You see, we in the media are as addicted to Red Sox-Yankees as any junkie is to a drug. We have all decided to ignore realities that this series has lost a good deal of its juice the past few years, and now contains two of the worst traits of modern baseball: The games are usually way too long and too often come with the commentary of Joe Morgan. In fact, this series has become Joe Morgan in many respects: Famous for something that happened in the past and now something presented to us regularly as extraordinary that, quite frankly, isn't.
This is like "Survivor" or "ER" now. Something that used to be unique and special and well done, that lost its essence years ago. However, it stays on the network schedule in hopes that it can recapture what it once was. I asked a Fox executive before the Saturday game if he covers his eyes while the game is in progress and hopes when he opens them that Pedro Martinez and Don Zimmer will be rolling around on the ground? He laughed. I didn't.
In 2003-04, every game - heck, every inning, every pitch - was as riveting as baseball gets. But that was because the Yankees had something and the Red Sox were trying to take it away. The context was everything. The Curse defined The Rivalry. Once the hex was lifted, so was the Luke-and-Laura-are-getting-married portion of the script. The intensity could never be the same again.
In fact, now it is contrived. We are told these games carry the same heat as always by their presence in special time slots on Fox and ESPN, and by people like me trying to convince you that nothing has changed, that it is Red Sox vs. Yankees and it is the same as it has ever been.
This is where I abandon ship. I remember being young once and going to a bar with my pals and a few of us having quite a special night after meeting a few ladies. And we kept going back to that bar over and over and over hoping to recapture what had happened that one great night. Of course, we never did have an instant replay. It was a moment in time, great and gone.
I don't know about you, but I still enjoy these games a lot. Are they the same as they were in '03 or '04? No, but just because the dynamics of the rivalry have changed it doesn't mean the rivalry isn't as intense as it used to be.
of what it used to be, or is it still as good as ever?
4 Comments:
I think Sherman is totally right. Obviously it's still exciting when we play them and they're still the best games on the schedule, but it is NOT the same as 2004 and prior.
I can't believe that in an argument to prove that Yankees/Red Sox is losing it's buzz, Joe Morgan's name was mentioned. That's pathetic coming from a professional writer. Joe Morgan is an announcer for Chi$t sake.
He's not an announcer. He does the color commentary and his commentary is akin to a root canal. There's a reason why there is the website Fire Joe Morgan. Sherman is right.
Joe Morgan is terrrrrrrrrrrible. Ugh if he talks about his 1980 Reds and compares every great player to Johnny Bench one more time I'm muting every espn broadcast and turning on John n Suzyn... and I REALLLY dont want to do that.
Sucks cause I think John Miller has THE best voice in all of baseball. Guy sends tingles when he shouts for homers.
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