Your original post kind of reminds me of my reaction to last night's San Diego sports report on the Chargers-Chiefs game: "they came to play football, but a basketball game broke out," as a middling team someone won a high-scoring affair, on the road against a team that supposedly has one of the best defenses in the league.
By halftime, the Chiefs were down to backups of the backups of their defensive backfield -- their defensive starters were good (but injured), and their backups were good (and then they got hurt). The third line? Not quite so good, and not nearly as well practiced. And it *still* took a last minute drive to beat them, which is easier to do against guys who haven't played much all season....
Some things have not changed a lot since I was a child. Here is a childhood memory of mine that is demonstrably false, but true in spirit.
The Cubs finished in eighth place. Their manager, Leo Durocher, said, "The Cubs are not an eighth place team." He was right. The next year, the National League expanded from eight to ten teams, and the Cubs finished in tenth place.
I was surprised to find out that my memory is inaccurate. There already were ten teams in the National League when the Cubs finished eighth one year and tenth the next. But the two expansion teams were terrible and were expected to finish ninth and tenth every year.
Of the major league teams that existed when I was born, only the Cubs have not played in a World Series in my lifetime, and only the Cubs and the Cleveland Indians have not won a World Series in my lifetime.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2013-11-25 03:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-11-25 04:53 pm (UTC)Will the Cubs win a World Series in my lifetime?
Date: 2013-11-25 05:05 pm (UTC)The Cubs finished in eighth place. Their manager, Leo Durocher, said, "The Cubs are not an eighth place team." He was right. The next year, the National League expanded from eight to ten teams, and the Cubs finished in tenth place.
I was surprised to find out that my memory is inaccurate. There already were ten teams in the National League when the Cubs finished eighth one year and tenth the next. But the two expansion teams were terrible and were expected to finish ninth and tenth every year.
Of the major league teams that existed when I was born, only the Cubs have not played in a World Series in my lifetime, and only the Cubs and the Cleveland Indians have not won a World Series in my lifetime.