Thursday, October 16, 2003

It's Midnight, Cinderella: Looks like the fantasy World Series isn't going to happen. The Florida Marlins rallied from a 3-1 series deficit to win game seven of the NLCS last night over the Cubs and will head to the big match-up.

I was hoping for the Cubs to meet the Red Sox, just like almost everybody else in the country. More than anything, I just don't want the Yankees to win another championship. No offense, New Yorkers, but it gets old after awhile.

Now that the Marlins have a shot at winning the Series, I'm going to throw all my support behind them. You see, I grew up in Dallas, so I'm a big Texas Rangers fan. And as anybody who has glanced at a sports page knows, the Rangers suck. But that's still my team.

So considering the chance of the Rangers ever winning a championship is a bit of a long shot (Cubs, Red Sox fans need to quit whining. The Rangers have never been to the World Series.), I'm going to root for my man, ex-Ranger Pudge Rodriguez.

I also have another reason. While another Yankees championship would be ho-hum, something concerns me about the Red Sox winning it all this year.

I just returned from a short trip to Boston. As you can imagine, the city is electrified by the Red Sox being in the playoffs. But Bostonians have gotten caught up with this bizarre phrase, "Cowboy Up". Apparently Sox first baseman Kevin Millar started saying it, and now everyone in Boston uses it.

If the Red Sox lose, I'm hoping that every Boston resident will come out of his or her euphoric haze and say, "'Cowboy Up'? What the hell does that even mean?"

Unfortunately, though, if the Red Sox do win it all, that phrase will become a permanent part of the New England lexicon. Go Marlins!