Point-Counterpoint: DET v. NYY

[Busy day here at the HBCC. The panelanalysts are weighing in on the Yankees vs. the Tigers series. Bobsled, Handsome and now Travis America weighs in with his thoughts on the big series. What you got T&A?]

Travis America: As a lifelong Yankee fan, I fully live up to the stereotype of viewing everything related to baseball with a shameless sense of entitlement. When the Yankees win the World Series, all is status quo. When they don't, it's a catastrophe. There's no in between. Consistent with this attitude is my utter lack of interest in almost every other team in Major League Baseball. I could give a fuck about the National League (except for the Mets, who I hate), and the only teams I really care about in the American League are the ones that pose a serious threat to the Yankees' World Series chances.

For example, back in the mid-nineties I purchased a t-shirt with "BALTIMORE BLOWS" emblazoned in big orange letters on a black background. Hard to imagine the Orioles could at one time elicit such hostility. (By the way, I wore this shirt at least once a week. I recently stumbled across some pictures of myself with my girlfriend at the time, all set to go out to some fancy party. She’s wearing a very tasteful black dress with matching necklace, while I’m wearing ripped jeans, the "BALTIMORE BLOWS" shirt, and a shit-eating grin. Yet today, I sit here completely dumbfounded as to how she could have dumped me. Honestly, it never crossed my mind that wearing such a shirt might bring unnecessary shame to those around me. What a fucking asshole. Oh, and I just realized the pictures are from 2001, not the mid-nineties. It was at least a five-year-old shirt. To the best of my knowledge, the Yankees-Orioles rivalry had pretty much dried up by then. Not to mention that if one were not a baseball fan, it would appear as if I was telling the entire city of Baltimore to go fuck itself. Nice job, Travis America. The next time you wonder why you only seem to hook up with ugly skanks or semi-attractive psychopaths, consult said photographs.)

Anyway, here's my point: despite my general disregard for non-Yankee organizations, I've always harbored genuine affection for the Detroit Tigers. I've been to Tiger Stadium a couple of times in my childhood, loved it, and have fond memories of watching the Tigers from the Yankee Stadium bleachers on the last day of the 1984 regular season, which was the last time the Tigers won the World Series. The guy playing right field was named Rusty Kuntz. I didn’t understand why everyone in the bleachers was razzing the guy so bad. Sometime last year I figured it out.

What I can tell you from years of playing Strat-O-Matic baseball is that 1984 Tigers team was stacked. Gibson, Whitaker, Trammell, Evans, Parrish, Morris, Herndon, Petry, Willie Fuckin' Hernandez, and of course, Chet Lemon. That’s how I like to remember the Tigers. So I’m glad to see them back in the playoffs as opposed to, say, Anaheim. Perhaps one day, the Tigers will rekindle the glory of years past. Just not this year.

Prediction: Yankees in Four (4)