We Love This Game

There is crying in baseball.

Contrary to the Tom Hanks' line in the movie A League of Their Own, tears were shed during the two league championship series that just concluded.

There were tears in the eyes of 72-year-old Yankee Coach Don Zimmer when he apologized for trying to whup up on Red Sox Pitcher Pedro Martinez during a bench-clearing fracas.

And Yankee Manager Joe Torre was weepy when the Bronx Bombers pulled Game 7 out of the fire last night.

When Chicago Cubs Fan Stephen Bartman had to be escorted out of Wrigley Field with a jacket pulled over his head after he caused Moises Alou to miss catching a foul popup, what'd he do? Cried. Maybe the tears were for all the beer that was wasted by fans who doused him for his ill-advised attempt to snag a souvenir. He will live in infamy, his life will become a living hell and he will always closely resemble Jared, the Subway Sandwich huckster on those incessant and unfunny TV commercials.

He was not alone. Cubbie fans in the stands boo-hooed too when their team managed to lose the third straight game to the fightin' fish of Florida. And we're still chuckling at actor John Cusack's appearance on Letteman a few hours before Game 6 when he predicted the Cubs curse would be broken. Take that, actor boy!

So there you have it.

We know a lot of you were watching, based on our emails. You need sports, you want sports to remove yourselves from your vapid lives. Hey, we understand!

An email example, from Dennis, a reader in St. Louis, after the Yankees won the right last night to move on to the Fall Classic. We apologize, in advance, for his profanity, but it would be journalistically unethical for us to change his direct quote:

"fucking yankees.
jason giambi hits two home runs. exhibit A in money rules. he's ok at oakland, becomes free agent, yankees outbid everyone. japanese guy hits double in 8th, another example of money rules. yankees pay millions for him, extend themselves beyond the luxury cap/tax even more. then who hits home run? boone, who was in Cincy until that franchise had a fire sale. so he goes where the money is. now they play the team with the third worst attendance in the league (bottomed out only by montreal and tampa bay) but the marlins sell out the three games in miami. 'course, they'd sell out if the beatles reunited, gloria esteban sang with K.C. & the Sunshine Band or Fidel Castro was crucified at Second Base. at least the Cubs lost. "

Go Marlins!