11/05/24
September 05, 2002
- The cosmic implications of this performance, and the facts and opinions they cause to well up inside me, have reminded me, as a winning team will often do to a man (or an astute woman, for that matter) of my long-held ties to the Oakland A's. It's always much better to say, "We won," than "They lost." Or don't you agree? Of course you do, unless you're some kind of masochist or a Cubs fan.
bullsh*t. you can root for anyone at anytime.
posted by djacobs at 11:27 AM on September 05, 2002
djacobs, I should have said that I think these rules work well for me, I am not trying to apply them to anyone else (none of my friends follow them.)
posted by pfuller at 11:44 AM on September 05, 2002
:) good.
posted by djacobs at 12:14 PM on September 05, 2002
2. If your state doesn't have a professional team, you must root for the team from the closest state. That would be the Braves... I'd slit my wrist before I did that.
posted by corpse at 12:31 PM on September 05, 2002
I take these rules to heart, Go Bengals! Thank god for the bearcats
posted by mick at 12:39 PM on September 05, 2002
Regarding rule #3. You must root for your undergrad school over your grad school. Especially if they are in the same conference or are intersectional rivals. Sincerely, Duke '00 and UVa '02
posted by mbd1 at 01:18 PM on September 05, 2002
mbd1: um... what freshman dorm? [nice link on your homepage, BTW ;) [I'd email this privately, but I'm guessing mbd1@duke is no longer valid, and there is nothing on the user page. Mine is listed.]
posted by tieguy at 01:37 PM on September 05, 2002
Oh, and I completely agree with mbd1: if you're still in the ACC, and you're not that obnoxious person in the grad student section rooting for the other team... your taste and judgement are completely in doubt. Duke Law had a fair number of UVa and UMich undergrads who did the same thing, and while I didn't necessarily like them, you had to respect them for having the guts to stroll into Cameron's student section in some other team's colors.
posted by tieguy at 01:48 PM on September 05, 2002
Please slow down the A's bandwagon so I may jump on. I did it last season, and I am back this year. I'm all for a team who could possibly dethrone the Yanks. I've broken up with the Red Sox. Oh, I guess last night marked the near return of the Derek Lowe face. Not to be confused with this face, which is certainly about to yell an expletive. The team has had a massive failure of all vital organs. It's time to shut off the machines and try to piece together my life again. Go A's!
posted by jerseygirl at 01:51 PM on September 05, 2002
GA. You may know me from DBRSBBS. I wish I could have been That Guy the last couple of years, but the recent popularity of UVa hoops caused the undergrads to camp out for big games. It's nothing as good as Kville, but it has kept me out of UHall since I can't devote the time necessary. My old roommate (Duke '99) made it the last two years though, and represented me in spirit. I have been That Guy at UVa-Duke soccer games and at the UVa-Duke women's hoops games.
posted by mbd1 at 01:54 PM on September 05, 2002
Question: are the A's going to fall apart when the streak does? After all, this is September, not October. I'm still haunted by the fate of the 1993 Penguins, who had a 17-game streak into April, got burned out, and lost in the second round to an inferior Islander team. You punk Duke kids, what do you know about K-ville?--I camped out for Dennis Scott and Georgia Tech in January 1990...
posted by Mookieproof at 03:13 PM on September 05, 2002
It's been attributed to Bob Brenly--a quick Google search couldn't give me a link--of the enormous fanbase that sprouted up around the Diamondbacks during and after the 2001 World Series: "There's plenty of room on the bandwagon." God bless the A's. If anyone in the American League can pose a serious threat to the New York Yankees--they're it. (And who wouldn't like to see the look on Jason Giambi's face if that were to happen?)
posted by kjh at 10:53 PM on September 05, 2002
Mookieproof: I camped out for UNC for seven weeks in 1998, so I'll take no shit from anyone. :) As for the question... I don't think burnout is really an issue for the As. Much bigger issue will be how they fare against the Yanks- last year's breakdown will haunt them the second they make a single error or bad pitch against the Yanks this year.
posted by tieguy at 07:29 AM on September 06, 2002
I've broken up with the Red Sox. Good luck. That vicious wench always brings me back on my knees.
posted by yerfatma at 08:23 AM on September 06, 2002
I still honestly think the Red Sox could catch the Yankees. The just have to win them all!
posted by djacobs at 08:46 AM on September 06, 2002
I camped out for UNC for seven weeks in 1998, so I'll take no shit from anyone. Me too. The rain was miserable, the head line monitor was corrupt, and my grades went down the toilet. But then again, I was on the front row across from the UNC bench for the comeback and those 4 free throws - and it was all worth it. I even gave Nan a high five with my blue painted hand. Wouldn't the A's play the Twins in the first round of the playoffs if the season ended today?
posted by mbd1 at 09:13 AM on September 06, 2002
I still honestly think the Red Sox could catch the Yankees. The just have to win them all! We lost to the Blue Jays last night. The Blue Jays! There was some stat about if Anaheim played just 500 ball for the rest of the season, the Red Sox would have to be 19-6 just to be tied for the wild card. Not happening in either case The Red Sox aren't having a postseason, so the next best thing is to wish utter destruction upon the Yankees.
posted by jerseygirl at 09:20 AM on September 06, 2002
mbd1: you must have been just in front of me, practically; we were second and third row in just about the same area. And yes, those guys were a bunch of corrupt bastards. And yes, it was worth every rain-drenched, corrupt, miserable moment of it. jerseygirl: this is why the sports gods invented 'football season.' It's sort of like methadone, except better. :)
posted by tieguy at 10:45 AM on September 06, 2002
Jerseygirl: The Red Sox are better than their record, and they're facing a bunch of terrible teams. There is hope!
posted by djacobs at 01:17 PM on September 06, 2002
They're biggest challenge may be Cleveland! ... And the Yankees have not been strong in September the last two seasons. Just win them all!
posted by djacobs at 01:22 PM on September 06, 2002
jerseygirl:We lost to the Blue Jays last night. The Blue Jays! Hey! Those Blue Jays whooped your enemies (the Yankees) 3 out of 4 games last weekend! You should be a little more respectful towards them. mbd1, as for your question about who-plays-who in the playoffs, this information seems to be harder to find than the potential Iraqi-invasion plans. I've searched the FOX TV, MLB, and ESPN sites for this info, and all that I could find is when the tv broadcast of the division series round begins.
posted by grum@work at 01:25 PM on September 06, 2002
The Hunt for October I hit this link this morning, but I don't think it's showing up on ESPN.com now.
posted by mbd1 at 02:45 PM on September 06, 2002
mbd1 and tieguy: yeah, but back in the day we had to camp out without data jacks in the bases of the lampposts. And there were feet of snow and shit...
posted by Mookieproof at 03:22 PM on September 06, 2002
This year's Sox team has no heart. No guts. It's just not going to happen. jerseygirl, re: Anaheim playing .500 the rest of the way— do you remember all those stats in May about how the Sox just had to play .500 to get into the playoffs? If only they did. So glad I bought those 9/28 Sox v. Tampa Bay tickets this spring.
posted by yerfatma at 05:27 PM on September 06, 2002
I'm reminded of the opening lines of Anna Karenina when contemplating the Red Sox: every year, the team comes up with a new way of disappointing. This year, it's the amusing combination of 'being unable to manufacture runs when they bother getting hits' and 'looking like they don't give a flying fuck'. Which is nice. Anyway, I'm now listening to the Twins snap the Oakland winning streak, and yet you just know that out of the AL teams, it'll be the bloody Yankees in the World Series, thus spoiling that side of the playoffs in the same way they did last year against Oakland and Seattle. No, really, Jorge Posada can just fuck right off now. mbd1: I think it's 'team with the highest winning percentage plays the wild card team, unless that team's from the same division': which makes for Yankees-Angels, Athletics-Twins in the first round AL playoffs, with home field advantage to the first team in each match-up. And it might just be home field which clinches it for the A's.
posted by etagloh at 09:41 PM on September 06, 2002
Right. Which means that the Cards (my team) would meet either the DBacks or the Braves in the first round of the playoffs.....both deadly teams in a best-of-five format, where the 1-2 combination of Johnson/Schilling or Maddux/Glavine would certainly beat out anything the Cards could throw out there.
posted by mbd1 at 10:08 PM on September 06, 2002
As a life-long Texas Rangers fan (masochist) I begrudgingly admire what the A's have been able to do, but I would never say "we won." A host on a local radio station has what I think are a good list of rules to follow when rooting for someone. Craig's Rooting Rules 1. You have to root for a team or teams (college or professional) from the state you live in or have lived in. 2. If your state doesn't have a professional team, you must root for the team from the closest state. 3. If you went to two colleges (undergrad and graduate), you can root for either school. 4. You shouldn't not root for your home state team just because they're bad. 5. Determine who best represents your heart when you have more than one choice. 6. Exceptions: Catholics can root for Notre Dame and Mormons can root for BYU. found here (under Daily Musepaper)