Giants v Rangers - Emotion

Don't get me wrong. 56 years is a long time. It's the third longest drought in the big leagues behind the Cubs (102 years) and the Indians (62 years). If the Giants win, I can certainly empathize and be happy for my friends who are Giants fans. I'll still be terribly jealous and inherently on the outside looking in on the celebration I long to experience myself.

This is really the ideal World Series match-up to come out of this crop of playoff teams. Every other club in the post season this year (with the exception of the baby Tampa Bay Rays who haven't been in the league long enough to get a learner's permit) had won a World Series in the last 20 years (Yankees in 2009, Phillies in 2008, Braves in 1995, Twins in 1991, Reds in 1990).

Instead either a 56 or 49 year drought will end and one city will get its first World Series Champion. You got to like that.

Who am I rooting for? If I didn't think I would be forcibly deported to another state if I didn't root for the Giants, my sympathies would probably tilt towards the Rangers. They're more "Cub-Like". They're traditionally hapless. As a franchise they've never even been to a World Series. Ron Washington used to work for the A's. There's some poetic justice in Bengie Molina coming back to haunt his former team. And then of course there's Nolan Ryan.

On the other hand, the Rangers used to be owned by George W. Bush. Yes that George W. Bush. I'm not sure if the fact the team survived that and are no longer owned by him is a point in their favor or if the fact that he ever owned the team is a permanent black mark. (An interesting side-note to all you baseball purists out there, W was the only owner to vote against adding the Wild Card.)

The Giants on the other hand are more "Red Sox-like". They've been to the World Series 4 times since their last win (this being the 4th). (And Giants fans... quit saying that like 4 is a small number. Only 9 teams have gone more frequently since 1954. Four is quite a few.) Two of those they lost in rather dramatic fashion. 1962 came down to the final out of Game 7. In 2002, they blew a 5-0 lead in Game 6. That's got to hurt.

The Giants are also more colorful, but colorful didn't help the 1993 Phillies. Both teams moved cities in interesting fashions, and while I've always found the Senators to be fascinating in both their incarnations, the Giants deep history going back to the early days of the league certainly trumps the Rangers 49 years. Oh, and Mike Fontenot used to be Cub.

Ultimately I don't really care who wins, but I think it'll be a fun series to watch. And if I happen to be inside my office looking out at a World Series victory parade going by in the next couple weeks, so be it.