America, Baseball Need Philly/Tampa Series

Are you hearing the grumbling already? Remember what we heard with the Pistons/Spurs NBA Finals? Tinseltown and Beantown will not agree with this, but it is true. This is our National Pastime and the game baseball fans love.

Look, I am a baseball fan who happens to cheer for the Cleveland Indians. Notice I said baseball fan, which is exactly what this is about. My favorite movies of all-time are Bull Durham and For Love of the Game. No matter how bad they were, it was baseball at its purest and playing for love and respect of the greatest game on Earth.

My favorite player is Grady Sizemore, a man who plays baseball like they did in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s when baseball was a man's second job. I think players should wear stirrups with their pants up at their knees. I like baseball played outside, not in domes. Yes, I am old school. Years ago when baseball realigned divisions, added the wild card, and went to interleague play, I was one of the people who was opposed to it and thought they were destroying the game. Even though I do like the wild card now, I still don't like interleague.

What I do like is seeing new hungry teams in the World Series. That is why I am praying for a Phillies/Rays series. I don't care about TV ratings, a New York team, or how many people will tune out. I love baseball and what it is about. I care about how hard these two teams would play and how much respect their young players would have for the World Series as they know they may never get there again. I care about passion, accomplishment, and respect for the game I have loved since my father introduced it to me when I was 4-years-old.

I know we have all heard it and will be hearing it again if they get to the World Series, but how bad has Tampa been for their entire existence? Are you telling me with the state of economic times in the United States right now, this wouldn't be good for this country? We all know the story, since their inaugural season, Tampa Bay has finished out of last place only twice: once in 2004, when they finished fourth in their division (the Toronto Blue Jays being last that season), and again in 2008, when they won 97 games, clinched their first division title, and entered the playoffs for the first time in team history. Is this not the story of America, the little nobody who couldn't accomplish anything but embarrassment for almost 10 years and now are 54 outs from playing in the World Series?

With the way last season ended with my heart being ripped from my chest by C.C. Sabathia and Fausto Carmona blowing a 3-1 lead, I really expected Grady and my Tribe to be where Tampa is right now. However, the "Curse of Rocky Colavito" took care of that early for us in Wahoo-nation. As usual, Grady Sizemore played game No. 162 like he did game No. 1: with everything he had, like it was little league opening day. That is why he has earned the respect of his teammates and baseball fans across the country; he plays out of honor and respect for the game. Why not have a World Series that is played the same way?

As I wait one more year for my Indians or "the Cubs of the American League" to try again for that world championship, I want to thank the Phillies and the Rays for providing me some of the best baseball I have seen in a long time — real baseball. No matter where the playoff road ends for these teams, and I hope it is facing each other in the World Series, they have forever etched in my mind what "For Love of the Game" is all about.

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