Over/Under

For those who have paid attention to this little spot on the internet or have followed some passionate sports ramblings and discussions over the years, you know that the last thing anyone can ever accuse this Scribe of is being a homer. Not only is this a result of rooting interests outside of the New York area, but of a firm belief that a sport is bigger than one team, one player or one game. Years of fandom and media experience has shown me the light as I’ve learned to appreciate sports from a vast landscape beyond the Boroughs or even Boston and Philadelphia, where collegiate and family ties are everlasting.

Since Game 1 of the World Series begins in a few hours, I wanted to chime in briefly on the coverage here in New York. While there is a good bit of solid analysis, even if it’s regurgitated, the most resoundingly absurd, abhorrently awful and maddeningly lazy media efforts are below.

Beyond homerism and fans defending the crowns of both leagues, there’s an unfortunate tendancy of some in sports media to pander to the lowest common denominator. These are prime examples (along with this phenomenally fourth-rate article about Philadelphia being a "second-rate city") as one can allude to their own conclusions about them (painting players as sissies is old, tired and in this case, borderline homophobic for no reason).

If this is to rile up the masses, all it truly does is make them seem like buffoons. The intensity that the words “World Series” should be enough for any fan base as it is the pinnacle of Major League Baseball. The fact that these two historic franchises – please Yankee Universe, stop selling the Philly Phanatics short – are playing in it brings a different sort of energy to it differs from recent championship tilts. Yet, to continue in this vein while shortsighting some of the Yankees fans that DO enjoy objective analysis and stories about the opponents is beyond stupid and in it's own unfortunate way, beyond baseball.

This is not to say that the Philadelphia media hasn’t done any wrongs in relation to the Bronx Bombers and my original home borough, but attention would have been drawn for those that were committed. These headlines and so-called stories are reasons why despite the diversity of fan allegiances, interests and awareness, the area’s reputation of being the ‘most knowledgeable’ of sports towns is saddled with being equally obnoxious.

Now, onward to some fun.

Because national broadcasts are relatively predictable when it comes to covering Philadelphia and New York-based teams, I figured that this would be a good time for some over/unders throughout the first few games of the Amtrak Series.