Country avoids symbolic sports battle

The Houston team failed this evening to reach the World Series, so Boston will meet the St. Louis team instead. This prevents a World Series matchup of Houston v. Boston perfectly echoing the presidential race. As I said, the better the Sox do, the better Kerry does; I certainly wouldn't have wanted Bush's base to take pleasure in Houston winning, that's for sure. But the victory by St. Louis avoids all that.

The St. Louis-Boston matchup is a repeat of the series of 1967, when I was 11 years old. It was the last World Series won by the great team of the 60s that included Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Curt Flood, Tim McCarver, Ken Boyer, and current St. Louis General Manager Dal Maxvill. The next year, they lost the Series to Detroit, and that was the end of their domination.

In any case, Boston v. St. Louis isn't symbolic of anything, though I'm afraid it's a tougher matchup for Boston than Houston would have been. Here's hoping Boston surprises everyone again.