Playoff Brothers.

       Hey, we're back. That last few weeks of silence was Marcel Marceau's newest hit single, "Walkin' In The Wind." And now, here are the playoffs.  I am sure you are all sitting on the edge of your seat wondering who I am going to support this October.  The last couple of years, my choices have been the kiss of death, but I would feel remiss if I didn't share my usual insane thought processes.  This year, three of the teams that made the AL playoffs also happen to be the three teams who won the three World Series directly before the Mets did in 1986 and, much like the Amazin's, haven't won it since.  This wonderful bit of convolution is the key to my choices.

The Kansas City Royals won the Series in 1985 and sadly, stupefyingly, and horrifyingly haven't even been to the playoffs since.

That team starred a veteran George Brett at third and first base.  After winning the AL west like a million times between 1976 and 1984, the Royals the shocked the Cardinals in 1985 - with a little help from Don Denkinger, of course.  It is a long shot, but I would love to see KC take the title after a 29 year drought.

Everyone remembers the 1984 Detroit Tigers.

They were the team that just steamrolled everyone through the whole year, kind of like a baseball version of the '85 Bears.  They led wire to wire in the regular season and then lost only one game in the playoffs while taking the title.  Everyone remembers Jack Morris and Kirk Gibson from that team but no one ever remembers Lou Whitaker.  1984 was just another in a long line of gold glove silver slugger all star seasons from their second baseman.  Everyone has spent the last decade arguing about whether Jack Morris should be in Cooperstown when the real travesty is the fact that Whitaker got less than 5% of the vote early and dropped off the ballot when he (and Alan Trammell) should be in the Hall - probably more so than Morris.  Detroit has since seen a few horrible teams and a few playoff teams, even going to the Series in 2006, but they haven't won it all since that magical 1984 season.

Then in 1983, you had the Baltimore Orioles.

The Orioles in '83 were led by a young MVP shortstop named Cal Ripken.  You may have heard of him.  The 31 years since that title have seen more dark times than not for Baltimore.  The mid 90's team was a juggernaut that never quite got to the Series and since then, it has been all dark.  But this year they finally won the AL East title for the first time in 17 years.   I jumped on the O's bandwagon two years ago - mostly to stick it to the Yankees - and they immediately tanked.  So this time around I am putting them third on my love list, hoping that a little reverse psychology will help them out.  Of course, now that I have mentioned that out loud, it is a certain jinx.  I need to learn to keep my mouth shut.

Loyalty.

       I am going to judge you...not as a person, mind you, but as a fan.  I am not big on those insipid "rules for fans" articles you will get from hack sportswriters from time to time.  I find there are no "rules" per se for being a sports fan.  You can do what you want; sports is supposed to be a pastime, after all.  But, and we are talking a J-Lo sized but here, the fact that there are no rules does not mean I won't draw opinions from your choices as a fan and then apply them further upon you as a human being. 

       If you have been paying attention at all, you will know that I am a New York Mets fan.  Being a Mets fan is, um, difficult at times.  But they are my team, through (the rarely) thick and (very very) thin.  Liking the Mets is not always easy, but it shows a tremendous amount of patience and fortitude if you are a true Mets fan.  On the other hand, being a Yankees fan requires very little, other than the lack of a soul and a self important attitude based upon entitlement.  The two do not mesh.  If you say you are a Mets fan, I know you aren't a Yankees fan.  If you say you are a Yankees fan, I know that you are both a jerk and that you pity the Mets, and really, that's fine.  But if you say you are a Yankees fan who roots for the Mets, I know you are a milquetoast (at best) and if you say you are a Mets fan who roots for the Yankees, I question your entire understanding of how life works.

       There is a radio talk show host who does AM drive in New York on WFAN, so as not to give him too much exposure, let's just call him Graig Garton.  For full disclosure, I have listened to this blowhard for about a dozen years and know him from back in his 101.5 days, and he was unmistakeably awful then.  But after the Don Imus fiasco five years ago, WFAN made the unfathomable choice of giving this jackass a bigger audience.  While his grating voice and sub-moronic IQ are obvious drawbacks to his job, the worst thing he does is around this time of year is he switches his allegiances from the Mets to the Yankees, opening what he calls the Church of Mets Fans for Yankees. This makes as much sense as "Jews for Jesus" - there is a word for that, we call it "Christians."  There is also a word for Mets Fans for Yankees, and that word is "Yankees Fan."  Packers fans don't root for the Bears, Bruins fans don't root for the Canadiens, Dodgers fans don't root for the Giants, Celtics fans do not root for the Lakers, and Mets fans do not root for the Yankees.  Period.  It is not a law or a rule, it is just the way it is.  Period.

       OK, I am on a complete ranting tangent here and I need to focus back to the point at hand.  Yes, I am a Mets fan and a baseball fan.  No, I will never root for the Yankees, ever.  Even in 2001, I was not rooting for the Yankees and was quite thrilled when they lost.  But, once playoff time comes around, when the Mets are out of it (which has been often in the last five years), I do take temporary rooting interest in a team, usually the one playing against the Yankees or, more recently, the Phillies (and when the Yankees and Phillies played each other?  I rooted for mother nature and football season).  This year I am rooting openly - and a little early this year, as well - for the Orioles.

The Orioles and their fans deserve better than they have gotten the last 15 years or so.  Peter Angelos is a carpetbagging bastard of the highest order.  He took what was once one of the gems of the American League and polished it into a turd.

There was once a concept of "The Oriole Way" which shows how seriously they took fine baseball in Baltimore and that they have gotten away from that shows how low they have sunk.

I have never had a beef with the Orioles or their fans.  I am too young to remember 1969 and since we beat them that year, really, what kind of grudge could I hold anyway?  Even when I was at Camden Yards and some drunk lady practically accosted me when the Mets lost to the Orioles, I didn't use that incident against their fans.  This was a few years ago when the O's were losing 90-100 games a year, why kick someone when they are down?  Besides, I understand - being drunk at a Mets game is pretty much required. 
 
I like what Buck Showalter has done with this ragtag bunch. I like that he got screwed over by the Yankees and has a chance to stick it to them. It would make for a good story if he is able to win the AL East with this team and a great story if he can not only win the East, but keep the Yankees out of the playoffs all together.  He'll need help from the Rays and the A's for that.

I wish I had a page of some contemporary Orioles to show you, but most of my modern O's go to Kevin at Orioles Card "O" the Day.  You'll have to go there to see Adam Jones or Nick Markakis cards.

So while my Mets sputter down the stretch to the tune of a 4-21 post All Star Break home record, I will continue to watch the games.  I will continue to wear my Mets hat - even in public.  I will root for David Wright to post great numbers and for R.A. Dickey to win 20.  But I will also be rooting for the Orioles to dethrone the Yankees.  I will be rooting for more Yankees injuries.  I will be rooting for the Rays and A's to keep up their end of the bargain and shut the Yanks out of even a Wild Card.  And any Mets fan who roots for the Yankees?  Shame on you.