World Series.

I'm looking forward to watching this years World Series. It features the type of teams I like to see in there besides my favorite teams.

That is, Teams that have had a bit of hard luck in their history both who haven't won any championships in their respective cities.

The Texas Rangers are the decendants of the expansion version of the Washington Senators. As the Senators, They started in 1961 and could not establish a fan base strong enough to prevent a move to the Dallas and become the Texas Rangers in 1972. they struggled for many years and did not make the post season once until 1996. No team since 1960 took longer to get there. Each time they got to the post season, they lost in the first round each time, Always to the Yankees. Always quickly, Until this year that is.

The San Francisco Giants have been around since 1883 when they were in New York. They were an early powerhouse team in major league baseball history. They have won 5 World Series titles, All of it in New York. They moved to San Francisco in 1957 to join the Los Angeles Dodgers as MLBs first west coast teams. Since then, The Giants have appeared in three World Series not including the current one. Each one of the World Series were memorable. The first ended in the seventh game with a great defensive play, The second one had an earthquake, And the third one had the Giants up 3 games to 2 with a five run lead in game 6 with only 8 outs to go when they blew it in the last two innings. So they've had their history of hard luck


So now with the Rangers in the World Series, That leaves only the Mariners and the Nationals as MLB teams that have never made an appearance in a World Series. The Giants are only behind the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians in longest period of time since winning a World Series title. So who's gonna win? Well, The last time the Giants played in a World Series they faced another team (The Angels)who was an expansion team that started in 1961, They also play in the same division as the Rangers. So that bodes well for the Rangers.

Buuuuttttttt, I'm rooting hard for the Giants. Why? Well, It's because of a mixture of politics and geography. On my list of favorite teams, the Giants are No. 5 and the Rangers are No. 26.

The reason? San Francisco is pretty much my favorite city. It pretty much has everything I love about a city. Great weather, Beautiful scenery, Lefty politics, and a counter culture quality that keeps me interested. The Giants also used to play in New York and had the hat logo that my favorite team the Mets use on their cap.

Texas is only a state I know from TV, politics and a an airport visit. Needless to say, It pretty much makes me not to ever live there. The opposite of San Francisco. Hot and Humid, Arrogant, and very Republican.

Texas is Bush country, San Fransisco is Pelosi country so a boogie man there for each side of the political aisle. But there's a bit of irony in how their respective ballparks got built.

When George W. Bush was an owner of the Rangers, They built a new ballpark using lots of tax payers money, Much of it not approved by the voters. Also, Eminent Domain was used to grab land to build it. Hardly the conservative principles I always hear about on right wing TV.

The Giants on the other hand built their new ballpark using only private funds because the citizens of the city voted against using tax funds to build it. Not exactly what one would expect for a "Tax and Spend" liberal city like San Fransisco. Or is it? After all, Liberals aren't exactly fond of subsidizing millionaires and billionaires with tax dollars.

But if you were to take the teams at face value, It's hard to root for one team over another. Neither was expected to make it to the World Series. Actually it was likely that neither team would make the playoffs. No real superstars on either teams. The Giants have great pitching and average hitting and somewhat suspect defensive skills. The Rangers have some great hitting stars and play fundamentally solid baseball that is fun to watch, Especially when they beat the mighty Yankees. Still, The Giants tenacity in beating a very powerful Phillies team makes it hard to figure out who has the advantage in the series.


Oh, well. Go GIANTS.