Nerve Endings Firing Away

Second post in a day about sports? Its baseball playoffs time and although a cricket’s slugging cousin is largely a boring sport, the tradition and accompanying myths lend a mystic aura to the game. For example, the Boston Rex Sox not winning the World Series since 1918 after transferring Babe Ruth to the Yankees invoking the Curse of the Bambino. Red Sox, along with the Chicago Cubs have regularly choked and yet enjoy a tremendous fan following, which describes the height of optimism. But this year, it is different. Red Sox have climbed out from a 0-3 deficit to level the series and play the Yankees tonight in their own backyard for a shot at the “World” Series.

The Yank that he is, my brother is rooting for New York and in absence of any passion for the sport; I root for the underdog Red Sox. But he had an interesting theory as why a Red Sox loss is good for baseball. He theorizes that if Boston wins the World Series, the fans will have no reason to come back to support the team partly because the myth of Bambino curse is busted. A Red Sox win will kill one of the longest-lasting myths of any sport in America, killing the only fun left in a dull game dominated by exorbitant players. Baseball is already in doldrums, falling behind football and basketball in popularity. Personally I think the series was fixed to force a seventh game (or maybe that is my “rude awakening from cricket’s innocence” speaking) and the Yankees will ultimately prevail in a nail-biting seventh game tonight, thus ensuring that the Boston fans come back next year hoping to win again. Their losing streak binds them together and a win will confuse the heck out of them.

Let us see if I am proven right tonight when Yankee Stadium holds its breath.

UPDATE: Yankees choke. The curse can be broken…who’s your daddy now?