I Don't Want to Be Together, I Don't Want to Be Apart, I Don't Want None of This Love for You Honey Deep, Deep Down in My Heart

Joey, I've thought about your comment on yesterday's post, and I think if "The Boss" could respond to your heinous statement, it would go something like this:

(Channelling the spirit of Oklahoma State football coach Mike Gundy)

"I'm a MAN!!! I'm 58!!!!You don't come after a kid like Justin Scott, come after me!!!"

Now that the most pressing issue has been dealt with today, on to other matters...

I'll admit it. I watched the Phillies v. Braves game last night like Kevin McAllister watched other families have normal Christmas dinners on Home Alone I. As I watched those Philly fans actually cheering on their team towards an improbable playoff spot, I found myself wishing that I could sit in one of the green seats in Arlington on some late-September night and know that the Rangers had a shot once again.

I'm pretty sure that growing up as a Cowboys and Rangers fan, I was raised in an era of unrealistic expectations. I took it for granted that the Cowboys went to the Super Bowl every January and that the Rangers would have a somewhat realistic chance of making the baseball postseason each and every year due to the 3 A.L. West Championships in 1996, 1998, and 1999 respectively.

Just look at the following paragraph, courtesy of that fount of all knowledge, Wikipedia:

The Rangers (when combined with their predecessor the Senators) are the oldest franchise that has yet to appear in a World Series; in fact, they have yet to win any playoff series. They are the oldest franchise in the 4 major pro sports to never win a championship. In their history the team has only one playoff victory, on the road at Yankee Stadium in the franchise's first playoff game; they have never won a home playoff game.

That's not exactly the kind of history that a franchise wants to carry around, but I think Andy Dufresne had it right when he said "Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."

I think the Rangers just found a theme for 2008.