visions of johanna

Sad Days, October

Now that the the last compelling team has been eliminated from the Major League Baseball’s Fall Classic,1 I can reflect upon the appropriate strategy heading into the World Series the fan of a losing team.2

1. Support the team that beat your home town heroes.3 By hoping that they go all the way, you can claim to have been beaten by the very best.
2. Or, root for any of the other teams4 except the one that beat you. Motivated by the anger and frustration of having lost to clearly inferior squad of mercenaries and utility players, or in the parlance of the times, “the hottest team” root for the next most appealing one. Hopefully, they will still be playing well enough to conquer the bastards that found the luck and good fortune to eliminate the team5 you were almost sure would go all the way.6

After last night’s elimination of the Milwaukee Brewers, which was the last compelling team standing,7 I’ve turned my sights, hopes and At Bat ‘118 app to next season. I dislike (O.K., I’m jealous of) the success of the Rangers, which does away with taking strategy #2; and, I can not generate enough kindness in my heart of hearts to adapt the Strategy #1 and root for those lucky Saint Louis Cardinals. So here’s to waiting for At Bat ‘12, there will always be a next year.9