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 History Again

                                                                                                                  Mike DiPatri    10/27/05

Watching television is not a good thing.  Or so they say.  I have witnessed so many historical events by watching TV.  Events such as the moon landing, the war in Viet Nam, a presidential assassination, the fall of a Middle East government and every World Series since the early 60?s.  Last year I thought I'd seen something I'd never see.  People in Boston had been born, lived their lives and died having never seeing a World Series win in their town.  But I saw it  on TV!  Last night I witnessed still another historic event.  This one is just as big as the Boston World Series.

Heres to the Chicago White Sox.  No longer the second team in the SecondCity.  It was obvious after they swept the Boston Red Sox in the NLDS that no team could stop them.  They were definitely the best team in the league this year.  This was their first World Series win in 88 years.  So, where's all the hype we saw last year when the Red Sox won their first in 86 years?  Is this not as big a feat?  Often times the better team does not always win the Series.  This time it did.

Now some people will disagree with my assessment of the team's dominance.  Some will say that had it not been for some umpires' bad calls the outcome would have been different.  Give me a break!  Do they really want to reach that far for an excuse?  The White Sox won because they won.  How many times did the Astros have the winning run at third without scoring?  They outplayed the other teams.  We've been hearing people blame losses on bad calls for a long time.  Again I say, not always does the better team win.  One example is the '85 Cardinals; a Series also blamed on an umpire.  The Cardinals were better than the Royals that year but lost.  And they lost because they lost (not because of an umpire making one bad call).  Others atre the '86 Red Sox  (better than the Mets), the 2004Yankees (better than the Red Sox) and the ultimate example is the '01 Yankees (worlds better than the Diamondbacks).  This year, though, the better team did win.

Germaine Dye was the Series MVP.  There could have been many.  Everybody contributed and the team did everything well.  If they asked me to name the MVP, it would have been Joe Crede.  His defense was perfect and his bat was timely every night.  Then there was Scott Podsednik.  He had no homers all season then two in the postseason.  That included a walk-off homer in Game 2.  Also Geoff Blum made himself known.  In a tie game that seemed to be going on forever, he came to bat for his very first World Series at bat.  It will be an at bat he will tell his grand kids about.  He just hit the go-ahead homer. 

So this is a tribute to the White Sox.  Congratulations on exorcising the 88-year-old demon and finally becoming the World Series champs!  Shoeless Joe sleeps soundly tonight!