two big sports finals

Well it's a Texas Rangers vs. St. Louis Cardinals World Series and I for one couldn't be more indifferent.

.................well that's not totally true. The Rangers have been a solid and exciting team all year and while I was happy to write them off in this years AL Championship run (I figured the Yankees had it) they are a team worthy of the spot. The Cardinals..... well what to say here? A team that by all rights should never have been in the playoffs knocks off Philadelphia (the best team this year and who I thought looked unstoppable) and Milwaukee, who were also a great team in a tough, six team division.

I'm not sure why, but it makes me think of back in the pre-wildcard days, when the NL and AL winners just played a 7 game series for the National title. It would have been a Yankees/Phillies series. On one hand, the excitement of the wildcard races makes regular season baseball just so much more exciting. That being said, I feel that a bit of October luck have produced some Championship series that just didn't live up to the season. In fact, I've found a few Octobers to just be anti-climactic after the Aug/Sept runs. Not that Texas don't deserve to be in the finals, they are a great team. St. Louis was handed a spot in the playoffs by Atlanta and boy have they run with it. However, there's a not too small part of me that wanted that Phillies/Yankees series a lot more than this one.

That being said, it should be good. I guess Texas are the favourites but as this season has shown, that means very little, especially when considering that St. Louis have home field advantage. I don't know who to pick, but since I feel I have to I'm going to go with Texas. It's cause it's what I want as much as what I think will actually happen. They were here last year and lost to San Francisco. I'd hate to see them make it all this way and not do it again, especially to a team that really shouldn't even be there.

So. Texas in 6.



Totally unrelated is the New Zealand All Blacks and France are in the rugby World Cup Final. Australia and Wales will play a bronze medal game too but I understand that means very little. I'm not exactly the biggest rugby fan and have managed just one game this whole WC. However, compared to the FIFA World Cup I have watched this with some interest. I'd love to see New Zealand do it at home and they are the heavy favourites. Should be a good final.