Congratualtions are due; so, Congratulations. The Red Sox are the better team this year.

dc

“Dehumanization”? Really? Let me tell you something, Sam, as a scholar of race and politics in the US and Africa, I’ve seen and know what dehumanization is. Let’s pretend to be bright enough to be able to differentiate gibes from “dehumanization.” Let’s pretend that you are informed enough to know that calling something “The Toilet Bowl in the Bronx” is not akin to actual dehumanization. Let’s pretend, ok? Genocide in Rwanda, the Langa Massacre, the beatings of the Freedom Riders, those are examples of dehumanization. If you undersatnd sports so little that you really are not familiar with the back and forth, especially between yankees and Red Sox fans, and if you cannot grasp the emotionalism that ties into all of this, you probably ought to be leaving your whiny comments elsewhere. If you think my pieces are “sophomoric” don’t read them. I hate to drop this little intelligence on you, but I am not writing for your validation. To quote Sox GM Lou Gorman from many years ago when he was asked about Roger Clemens’ late arrival for spring training, whether you show up or not, the sun will rise, the sun will set, and I’ll have lunch.

As for “as sophisticated as it gets in the Fens,” I’ll take that one personally. If you want to do the intellectual sophistication mano a mano throwdown, I’ll take that little Pepsi Challenge. But then I guess you must have been playing your Mahler albums and lamenting Derrida’s passage last night when the police had to step out in riot gear to ring the stadium from those sophisticates in the Bronx who were throwing baseballs at the players and umps on the field.

As for my acknowledgement of the Yankees and what they have accomplished, I think I’ve granted their status and their place often enough on my Diary entries without breaking down and bowing before the shrine. At the same time to say that beating the Yankees is more important to us than winning it all, I’ll tell you what — you probably ought to speak for yourself first, Yankee fans second, and try to speak for me not at all. That we’ll be going through the Yankees will make it all the sweeter, yes. That you really think that what I have said about the Yankees is “dehumanizing” makes me think that at least my perspective is being skewed by sports fan emotionalism, but that perhaps you need a passport and a newspaper subscription. May I recommend a trip to Harare?

I thank you for your constructive criticisms.

So, what if the Yankees lose? All of us reasonable Yankees fans must face that possibility. If we do, you will claim historical redemption and, truth be told, you would have a measure of it. But not a whole measure. 2004 is one year; one year in which the Red Sox might beat the Yankees (which seems to be the Holy Grail, more important than the World Series…). And if they win, hurrah for them (you see, we can find humanity in our adversaries). But when we step back and look at the grand sweep of History (your field, no?) we can find some comfort. By any objective standard, the Yankees are the greatest baseball team of all time. They have won more World Series than any other team, and lost more than most teams have even played in. We win; we lose; but the accumulated excellence of one hundred years keeps us afloat in the most difficlt of times.

So, I say good luck to you. Can you say the same to me?

Small correction: Jeter returned to first after Rodriguez was called out for interfence. I *think* that the rule here is that all runners return to where they started after any interference call.