Time for Texas to End Drought

As in any World Series, most fans will cheer along party lines because of where they live or used to live, but for those of us who have never lived in either Texas or St. Louis and whose favorite teams long ago fell by the wayside, some even before the end of September, picking a team to root for is more complicated.

If one of a handful of teams was in the Series I would have a vested emotional interest based on where I grew up or lived or live now. But all of my teams were wiped out early. Similarly, I don’t have a good reason to root against either the American League or National League representative. I have no grudge against the St. Louis Cardinals. I have no grudge against the Texas Rangers. No motivation at all, leaving me in a quandry and leaving me with a primary allegiance to the game of baseball, wishing for high quality games.

What is a fan to do?

I chose to throw my delegates to Texas’s cause seeking nomination as world champion, mostly because the franchise has never won a World Series and 51 years is long enough to wait. My wife, on the other hand, hopes St. Louis will win because she doesn’t like former President George W. Bush and not only was Bush formerly president of the team as well as the country, he gets front-row seats now and we are betting he doesn’t have to pay for them.

Now I am no Bush fan, either, as the president that left us with two wars, including the fabricated-out-of-thin-air Iraq war. But I have a soft spot for the Rangers and not only because they made my favorite player of all time, Ted Williams, into a manager. The Cardinals have won 17 pennants and 10 World Series. That’s not as irritating as the New York Yankee totals, but it’s not as if it makes them a sympathetic team, either.

The Boston Red Sox went 86 years between 1918 and 2004 without winning a World Series. Who would say they didn’t deserve that one? The Chicago White Sox went 88 years between 1917 and 2005 without winning a World Series. Nobody begrudges them that one.

The Chicago Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908. The whole country will rejoice when they finally do win one, not only the people of Chicago, because everyone else is sick of hearing how long it’s been since the Cubs won. The Cleveland Indians have not won a Series since 1948. If they were in it this year and playing the Cardinals, I would be rooting for them to end their drought.

Almost by definition the big-payroll teams in the majors are greedy. They subscribe to the money-will-buy-happiness school of life. But sometimes it works out that the underdog prevails, that the long-forsaken have their day. It has taken the Texas Rangers half a century to reach this point. Loan them the trophy for a year.

This is the Rangers’ 15 minutes of fame. When they get to be a dynasty I’ll shift my commitment to another fresh team. For now, let them eat cake in Texas. At least we don’t have to worry about the Cowboys again.