Sports Rap
At Orchard Park today, the Buffalo Bills, at home, stopped the Kansas City Chiefs unbeaten streak at nine games. Even though Chiefs’ Travis Kelce is a future Hall-of-Famer, and the boyfriend of Taylor Swift (America’s sweetheart), I was backing the Bills, from start to finish. Buffalo is a minor-market, and a decided underdog, yet they were able to pull off the victory, 30 to 21.
Buffalo is a powerhouse in football this year, yet it is 81st most populous city in America. I am surprised Buffalo gets a national stage in sports. I am by no means disappointed, just surprised.
Salary parity is what the National Football League does better than Major League Baseball. Kansas City is also a minor market, but check out baseball, who perennially wins? Just look at this year’s World Series, New York, and Los Angeles, the East and West Coast giants.
(You’re probably wondering how I watch the NFL. Do I have a cable NFL package costing hundreds of dollars every season? Do I listen to a call of the game over the radio? : No, I watch it via an over-the-air (OTA) broadcast received with my television antenna, and it costs nothing; I have no pixelating, or static, either.
Okay, one side of my house is closest to New York City, and the TV there gets the best signal. Plus, I use a signal amplifier, a small, inexpensive device ($10-$15) that plugs into an electrical outlet, and interfaces between the antenna coaxial line, and the TV. It may take a little trial and error to maximize signal strength, but the result might save you hundreds of dollars per year.)
“Play ball!”
Here is a log of the pennant chase, and the World Series for 2024. Also included, is why Major League Baseball would be better off with salary parity.
Game five, Dodgers, up by two games. Play ball...
Bottom of the first inning, Yankees hit two home runs, one man on, for the first homer. This is not going well, at all. 3 to nothing, Yankees lead. OUCH! I’ll check in later.
Yankees up by four, bottom of the second. Then, 5 to nothing, Yankees. This could be a long night.
Top of the seventh, six to five, Yankees. This game turned out to be much closer than I thought it would be. This is what makes baseball exciting, a win is never out of reach until the final out.
Top of the eighth, Dodgers load the bases, hit two sacrifice flies to deep center, and the score is now 7 to 6, Dodgers.
I thought the Dodgers would blow it in the final six outs, but they held on to win by one run, 7 to 6. The Los Angeles Dodgers have the best baseball team in the world for 2024. This is the eighth World Series championship for dem bums from Brooklyn (where the Dodgers were before their move to L.A. in 1957).
The Yankees did not seem to be the most well-rounded, disciplined ballplayers. Five of the seven Dodger runs were unearned, and on top of that, the catcher interfered with the batter, and the pitcher had a balk, all defensive errors. The Yankees were great on offense tonight, but they lacked consistency in the fundamentals of defense.
Hey, baseball fans, who’s catching the Series tonight? The Los Angeles Dodgers are ahead 3 games to none. If they win tonight, Dodgers are world champs. They were behind 5 to 2, but rallied in the top of the Fourth, and now the score is 5 to 4, Yankees lead. Keep it here for all your World Series coverage. Never mind. (At last, it’s raining here in Brunswick, Brooklyn.)
The Yankees knocked one out of the park in the bottom of the Fifth, so now the score is 6 to 4, Yankees.
Freddie Freeman of the Dodgers is setting World Series homer records. If he wasn’t made of money before, he’s made of money now.
This doesn’t look to be the Dodgers night, but if they win one of the next three, they are champions. If you’re wondering why I am a New Yorker, yet I’m rooting on Los Angeles and the Dodgers, it’s because I’m a Red Sox fan, my father was from Boston. If you are a Red Sox fan, the Yankees are your least favorite team.
The Yankees blew this one open. Five runs in the bottom of the Eighth, three on a three-run home run. The score is 11 to 4, New York, and that’s how the game ended. Well, Dodgers fans come up empty tonight.
The thing about the New York Yankees, is that they are the best team money can buy. In Major League Baseball, Yankees are regularly the top three in aggregate salary, they get the best players, year after year.
Salary correlates very well with winning percentage, which correlates to Pennants, and World Series wins. Whereas a team like the Red Sox win on heart (or the Dodgers do for that matter), the Yankees win on monopolizing baseball talent. If you don’t like underdogs, you like the New York Yankees.
Major League Baseball has a problem in that, unlike the National Football League, MLB does not have salary parity. The team with the most money in baseball, wins most of the championships. Not so in the NFL, there is a chance for small-market teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or the Buffalo Bills, to do very well.
Anyone catching the World Series tonight? End of the Third inning, and the Los Angeles Dodgers just scored three, on back-to-back home runs (one on-base for one homer). The score going into the top of the Fourth is 4 to 1, Dodgers. I am a New Yorker, yet I could not care less about the Yankees, who are behind L.A., one game to none, in this best of seven Series...
A close contest until the final out, yet the Dodgers pull away with a victory. The top of the Ninth, the Yankees loaded the bases, but could not bring home the tying run. The final out was a long fly-out, short of the bleachers. The Dodgers win, 4 to 2, and lead the Series 2 to nil.
The Yankees are the perennial spoilers to the chances of the Boston Red Sox, where my father hails. I’ll root for the New York Mets though. Boston and New York compete in the same American League, Eastern Division, those two teams are one of the biggest rivalries in all of sport. (Fox is carrying the Series.)
- Game One of the Fall Classic is a true classic, East Coast versus West Coast, New York Yankees against the Los Angeles Dodgers. This is a real pitchers’ duel, no score, top of the fifth... Any catch the game last night. Please check the purchase price on your admittance stub, what does it say? That’s right, this is free. Now — okay, never mind. Can you imagine if the New York Times had full contempt for their readers? How many Pulitzers would they have won? Any guess?... So I trudge into my rented-out Brooklyn office (equipped with teletype machine), all set for another day of global news-breakers, that I dutifully report, unpaid, unappreciated, and mostly, as an unknown reporter at an unknown blog...
That wraps up the season for the 2024 New York Mets. No “miracle Mets” in this pennant series, the “Amazin’s” came up short. This is not the “You gotta believe” year. The Los Angeles Dodgers kept proving they were the stronger team.
After striking out the side, in the top of the eighth inning; L.A. tacked on three more runs, in the bottom of the eighth; then gave up one run to the Mets in the top of the ninth. Final score was 10 to 5, L.A.. The Dodgers win the National League pennant, 4 games to 2. Dodger Blue faces the New York Yankee pinstripes, in a bi-coastal World Series.
Who do I want to win? Even though I am a lifelong New Yorker, I have never liked the Yankees. My father’s from Boston. Ever hear of the “Curse of the Bambino”?
Anyone catch the Mets game? This may not be their year, but it ain’t over yet. Baseball is a game of second chances, a ball game is not complete, comebacks are still possible, until the final out is made, in the last inning, of the season-ending game.
This is a good way to look at life, don’t let yourself get defeated, there are still outs left, years left really, to try and win the damn thing. There are times when all that you want is a little validation, a pat on the shoulder, which might make the difference, that you do have potential, the potential to succeed in life. However you choose to measure success.
Direct audio feed from my Coney Island office:
I open my window in my Coney Island office, and this is what I hear:
