The Rangers aren't in the post season. Not an especially big surprise considering their major slump of the last two weeks of the season. The Rangers East (AKA Baltimore Orioles) got eliminated quickly. Switched my allegiance to the Yankees, and the Tigers took them out in four games. I detest both St. Louis and San Francisco (see Texas Rangers 2010 and 2011 World Series appearances for reasons why), and those two teams are the ones left playing in the National League play-offs. So, why am I'm sitting here casually watching the Giants and the Cardinals?
The Cardinals have the best uniforms in baseball. Even their gray road uniforms are cool. The Cardinals uniforms have a bright yellow baseball bat across the chest area of the uniform. A bright red cardinal perches on each end of the bat, and "Cardinals" is spelled out in red script beneath the bat. These beat Yankee pinstripes and the Old English script 'D" on the Tiger's uniforms.
I guess I'm also watching baseball out of habit. When you start in March with Spring Training, and the regular season lasts until the end of September, baseball games just become part of the fabric of my life each year. Two of the final four teams will be in the World Series, the iconic United States sports championship. (It doesn't matter to me that some people think the iconic championship is the Superbowl. I'm old enough to remember when the Superbowl started, and thus, it hasn't proven itself over time. Forget the NBA thing; it doesn't even have a name.) Also, the ALCS and NLCS are when you get to know the players who will be in the World Series. I'm also casually scoping out possible new acquisitions for the Texas Rangers. When baseball teams win consistently, members of those winning teams are often the free agent choices in the upcoming off-season. Ranger fans are sniffing around for pitchers, and maybe a top line catcher - can you say "Joe Mauer"?
I'm always hoping for the chance to see something on the baseball field I've never seen before, and I don't mean a streaker. There are so many combinations of things that can happen in the field of play; you almost always see something new or at least something bizarre: My fave from the Yankee/Tiger series: Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankee, flirting with women in the stands during the game he was benched. I don't know what all the stink was about; this is a time honored baseball tradition.
Now, I'm laughing at the most over the top Giant fan who is wearing black angel wings and a fuzzy orange halo. If I ever get to that point, just cut me off cold turkey and check me into baseball rehab. Post season baseball crowds are really fun. There are 'waves', beach balls, chants, mass superstition charms, hand made posters, banners, counting devices ("K's"), and hecklers. It's a complex simple game coated with layers of fascinating traditions. Oh, like the 'rally cap' - team members and fans turn their baseball caps inside out as a symbol to promote a rally to win a game in which they're behind.
Look at the facial hair! I wonder why baseball players like to fool around with facial hair. A huge percentage of baseball players, both leagues, any team, grow goatees, full beards, mustaches (all varieties), fu-man-chus, mutton chops, and soul patches. Facial hair can spread like a fungus among a team. The Giants particularly seem to like bushy coal-black beards.
I'm also checking out the socks. There are three kinds of baseball socks. Well it's actually whether you show your socks or not and if you do, how do you show them. So far the Cardinals and the Giants have boring socks; meaning there are no socks showing. Ranger fans know that Kinsler and Murphy always show their socks, Their uniform pants legs end at their knees, and their lower legs are all socks. In the last quarter of the season ever since 'throw-back' uniform day, Derek Holland has been showing his socks in the throwback style.
There are commercials between innings; I know, big surprise. I just realized that modern baseball has different sponsors from the game of my childhood. It's not beer and chew anymore; it's video games, smart phones and junk food. Just channel surfed feeling foolish watching a game between two teams I don't like. My opinion after a round-robin surf: I can't do better than baseball. It
beats out all of the other offerings. I'm just marking time until 60 Minutes comes on; maybe they'll have a baseball story.
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