Saturday, October 22, 2005

Sitting on the Fence

I'm not sure who to cheer for in the World Series. On one hand, there are the Houston Astros, of which, and for reasons unknown, my brother Keizo has been a long-suffering diehard fan. In fraternal support I could root for them; and something about Biggio and Bagwell winning it all has appeal to me in a sporting era of free agency and hired guns.

On the other hand, there are the Chicago White Sox who have been plagued by the spectre of the 1919 Black Sox who threw the World Series (spawning two wonderful baseball movies - I once based a class project in high school on "Eight Men Out"). More than the thought of expunging that stain from history, and releasing one Chicago team from a baseball curse, is the appeal of second baseman Tadahito Iguchi. If baseball's America's favourite pastime, why are the Japanese so good at it?

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