.

That was then, and this is now. Last night, the Yankees had the edge at the end and swept the Angels in three straight games. Order was again restored to the powers that be. What saddened me most was something the announcers and sports writers never commented on: at the end of the game, the TV camera flashed briefly on the face of the Yankees' superstar shortstop Derek Jeter, who flashed a confident, smug smile. It was the almost cocky, big-money smile of business as usual.

Sad.

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