Does America want the Phillies?
A columnist wonders about an ideal World Series.
Does America want the Phillies?
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
Bill Rhoden of the New York Times offers up a little snack to fuel the fires until the Phillies and Dodgers drop the puck on Thursday night.
In a column the other day, Rhoden offered up a thesis that, truth be told, is probably the majority view in the country (and especially in the part of the country where television executives live). Along the way, he acknowledges that a Yankees-Phillies World Series would be "intriguing," as would all of the other potential matchps, for that matter.
Now for the big however:
Still, what Major League Baseball needs is a great World Series, a Series for the ages. And with all due respect to those two other potential matchups, it’s a Yankees-Dodgers World Series that could take the game back to its roots at a time when baseball desperately needs to recover a portion of the trust, if not the innocence, that it has lost in the steroid era.
You know, with all due respect.
Baseball needs a World Series for the ages, one that reinforces its roots and, yes, its relative purity. Granted, this is a lot to ask one World Series matchup to accomplish, but baseball needs an authentic fall classic.
It needs Yankees-Dodgers, for the good of the game.
You know, for the good of the game.
Yeesh.
Sorry that it posted 4 times consecutively!— Ski Fast- yeah, a return to innocence and a simpler time. when exactly in the "golden days of baseball" did a team need to spend over 200 million dollars to win a title. there isnt any innocence in baseball anymore. the angels are the only team left in the playoffs without a player on their roster who has been suspended for drug violations.— matts01
Comment removed.- I , living in SoCal and a Philly fan for 60 yrs., would love an Angels-Phils WS. Frankly, unless you are a brain dead leftist Keith Olmberman, does anyone care what the NYTimes says on any issue? Apparently they are losing readers by the ton. And they deserve it.— KGKoons
- I guess Rhoden doesn't know that Mickey and the Duke aren't in New York anymore. The days of Casey Stengel and Leo Durocher are gone. MLB wants those tow team, not America. America is getting sick and tired of only seeing the Yankees and Red Sox all the time. Which makes me again wonder why Romero was offered 25 games if he left before last year's playoffs and the end of the season when the Mets wrere still in first, but got 50 games when he appealed. It's always New York. I like the Yankees, they were my second favorite team as a kid growing up. My brother and I always tried to get #7, Mickey's number, when we played. I'd like nothing more than the Philles to beat them this year. But enough with what the league and networks and bums like Rhoden want.— mike l
- Who cares what America wants? It's about what Philly wants !— Super_5ive
- What nonsense! Yes, A-Rod and Manny deserve to be in the World Series because they've had such a tough year, getting busted taking steroids and all, lol. The Yankees would destroy the Dodgers. The Dodgers have no starting pitching. Other than Manny, the Dodgers don't have one truly marquee player on their roster (although they've got some future stars like Kemp, Ethier and Broxton). The Phils and Yanks played a great series earlier in the season and the Phils-Angels would be a great match-up as well. Nobody outside of So Cal roots for the Dodgers...they haven't done anything in 20 years. But you know what, this is the same media-contrived nonsense that we had last year. The national media wants a Yankees-Dodgers match-up. The public doesn't necessarily feel that way. So I hope the national media continues to disrespect and write-off the Phils like they did last year so the Phils can continue to make them eat their words. Go Phightin Phils!— JimG
- Aside from the obvious nonsense about Steroids, don't the Dodgers take us back to the heyday of when teams would simply pack up their uniforms, bats, and balls and sneak off to an area of the country where they could make more money?— fmMD
- Huh? Let me get this right. The idiot reporter in NY wants "purity" of a Dodgers/Yankees WS. Hmmm, let me see.....Manny Ramirez and A-Rod are so pure indeed. I'd love to see the Phillies v. the Yankees but articles like that make me hope for an Angels/Phillies series. Hey NY: the world and US doesn't revolve around the two largest cities on the US coasts.— stop2think
- C'mon people, are you really surprised by this? I'm a transplant living in L.A. so of coure I want to see a Phils/Angels WS. And while I question the objectivity of the NY Times, you know damn well that MLB would much rather see New York/Los Angeles WS, the number 1 and 2 markets, respectively. Two storied franchises, 2 highly marketed teams, more TV viewership among "casual" sports fans, more advertising dollars, etc, etc. Let's hope the Phils spoil their plans ;-)— scooterj
- Yeah they need the Yankees and Dodgers in the World Series to get over the steroid controversay. That makes no sense. You want the two poster boys for steroids playing each other in the World Series. Manny Ramirez and Alex Rodriguez.— MoKev
- I think Bill Rhoden needs some of these great comments put directly in his ear. Here's the address to his article. E-mail: wcr@nytimes.com— Slidewell
- Comment removed.
- I remember that guy from the Sports Reporters. He was always saying things that didn't make sense. Ignore him. Who cares what he thinks?— phink
- Comment removed.
