I was a bit under the weather yesterday, so missed my Monday sports post. But a Tuesday segment gives me a chance to talk Rays. In case you just got back from hiking in the Andes, or live in North Tampa, the Tampa Bay Rays eliminated the Chicago White Sox last night by beating them 6-2, and taking the playoff series 3-1. Merriment ensued.
• I’ve wrestled with the notion of whether all this spraying of champagne, chugging beers and pounding Patrón by the Rays after every milestone — making the playoffs, winning the American League East, winning their first playoff series — is a good or bad thing.
I’ve watched far more basketball than baseball in my day, and NBA playoff teams save the bubbly showers for winning the actual championship. That always made sense to me from a we’ve-got-more-work-to-do perspective.
But I have to admit there was something charming about how the Rays jumped around on the White Sox’s home field, then ran into a clubhouse covered in sheet plastic where they blasted each other with champagne.
At first I thought it might just be young kids and their exuberance, but I found out that the Red Sox did the same thing last night after ousting the Angels.
So these celebrations are part of baseball culture, and I’m for it, especially since I get the sense that it’s more of a ritual than an indication that a team has taken its eyes off the prize.
• I’m jazzed that it worked out this way: Tampa Bay vs. Boston in the American League Championship Series. For me, it doesn’t have as much to do with revenge or rivalry as pragmatism.
