World Series Wonders And Woes

If you follow one of the two teams that have made it to the World Series, you are thinking about whether Albert Pujols, an exceptionally accomplished player employed by the Cardinals, will further enhance his resume and his value in the national spotlight. Or perhaps you are wondering whether the fact that the Texas Rangers made it all the way to the World Series last fall renders them more likely to take that last step and win it all this time, perhaps on the back of Josh Hamilton. Rangers fans like to hope he's sort of the Texas version of Albert Pujols.

If you follow the Dodgers, unless you're a fan of soap opera rather than baseball, you're relieved that Jamie McCourt and her attorneys have surrendered the notion that the team belongs, or partly belongs, or should belong to her. As of this week, Frank McCourt owns the team. Not for long, but for now, which should make selling the ballclub less contentious.

If you’re a Cubs fan, you're probably excited that Theo Epstein will be your team's next general manager. Mr. Epstein is generally credited with bringing two championships in four years to a team that had not won the World Series since 1918. The Cubs have not won the World Series since 1908. That's an infinitesimally small slice of time in geological terms, but it feels like a long spell, dry or not, for people in Chicago who haven't given up. If you have to believe in something, why not believe a new general manager will change everything?

And if you are a fan of the Boston Red Sox, Mr. Epstein's previous employer, you are preoccupied with beer and fried chicken, and perhaps video games. This is because all the news in Boston since the Red Sox played their way on to the golf course in September has been about the extent to which beer, fried chicken, and perhaps video games accounted for the team's collapse. More specially, three Boston pitchers have been accused of eating fried chicken, drinking beer, and playing video games in the clubhouse when they should have been in the dugout cheering for their teammates as they crashed past the Yankees and the Rays into third place in the American League East. One of the pitchers has categorically denied the involvement of video games, though he has acknowledged his serial involvement with beer and fried chicken. The other two pitchers have remained silent, perhaps on the advice of their agents, perhaps because they've been eating fried chicken, drinking beer, and playing video games, or perhaps because, unlike the people unburdening themselves on sports call-in shows, those pitchers realize it's time to move on.