From Hardball Talk
Will Leitch is probably the most notable Cardinals fan in the little corner of the Internet a lot of us call home. And something dawned on him over the weekend:
I have spent so much time watching the Cardinals, reveling in their victories and agonizing in their defeats, that I had forgotten that the rest of the world was watching them, too … And the rest of the world, to my astoundment, hates the Cardinals. The rest of the world was cheering for the young, likable, fiery Washington Nationals, with their superstar youngsters and their facial hair and their natty natitude. The Cardinals weren’t the heroes to them; they were the brutish villains, the Cobra Kai, the Empire, stomping on the dreams of the upstart rebellion.
“Hates” is probably too strong a word. I don’t think people truly hate them. If anything, they have become incrementally more likable now that Tony La Russa is gone and don’t have many personalities — apart from maybe Chris Carpenter — who tend to draw the ire of fans in any notable way.
But people are certainly tired of them. Tired of them in much the same way people are tied of the Yankees. If you’re not a fan of either of those teams you almost always want to see them lose. Not because there’s anything wrong with them in and of themselves, but simply because we’re tired of the stories about them told during the postseason. Tired of the late comebacks which, no matter how exciting they are in any given moment, have some dispiriting element to them for anyone who doesn’t cheer those teams on.
It’s probably because the Cardinals and the Yankees are the ultimate overdogs. They have attained that status for very different reasons, of course. They have different financial structures and fan bases and press coverage and general attitude surrounding them. But they are both considered the gold standard of their respective leagues for whatever reason and they both can never, ever be counted out.
Folks don’t like that much. If their own team can’t be in it, they prefer that just about any other team move on before the Cardinals and the Yankees do. They either want to root for underdogs or, if there are no underdogs around — remember, the Nationals won way more games than the Cards did — they at least want the new stories and faces on their TV screens in October.
All of which makes this postseason rather dreary. We were a couple of random bounces, key hits and close calls away from the A’s, Orioles, Nationals and Reds playing in the ALCS and NLCS. That may have been ratings poison for Fox and TBS, but it would have been refreshing for people who were watching. Now we have those two always-theres in the Yankees and the Cardinals.
And really, the other guys aren’t a ton better. The Giants don’t have that same feeling as the Cardinals, but they did just win it all in 2010. Saving them, I reckon, is the fact that Brian Wilson can’t pitch this year, which goes a long way to combat the annoying familiarity. The Tigers are no Yankees and are not even as ubiquitous and tired a story as the Rangers have been, but they do have the Cabrera-Verlander duo which have consumed an awful lot of media oxygen when it comes to MVP arguments and such in the past two years.
So, nope, we really don’t have any fresh faces or exciting new stories this postseason. Those of us who aren’t Yankees and Cardinals fans are probably settling on rooting for the Tigers and Giants, but it’s not that satisfying. I suppose the best we can root for is high-quality baseball over the next two weeks and change. Which, given how sloppy and ugly so much of this postseason has been, would be a refreshing storyline of its own.
Sigh.
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bondgirl42
October 16, 2012 at 11:23 AM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I am not a Cardinals fan. Hate them? That’s a bit too strong a word just yet……….
But after Holliday’s dirty hit on Scutaro last night? Well, the Cardinals are heading into that rarified hate-filled air normally reserved for the Skankees, oh excuse me, Yankees.
The Cardinals were handed the 2011 World Series on a platter called Nelson Cruz’ glove, with a couple of side orders of Neftali Feliz failing to get #3.
So to see the Cards in the NLCS again this year? It stinks. Yes, I was cheering for the upstart Nationals. They reminded me of the 2010 Rangers--youthful, excited, hungry for the post-season. I was actually even going to cheer for the Nats to win it all (gasp, even over Verlander and the Tigers).
Now, I am cheering each game for the Giants to beat the Cardinals and their arrogance. The Giants are excited and they are having fun (did you see Brian Wilson “playing” the P.A. music on top of the other pitcher’s hat last night--that was priceless).
But of course, tonight when the pin-stripes meet the pin-stripes, I’ll be cheering for Verlander and Cabrera and THOSE pin-striped guys to win another one. Shut ‘em down and keep ‘em down Justin.
The AL needs to win this World Series, and the Tigers are the team who can do it.
Lew
October 16, 2012 at 12:34 PM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Sheryl, that was a great comment. You should start writing here on the blog too.
I wish the Tigers well too, but I can’t trust their closer, (forgot his name at the moment.) With all of the let-downs the Rangers gave me this year, I’m in no mood to replace one team for another as far as let-downs go.
I agree, I think that was a dirty slide in to the Giants shortstop. Regardless of which team represents the National Leage, I feel like that will be the WS Champion.
I’m a little ticked off at the giants for getting the benefit of PED user Melky Cabrera, so if Ihad my choice of the 4 teams left, I gotta go with the Cards…they just never seem to be out of it.
bondgirl42
October 16, 2012 at 2:23 PM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Valverde. That’s his name. And hopefully Leland will go with Albuquerque instead. Valverde has stunk it up pretty bad during his last two save attempts--important games, no less.
I hear ya about let-downs.
And thanks for the compliemnt.
bondgirl42
October 16, 2012 at 2:25 PM (UTC -5) Link to this comment
oops, compliment (and I’m on the desktop, so no excuse for that other than fingers worked quicker than brain got the info to them.)