It's Still the Fall Classic.

Today's lead sports story on AOL had comments about the Philadelphia Phillies - Tampa Bay Rays as being weak from a television network's point of view. Well, so bloody what?

We're talking baseball here! America's game! The greatest game in the history of the world! The networks can think what they want; this is the Fall Classic and deserves respect on that ground alone.

So it's not a New York - Los Angeles matchup, or even a Subway series like the Cubs/White Sox matchup so many wags fantacized about. But baseball isn't continental per se: it's the ultimate provincial game. You root for the home team because they're your team and some false national sports symbol like the Dallas Cowboys or even The New York Yankees. You watch it because you love the game and not the parties which surround some games. It isn't like the Super Bowl, which is anymore just an excuse to party as few really care about who's playing, making it not truly about the game.

So shut up and let Philadelphia and Tampa fans enjoy their respective teams' day in the sun. And watch the Series for what it is: America's salute to herself and her culture.

There are no Devils in Baseball (Except maybe DH's)

The Tampa Bays Rays seemed poised to send the defending champion Boston Red Sox home for the winter, and that's okay. I'm rather hoping they do; I like it when a traditionally poor team rears its head and makes waves in any sport. Even when an underdog makes it big in life, how can we not cheer?

I'm still going to lambaste them for a second anyway.

They were the Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays before this season, you know. They dropped the word devil because they felt it was a bad connotation.

I suppose I can accept that on that level. But they were named after a presumably fierce seas creature. Not Old Scratch. It just seems to me inane, that's all.

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