13 Reasons to be Excited for the 2009 World Series
October 27, 2009 · Aaron Torres · Jump to comments
Article Source: Bleacher Report - New York Yankees
(Aaron Torres is an accomplished journalist whose work has been published in Sports Illustrated , USA Today , and AOL.com. To read all his work, including this article in its entirety , please click here , or visit him at www.aarontorres-sports.com )
Baseball’s not a perfect sport, we all know that.
The games start too late. They run too long. Tragically, Steve Phillips is no longer around to analyze (He’s innocent I tell ya!). And because of rain, snow, sleet, meteor showers, and aurora borealis, this postseason—which seems like it started 11 weeks ago—might not end until sometime around Christmas Eve.
But come on, this is baseball. It’s America’s pastime. And it’s time for the World Series.
Whether its incredible athletes (ok incredible might be a little strong), beautiful girlfriends, or just baseball you like, there’s something for everybody in this World Series. So while you shouldn’t need a reason to tune in, I’ll give you a few anyways.
As a matter of fact, here are 13:
13. Alex Rodriguez, Clutch Hitter
It’s really only right that the 13th reason on this list be old No. 13 himself.
Look, we all know why not to like Alex Rodriguez: He’s a known cheater. His salary is larger then the GDP of Tanzania. That whole Madonna thing was really, really weird. But I’m going to let you in on a dirty little secret, I’m kind of rooting for him. I have been for a while now.
This guy is the best player in the game. And the way that our grandparents talk about seeing Willie Mays in person, is how we should be appreciating Alex Rodriguez. But because of all the aforementioned stuff, his approval rating has always hovered just slightly ahead of George W. Bush’s.
But here’s the crazy thing, since he’s gotten to New York, the guy’s won two MVP awards. He’s had at least 30 home runs and 100 RBI every season, including this past summer when he limped around the whole month of April like Joe Paterno on a surgically repaired hip. And yet up until a few weeks ago, we talked about him like he didn’t even belong on the playoff roster, let alone starting at third base.
Sure in past years A-Rod hasn’t always been the most clutch player. But it’s also not his fault that since he’s gotten to New York, their best pitchers have been a bona-fide No. 2 starter (Chien-Ming Wang), and a good, but not great, Mike Mussina. You win in October with great pitching, and let me ask you, would you want Wang or Mussina pitching deciding games for your team in the playoffs? Me neither.
Luckily, for whatever reason this year, the heat’s off of A-Rod. He’s got protection in the lineup. He’s got big arms at the front of the pitching rotation. And he’s decided that he doesn’t need to be Alex Rodriguez media mogul and international superstar, but just Alex Rodriguez the baseball player.
Most importantly, he’s doing everything that you’d ever want a guy on your team to do. He’s high-fiving everybody but Tim McCarver. He’s playing through pain. He’s getting big hits when his team needs them the most.
So root against Alex Rodriguez if you’d like. Hold grudges if you must. But I’m happy for the guy. I never thought I’d say this, but even for a guy making $27 million a year, he just needed a break.
12. Jayson Werth
Quite honestly, I don’t know much about this guy. As a matter of fact, there are Saudi Arabian oil sheiks that I’ve been paying closer attention to lately.
But looking at Werth, doesn’t he just seem like a guy you’d want to go out with after a game and grab a beer? At the very least, I feel like he’d be “that guy,” at the strip club that makes the whole experience 1000 times better. You know, the one who disappears approximately 90 seconds after you get into the place, blows $150 bucks in the champagne room with a girl named “Peaches,” and still leaves smiling and saying stuff like, “That was awesome,” and, “Best 150 bucks I ever spent!”
Plus, when I went to a Phillies-Mets game earlier this year and the New York crowd burst into a “Jay-son Werth-less,” chant, not only did he laugh it off, Werth also made several sexually derogatory gestures to the crowd behind his glove. It was just inappropriate enough to get an even bigger roar, but done just quickly enough where the cameras didn’t catch it. You really had to be there to appreciate it.
And needless to say, I’ve been a fan ever since.
11. The Continued Torture of Mets Fans
Speaking of Mets fans, at this point you’ve got to feel pretty bad for them. The last two years ended with awful late season collapses. This year’s team was so banged up that Ruben Sierra, Nook Logan, Roger Dorn, and Moonlight Graham were starters at various points. And now their two biggest rivals are squaring off to decide a World Championship.
As my friend Finn, one of the biggest Mets fans I know, texted me on Sunday night, “All I can hope for at this point is a bench clearing brawl with A-Rod and Ryan Howard both suffering career ending injuries.”
I think that just about says it all.
10. Nick Swisher’s Locker Room Hi-jinks
I could probably take a vacation to Aruba right now if I had a dollar for every, “Nick Swisher really keeps the locker room loose,” feature story I read this year. The way the New York media describes this guy, he’s some weird cross between Chris Rock, Stifler, and Bill “The Spaceman” Lee. He even sported a Mohawk for Game Six of the ALCS.
But here’s the thing, after reading the 85,000th “Nick Swisher is soooo funny” column this summer, I realized something: Nobody’s ever explained exactly what he does. And I think I speak for everyone when I say, I want some answers.
Does he put mayonnaise in Mark Teixeira’s batting gloves? Does he do funny Joba Chamberlain fist-pumping impressions when the big guy isn’t around? Shrink C.C. Sabathia’s game pants in the dryer? Send text’s to Minka Kelly from A-Rod’s phone?
Someone’s got to have an explanation for this, and I want some answers!
9. Charlie Manuel’s Press Conferences:
Over the summer I was reading Sports Illustrated when I came across a mind-boggling statistic. Of every player, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball this season (over 1000 individuals), only 22 of them have degrees from four year colleges. Twenty-two! And while it is a startling statistic, I know it makes a lot more sense when you hear a guy like Charlie Manuel open his mouth.
While Joe Girardi is intelligent and articulate, Manuel is an old-school baseball guy in every sense of the word.
And speaking of words, they’re not Manuel’s strong suit. There are New York City cab drivers who have a better understanding of the English language. Listening to a Manuel press conference is like watching the Blue Collar Comedy Tour . Only in this case, you might actually laugh.
Of course, none of that matters, since he’s gone 18-5 in the last two postseasons. Maybe most importantly, his players love him. Even if they can’t understand a word he’s saying.
8. Because More Than One Girl Has Told Me I Look Like Mark Teixeira
Alright, so that’s not a reason for you to get excited. But from what I can gauge, it’s not a bad thing for me either.
And besides, whenever a girl makes the comparison, it also allows me to make bad jokes, like: “Well if you saw me swing a bat, you literally couldn’t tell the difference.”
Ok that joke was reeeeeally bad (like this whole column). Let’s just move on.
7. A.J. Burnett’s Shaving Cream Pie In The Face Routine
No seriously, it’s funny! Isn’t it?
6. Cole Hamels Wife
Sure, Kate Hudson is getting all the publicity as the hottie du-jour of this World Series, but more love needs to go to our good friend Heidi Hamels.
Not only is she gorgeous. Not only is she a former contestant on Survivor . But she also had the underrated quote of 2009 when in February, she said in a Sports Illustrated interview:
“We’re in the process of adopting an AIDS orphan from Ethiopia. Maybe two. I’m so pumped. I’d adopt six if I could. When I was five years old-I grew up in a very rural town in Missouri, and I had never even seen a black person-they asked us to draw a picture of ourselves in the future, and I drew myself holding hands with a line of tiny black stick figures. I’ve always wanted this.”
No seriously, she actually said that .
Needless to say, it’s going to be a funny couple with week’s with Heidi. Take that Kate Hudson!
(To read the REMAINDER OF THIS article , including Aaron’s Top Five Reasons To Be Excited For the World Series, please visit him at www.aarontorres-sport.com )
Read more New York Yankees news on BleacherReport.com
Yankee Tickets
Shop Yankee
