ESPN's The Sports Guy, a Sox fan, has summed things up perfectly in the best line I've read so far regarding the Yankee's historic display of ineptitude over the last four days: "Now they were headed home for the winter, headed for the No. 1 slot on ESPN50's 'Biggest Chokes' show in 2029." No kidding.
From where I sit, this wasn't a tremendous success by the Red Sox. It was a final, disasterous failure by a team that, bloated payroll notwithstanding, had been playing over its head all season. (Check the Pythagorean standings if you don't believe me - they were 12 games over their Pythagorean record!)
The Yankees have given me very little to complain about in recent years - no owner is more willing than Steinbrenner to do what it takes to field a winning team, and there's been a lot of magic in this great, great run.
But there wasn't a lot of magic in the last few days - just a team that spent itself in one blowout game and suddenly looked listless, old, and bored. I can't give the Red Sox the credit for what looked like a miraculous comeback - they didn't beat the Yankees; the Yankees beat themselves. Sure, Schilling's stoic, bleeding performance in Game 6 was heroic, but that game should never even have happened.
The choke's on us.
I'm sure this all the more painful given where you live. In some ways it will be like those horrid Mets big years (the only team I truly hate). As Victorian mothers were reported to have advised their daughters on the latter’s wedding night—be brave and think about England!
Posted by: Phil | October 23, 2004 at 11:32 AM