Well, the World Series is under way--and the Yankees and Phillies are tied at one game apiece. Will it be Cheesesteaks or Pizza that carries the day? Let's look at comparison of the cities:
1) Yankees have Steinbrenner and Donald Trump. Point goes to Philly.
2) Philly has Joey Lawrence and rock star Pink. Point goes to NY.
3) Philly has lower cost of living. Point goes to Philly.
4) New York gets a view of New Jersey. Point goes to Philly.
5) Philly gets a view of New Jersey. Point goes to NY.
6) New York had Billy Joel sing a song about it ("New York State of Mind"). Point goes to NY.
7) Philly had Elton John--the British Billy Joel--sing a song about it ("Philadelphia Freedom"). Point goes to Philly.
Looks like a push! Now, why do they call it the World Series when only American teams (okay, maybe one Canadian team) can compete? After all, if the Yankees and Phillies won their respective League championships, and say Germany were to say "whoa, if you want to win the WORLD SERIES, you're going to have to play our top team, the Munich Reichstaggers!", they'd be laughed off the field. Why then do we call it "World Series" instead of a more accurate "North American Series" or "New World Series" or "Big Baseball Game Thing"?
According to my friend who goes by the handle "Desert Fox", and is quite the Yankee fan (attending a game this weekend), "the World Series was originally intended to be a championship tournament among various nations, sort of like the Olympics or World Cup--the idea back in the day was that baseball would take off on a worldwide basis, with Major League teams around the world. Although teams haven't expanded beyond the U.S. and Canada--the game is in fact popular in Japan and Latin America, but it hasn't led to Major League franchises there--the name 'World Series' was catchy, and it stuck."
Well, I for one hope some day the Japanese League and the Caribbean League and the Mexican League are soon fielding teams of a sort that can compete for the World Series. But I doubt fans in Mexico will be happy to pay five bucks for a hot dog.
Envelopes – Essential Buyers Manuals
6 years ago
Actually Desert Fox was at the game in full force LAST night, since the Series now shifts to Philly. I think the "Fall Classic" is the perfect name for what is the World Series. Although if MLB keeps pushing the dates back it might become the Winter Classic.
ReplyDeleteNow you left out the fact Philly also has a nice view of Jersey as well...so that is a push, putting NY clearly in the lead now. Even more into the lead would be the fact we have Jay-Z and Alica Keys knocking it out of the park with "Empire State of Mind". But you did leave out that Philly is the home to our hero, Mr. Rocky Balboa. How can you omit that? I have to say that is a poor job on your part.
NY has me. FTW.
ReplyDeleteDF--Rocky Balboa vs. Jake LaMotta? And I did mention Philly's view of Jersey--see item 5!
ReplyDeleteBrett--NY road trip this fall!