My first blog

Well, here it is. I've been waiting for the right time to unveil my first blog post. Conditions had to be perfect. Something had to be going on that I was passionate about. I had to be well informed about this certain thing. I had to be sitting at a computer with little to do. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it's time. The Indians made the playoffs, I've been following baseball even more closely than usual this season, and my boss is on vacation.

In less than four hours CC Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians will take the mound against the New York Yankees. This is more than just the first game of an American League Division Series. This transcends baseball. This represents the forces of good colliding with the forces of evil.

Take a moment and look at the facts. Yankees: 26 World Series titles. Indians: 2 titles. Yankees: 39 AL pennants. Indians: 5 pennants. Yankees: played in each of the past 13 playoffs. Indians: haven't been in the postseason since 2001. Or you can set aside history and just look at the current rosters this year. Yankees 2007 payroll: $195,229,045 (most in MLB). Indians 2007 payroll: $61,673,267 (23rd out of 30 teams). So there's your basic David and Goliath story right there. You have the most successful franchise in the history of North American professional sports playing against a team that hasn't won the World Series since 1948. No one roots against David. Goliath sucks. Calling someone a Philistine is an insult. This is all common knowledge.

It's not just that the Yankees are a successful baseball team and I am jealous of their success and their fans' good fortune. It's that over the past decade they have been single handedly ruining my favorite sport. They are a huge (and evil) media juggernaut that makes billions of dollars in TV contracts and merchandising so they are able to afford the best free agents every season by signing them away from the small market teams drafted and developed their talent. Large market teams have such an advantage over small market teams in today's baseball economy that they're practically playing two different sports. The Royals, Pirates, Devil Rays and Twins just aren't on a level playing field when they're up against the Yankees, Cubs, Red Sox, and Dodgers.

There are so many ways to frame this fight: Native Americans bravely resisting white American colonialism and genocide. Wealthy East coast elites sipping cosmos and thinking of new ways to exploit the poor Midwestern farmer (Ohio is primarily an agrarian economy, after all). My personal favorite, however, is the Empire vs the Rebels. In this interpretation the empire is governed by a sinister force - the dark lord Steinbrenner. He has a ruthless and powerful second-in-command: Darth Torre. Other than Boba A-rod (the bad guy that doesn't fit in) the rest are all faceless, mindless clones, certain only of their own invincibility. The Rebels, on the other hand, are a spunky lot. Led by Luke (Eric Wedge), they are able to defy the odds and pluck victory from defeat - until this epic showdown, when nothing is guaranteed. Sabathia could be Hans Solo - he comes through when you need him the most. I'm thinking Hafner has to be Chewbacca. Because of the physical similarity. And Borowski's gotta be an ewok: entertaining for a while, but then just annoying. Like when he gives up runs.

I'll keep you posted.

-a