In a darkened corner of my suburban basement hangs a flag; a blue flag with a white L- 2' x 3'- an embroidered piece of memorabilia which replicates what is hung up on the scoreboard at Wrigley Field after a Cubs' loss. Used to be that I would actually fly the thing off of my deck at an old apartment that I lived in whenever the Sox would beat the Cubs. Or, in that 72-90 year we had there with Rob Mackowiak patrolling center field, it would just fly out of spite when the Cubs would lose, period.
It was bought out of sheer spite. Pure dislike. Fiery distaste, shall we say. And now, it hangs, unused, mostly unseen, impotent as a eunuch with a vasectomy. I don't fly the thing, and I don't really care enough to.
What happened? Where's the hate?
I've heard it said that the Sox winning the World Series took the venom out of the Red Line Series. Seeing as how I bought the flag after '05, that's immediately proven to be untrue in my case.
I'm going to get to my point: I think that this rivalry is in a downswing period due to the fact that both teams involved are playing crappy ball the past few years. And don't tell me that the Cubs making the playoffs and getting swept out twice signifies a quality team- you won't hear me defending the Sox team that went to the playoffs and crapped its pants against Tampa. Bad, bad baseball. Even if you want to argue with me, you can't claim that it's been good. It simply hasn't been the case.
And now, after a few years of this festering "rivalry" sluggishly flowing down the toilet bowl, through the pipes, and into the Chicago River (and then onto St. Louis), Major League Baseball decides it's a good idea to put an actual object of prestige on the line. The "BP Crosstown Cup". Prestigious. And yes, sponsored and named by that BP.
My first question is this: why wouldn't they name it the Harry Caray Memorial Cup? That would have made a lot more sense to me, being that Harry was a legendary announcer for both teams. Aside from that, he was a legendary Chicago figure. It would add to the "lore" of the cup and give it immediate "credibility".
Not as credible: a cup sponsored by an international goliath of corporate interest who currently is fucking the environment beyond repair, who also happens to have us all by our balls. Disagree with me on the "by the balls" comment? Then climb back in your sugar-fuel powered car and drive to Brazil, you fucking hippie.
So, in the end, Chicagoans are subjected to watching two very mediocre squads "duke it out" (feel free to substitute "take a shit all over the field" for that last phrase) over the course of multiple games to see who has the "honor" of holding onto an arbitrarily created trophy sponsored by a company who is currently trying to excuse itself for one of the greatest environmental fuck-ups in the history of mankind. Got it?
My counterpart here at Addison, JLB, sent me a message from the ballgame last night. You know, the one where there was not one, but two no-hitters taking place at once? I think his message says it all: "I spent an inning and a half stalking the bowels of Wrigley Field, looking for the stand that sells corn dogs. This should speak volumes about the level of excitement for the Crosstown Cup. Epilogue: I never found the corn dog stand. :("
I'm not sure if the two no-hitters speak more for the strong pitching performance, or the shitty batting performance. I think it's probably somewhere in between. Gavin Floyd and Ted Lilly are pretty good, but they're not that good.
Somewhere along the line, the appeal of interleague play has worn somewhat thin. I personally think that they should roll back the amount of games to the minimum amount possible. Baseball has bounced back from the strike, and the sport can stand by itself without gimmicks. Henry Winkler doesn't have to jump over the shark.
Another point: if you're going to make the stupid All-Star Game and its outcome actually mean something with relation to the World Series, you are an idiot. I'm looking at you, Bud Selig. If interleague play is a permanent fixture and should matter, then the interleague record, head to head, between the leagues should be the one which determines which league has home field advantage for the World Series. Personally, I thought that it worked when the team with the best record got to host the 4 home games, but that's just me.
Addendum: My corn-dog hunt was from Saturday's game, not Sunday's. Two no-no's would've kept me in my seats. Alas, no.
ReplyDeleteThis came up a lot over the weekend, of course. My theory is that the crosstown was a fun novelty when it was an exhibition, and was a LOT of fun in the first two or so years of interleague. After that, the crowd got so much more polarized, at both parks, that last year I sold my tickets.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it wasn't the World Series. I don't know what made it that only the loudest douchebags started coming out, but it felt like kind of a gradual thing.
Two girls, one BP Crosstown Cup.