Case of the Mondays: I love interleague play

May 21st, 2007 | Posted by PostmanE

(Before he begins, PostmanE would like to apologize for being so late to the punch today. He went for a brief swim in the backyard pool with a cinderblock tied to his ankle, and has since been dealing with his disappointed father. Back now, though.)

Ah, yes, Monday morning. The morning after a three-day stint of drinking and watching baseball and taunting friends. That is what interleague play is all about: Cubs and Sox fans packed into a Wrigleyville bar shoulder to shoulder, alternating chants, downing expensive Old Styles and stumbling home in the middle of the day. (And then napping and then getting back out there, of course.)

Sorry, but I can’t get with the purists who decry interleague play as a violation of tradition. It is, above all things, fun. I know it’s fun for the fans, I get the impression it is fun for the managers, and even the players, or most of them, seem to enjoy it. Without interleague play, who gets bragging rights? Who gets to call himself the best manager in the city? (This weekend in Chicago, with his sneaky little Derrek Lee pinch-hit, that was clearly Lou Piniella.) Without interleague play, how can you switch from radio station to radio station, just to see the different ways the team’s announcers are calling the game? It’s fun, damnit. Isn’t that baseball’s oldest, and finest, tradition?

NBA: Sorry, but with the travel and the weekend-long focus on baseball, the NBA went quietly by. That might have to do with the fact that the Spurs had such a quick turnaround from the series with the Suns, but all the same, they had no problem dispensing with the Jazz in typically efficient fashion. If Deron Williams is going to be the Jazz’ leading scorer all series, that will no go well for the Fightin’ Mormons. Also, the return of Big Shot Rob and his evil calm feels like some sort of Darth Vader re-entrance. (”They complained … like I can get in their heads and play Nintendo with their minds and bodies and get them to walk out onto the court,” Horry said [of Stoudamire and Diaw’s suspensions].) Poor Jazz.

Preakness: Some horse other than Street Sense won, which continues to prove just how hard it is to win a Triple Crown. It also proves how hard it is to win money at horse-racing. Stupid off-track betting; I could have had ten more Old Styles!