Fixing the World Series

As I sit in my current state of manhood I have the very high privilege to be able to look back on about a decade and a half of good, quality sports memories. From the day I realized that I was interested in becoming a real man (about the age of seven, where my sports memories start) I can remember where I was when certain events happened in the sports world. These are memories that will stay with me for the rest of my life, and I will tell my kids and my great grand kids where I was when it happened.
My first sport memory was in the early nineties, when I was playing with my blocks in front of the TV set and highlights of Michael Jordan winning his first NBA title came on. After that I can remember Jordan beating Charles Barkley to get his third title and then his retirement. I can remember the kicked ball game that Nebraska and Baylor played in 1997. I can remember where I was for "the shot". I can remember where I was for every Super Bowl dating back at least to 1998. I can remember sitting on my couch to watch Mark McGwire hit a bullet over the left field wall to break the homerun record. I can remember watching on a TV in middle school when Bryce Drew hit his buzzer beater that put Valpo into the second round. I remember the couch I was on in high school when Carolina won their national championship, and I remember just how drunk I got for the Colts dismal win over the Bears in Super Bowl XLI.
I even have memories of where I was when sports events happened, when I didn't see them. Specifically Jordan's first game back from retirement (I had a soccer game) and the Colts comeback against the Patriots in the AFC championship game early in 2007 ( 21-3 down when I got on a plane in Atlanta, 38-34 up when I got off in DC).

This brings me to the main point of this entry. My greatest sports memory of all time was watching game seven of the greatest World Series of all time. I was actually staying on a family vacation in the Grand Canyon when Luis Gonzales fisted a cut fast ball over Derek Jeter's head and Jay Bell jumped into Matt Williams' arms. The next day we were back in Phoenix. I had rooted for the Diamond Backs since they had signed Randy Johnson (my favorite player growing up) the year before. I had also hated the Yankees all of my life so this was a win-win for me.

Since the 2001 World Series baseball's fall classic has pretty much been a downer for me, with a few exceptions. In 2002 the World Series did go to 7 games, but it was two teams that no one outside of California cared about, and was bound to be a downer after the previous season. Since then only one World Series has been more than 5 games. The Boston Red Sox managed to win their first World Series in 10000 years and still managed to make the Series boring beyond belief. The ALCS was very exciting, probably every bit as good as the 2001 World Series, but after that the drama went downhill fast.

The teams in the World Series also are not teams I care about. Since 200o there has not been a single World Series with two major market teams in it (and I'm not sure that counts since it was a New York subway series). Considering New York, LA, Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Houston, Miami, DC, Atlanta, and Boston to be the 10 largest sports markets (and some error needs to be considered depending on which sport we are talking about) since 2000 only the Series between the Marlins and the Yankees has put two teams from these markets against each other. And sine the Marlins had one of the three lowest attendance records in the NL that year we can assume that South Florida didn't really care about their team all that much.

A quick series with teams from small markets guarantees less drama and less popularity for the sport. You want to make baseball more exciting, take care of one or both of these problems.

Since 2000 the NBA has had two championship series without a team in one of these markets but one went six games and the other went seven. Four of these series have had both teams from large markets. In fact since David Stern took over as commissioner there have been three series in all that didn't have at least one team, and fourteen with both. I will concede that the NBA has two great advantages over the MLB- mainly the way the league is cut in half always makes sure that an Eastern team plays a Western team, and the fact that it is easier to make superstars in a five on five sport than in baseball. However this does not excuse Bud Selig from doing his job.

Bud's two biggest moments as commissioner have come from steroids, a strike, declaring an All-Star game a tie and delaying game five of this year's World Series because of weather. David's biggest concerns have been referee's betting on games, players fighting with the fans, player conduct, a lockout, a new ball, the Olympic team's dismal performance in 2004 and a multitude of other things.

And yet basketball is still becoming more and more popular while baseball decreases.

So Bud, step up and take one for the team. Do whatever it takes to get excitement back into baseball. You could have done so much better this year- you had so many great potential World Series matchups. You really had to try to screw this up. Other than your own Brewers there wasn't a team in the final NL four that was from a small market. The Cubs would have been favorites to win and Manny could have carried the Dodgers. No one would have questioned the results, and neither team would have had to beat great odds to win. In the American League, Tampa was the only team not from a large market. The White Sox were riding a winning streak, Boston is Boston, and Anaheim had the best record in the game. Any of those matchups would have been great. Your ultimate would have been Boston playing LA. Manny back in Beantown, America's favorite baseball team playing on both coasts of the country, there would have been everything going right for this Series. FOX even owns the Dodgers, they would have been happy to skew the coverage so no one expected anything.

You still could have saved yourself after you chose the final two teams. We baseball fans appreciate the feel-good Rays and the fact that Philly has a chance to win its first title for the city in 25 years. The drama was still there. But you have to make it last longer. After the Rays came back to tie game five and save your ass from any more hot water, they needed to win the conclusion of that game, maybe even having Brad Lidge blow his first save all year. Then they need to win, preferably in a blow out in game six, in order to set up the wildly elusive World Series game seven.

So Bud, I implore you, try harder next year. Get the Red Sox and Yankees both back into the playoffs. Those two are really your only viable rivalry right now. Plus Manny is going to do you a favor in the off season and sign with the Yankees. Let the White Sox win the Central and have the Angels win the West. In the National League- let the Mets win the East, the Cubs win the Central and the Dodgers the West. You can even let your beloved Phillies get in with the Wild Card. There Bud, I've set it up so you can't fail. Just remember to let the series go at least six, preferably seven games. It's what David would do. No one questions whether or not you fixed games as long as it's entertaining.

Do whats' best for baseball.