NP: Marlins vs. Giants (TV)

I'm trying to figure out why I'm suddenly so interested in the MLB playoffs. Obviously, the Cubbies being in piques a certain amount of interest, but I find myself watching the afternoon games today as well.

Of course, to state the obvious, I'm home, so why the heck not? Beats looking for a job, except for that whole paying-my-rent thing.

But to break it down, you've got the Cubs, who I've grown fond of over my 12 or so years on the North Side of Chicago. That one is obvious. Then there's the sympathy pains for the equally cursed/futile Red Sox, and that morbid curiosity about the Armageddon that would come with a Cubs-Sox World Series. The Yankees are the first baseball team I ever followed, back in the Reggie Jackson era, even though the Mets were my first baseball game (vs. Cincinnati back in 1975 with my older brother and my grandfather). And a friend of mine from high school plays for San Francisco, although he may not see much action with a mostly healthy outfield.

So that's four out of eight teams, one in each divisional series, that I can rationalize caring about. But really, I think it has to do with the games being on during the day in the middle of the week. The likes of Ken Burns and Bob Costas will wax poetic about the lyrically slow pace of the game (to a degree, anyway), but that pace goes a long way to kill time when you've got time to be killed.

Hmmm. Now I know why the typical usage is "when you've got time to kill." I don't know that admitting you've got time to be killed is really that good of an idea. Unless you've got time to be killed by an errant line drive or something, in which case it would be relevant. Play ball!