Post by Boxing World Online on Jul 26, 2016 5:20:11 GMT -6
Our reporter sits in the Great Room at Front Street watching baseball and drinking cold beverages with the Man In The Hat and Poindexter Del Crunchy.
Reporter: "These playoff races are pretty tight this year. Some good teams are going to get left out."
Pointy: "Happens all the time, lad. Team ends up a game or two short and wonders about all the games it let slip away over the course of a season."
Man In The Hat: "And, begins thinkin' about next year. Only, there might not BE a next year. I can still remember that Giants team that won 103 games in '93 and lost the last day of the season to lose the division to the Braves by one game. No wild cards in those days, so the Giants were out. The next year, the strike came and wiped out the World Series, and that Giants group never got back. It was almost ten years later, with a different team, that they finally made the series and lost to the Angels. There wasn't a next year."
Pointy: "And, they aren't the only ones. Dan Marino never got back to a Super Bowl."
Man In The Hat: "No, and he should have. In '85, they were the best team, not the Bears. They played the Bears and crushed the Bears and they'd have done the same thing again. But, they turned the ball over a bunch of times against the Patriots in the playoffs, and that was that. The Orlando Magic. That team was supposed to be the team of the '90s in the NBA. But, Nick Anderson missed four straight free throws and they lost to the Rockets, and the next year, that great Bulls team beat them..."
Reporter: "And then Shaq went to L.A."
Man In The Hat: "And Hardaway got hurt and was never the same, and that great young team they had, which should have won three or four titles, never won a thing. Shaq got his, but in L.A."
Pointy: "Wizardo says that Magic team was one of the best ever NOT to win a title."
Man In The Hat (nodding): "No doubt about it. Most of the really good NBA teams managed to get at least one. Dr. J's Sixers came up short a bunch of times, but they got one. The Jerry West Lakers had their hearts broken a lot, but they got one. Thomas' Pistons always came up short against the Celtics, but, eventually, they got past them and won two titles. But, that Magic team. They had all the pieces. But, the run was too short. They didn't get enough chances, and they didn't cash the ones they got."
Reporter (smiling): "I see an FCBA connection in here..."
Man In The Hat: "Moral of the story. You don't know how many chances you're going to get. See, this, to paraphrase an old commercial, isn't your father's FCBA. Girls aren't fighting 25 times a year and titles aren't on the line 25 times a year. Title shots are rare birds. Say we get ten defenses at a weight every year. That's ten chances in divisions that have a hundred plus girls ranked. So, when you get a shot and you don't cash it, who knows when you'll get another? Who knows IF you'll get another? How long is your window? How many chances will you get? Maybe, if you lose tonight, you'll never get another shot. That happens. It happens in The Majors, in the NFL, in the NBA, and it happens here. That's the moral of the story. Now. Let's watch baseball."
Reporter: "These playoff races are pretty tight this year. Some good teams are going to get left out."
Pointy: "Happens all the time, lad. Team ends up a game or two short and wonders about all the games it let slip away over the course of a season."
Man In The Hat: "And, begins thinkin' about next year. Only, there might not BE a next year. I can still remember that Giants team that won 103 games in '93 and lost the last day of the season to lose the division to the Braves by one game. No wild cards in those days, so the Giants were out. The next year, the strike came and wiped out the World Series, and that Giants group never got back. It was almost ten years later, with a different team, that they finally made the series and lost to the Angels. There wasn't a next year."
Pointy: "And, they aren't the only ones. Dan Marino never got back to a Super Bowl."
Man In The Hat: "No, and he should have. In '85, they were the best team, not the Bears. They played the Bears and crushed the Bears and they'd have done the same thing again. But, they turned the ball over a bunch of times against the Patriots in the playoffs, and that was that. The Orlando Magic. That team was supposed to be the team of the '90s in the NBA. But, Nick Anderson missed four straight free throws and they lost to the Rockets, and the next year, that great Bulls team beat them..."
Reporter: "And then Shaq went to L.A."
Man In The Hat: "And Hardaway got hurt and was never the same, and that great young team they had, which should have won three or four titles, never won a thing. Shaq got his, but in L.A."
Pointy: "Wizardo says that Magic team was one of the best ever NOT to win a title."
Man In The Hat (nodding): "No doubt about it. Most of the really good NBA teams managed to get at least one. Dr. J's Sixers came up short a bunch of times, but they got one. The Jerry West Lakers had their hearts broken a lot, but they got one. Thomas' Pistons always came up short against the Celtics, but, eventually, they got past them and won two titles. But, that Magic team. They had all the pieces. But, the run was too short. They didn't get enough chances, and they didn't cash the ones they got."
Reporter (smiling): "I see an FCBA connection in here..."
Man In The Hat: "Moral of the story. You don't know how many chances you're going to get. See, this, to paraphrase an old commercial, isn't your father's FCBA. Girls aren't fighting 25 times a year and titles aren't on the line 25 times a year. Title shots are rare birds. Say we get ten defenses at a weight every year. That's ten chances in divisions that have a hundred plus girls ranked. So, when you get a shot and you don't cash it, who knows when you'll get another? Who knows IF you'll get another? How long is your window? How many chances will you get? Maybe, if you lose tonight, you'll never get another shot. That happens. It happens in The Majors, in the NFL, in the NBA, and it happens here. That's the moral of the story. Now. Let's watch baseball."