What would you rather see?

[hubkittel]

i've been thinking about something in a not too serious way for a couple of years and i'm interested in hearing some opinions on it.

the question is this: what would you rather see? a world series championship for your favorite team or a season sweep of your arch rivals?

i'm a life long cardinals fan and i'm old enough to have experienced and enjoyed a world series championship. it was fantastic, wonderful, unbelievable, and all of that. but being a baseball fan is a year in, year out, lifetime thing and you can't win a championship every year (i'm sorry to have to break that to all the yank fans). but we have a season series with the cubs every year and those games (to me) are every bit as big as any game played in october. i'm almost to the point where i'd just like to see the cards beat the crap out of the cubs every game and i'd be satisfied. sometimes i feel, during the dark night of the soul, that i'd rather the cards sweep the season series against the cubs than experience a world series in any given year.

i'm really interested in hearing from fans on both sides of yanks/soxs, dodgers/giants, cards/cubs, etc. would you rather have the trophy or the bragging rights? and both is not an option (because in a perfect world, of course we would get both).

[KCGHOST]

Flags fly forever, so I'll take the championship.

[Gee Walker]

Now, going 0-7 against the Yankees during the regular season, followed by beating them on the way to a World Series championship... I can't wait to hear the announcers saying "but the Yanks OWNED the Tigers this year"...

[W_Marone]

Championship, and its not even close to being close.

[hubkittel]

Now, going 0-7 against the Yankees during the regular season, followed by beating them on the way to a World Series championship... I can't wait to hear the announcers saying "but the Yanks OWNED the Tigers this year"...

that's an interesting twist on the whole thing. i'd take an o'fer against the cubs during the season if the cards would beat them in the nlcs. but a cards/cubs nlcs is my worst nightmare. first, there would be bloodshed here in illinois. second, the cards would probably lose, therefore being personally responsible for putting the cubs in the world series for the first time in 60 years or whatever. i couldn't deal with it. nervous breakdowns for everybody. :crazy i don't know how yank/sox fans deal with it.

[hudsonharden]

I'd take a World Championship. Then you have bragging right over everyone, including your rivals.

[hubkittel]

Championship, and its not even close to being close.

i agree (i voted for the world series title too) but i'm just wondering when or if our love/passion for our favorite team morphs into a dark hatred of our rival. what's the stronger emotion, love for my team or hatred of the bitter rival? you can kind of see it in this forum sometimes.

[sandlot]

This is an interesting question. When I was living in the Bay Area, I often had the feeling (I think I've posted this in the Giants thread) that the Giants suffered because it seemed many of their fans would be fine with a season out of first place so long as the Giants beat the Dodgers, and especially if beating the Dodgers kept LA out of first. Whereas Yankee fans, in general, want their team in the post-season and beating the Bosox is icing on the cake.

[albertpujols]

Um. Obviously. When you sweep your rival, you feel good about it.

But when you sweep the entire league, you would feel very damn good about it.

[baseball=my life]

I'm a giants fan. So I would love BOTH!!!!!!!!!!! :D :) :D :) :D :)

[soberdennis]

A five game Series sweep in Fenway was fun to see.
just winning the season series against Boston is always enjoyable.
But nothing tops seeing the Bronx Bombers win everything. Even after 26 of them, it never gets old.

[hubkittel]

Um. Obviously. When you sweep your rival, you feel good about it.

But when you sweep the entire league, you would feel very damn good about it.

okay, but let's say for example (noting where you're posting from) that man u wins the premiership, the fa cup, everything but loses every time they play man city. how happy would you be? you wouldn't be able to walk around town in your wayne rooney jersey without taking crap from random man city fans. constantly, all day long. wouldn't you, at some point, be willing to trade the championships for a good 8-0 butt kicking of man city just so you could go to work and talk crap to their obnoxious fans/your co-workers?

[Sweet Lou]

To me, personally, it's a smallness of mind that hates something more than it loves something else: in otherwords, to choose beating a rival over winning it all just seems childish. I mean, how long can you gloat over a regular season sweep? Not that long. But a World Series Championship? A whole lot longer. I know Cubs fans here in Chicago who, if given the choice of a series loss against the White Sox with a World Series Championship, as opposed to winning the series against the Sox and not going to the post-season, would choose the latter. What the heck? :confused: :ughh Is baseball made up of 2 teams, or 30 teams?

Some White Sox fans are the same way. I remember last year a White Sox fan friend returned from vacation and instead of bragging about how great his Sox were doing (and last year was his year to brag) the VERY FIRST WORDS OUT OF HIS MOUTH WERE: "Can you believe how those Cubs have lost 8 straight?"!!!! What the heck is this all about?

That friend of mine is the main reason why I'm not a White Sox fan. I don't want to be associated with that kind of thinking.

And hubkittel, you are the first Cardinal fan I've ever heard express these kinds of sentiments. But I think you say you are struggling with the idea more than you actually believe it. I don't know you, but I think if it came down to it, you'd rather see the Cards take it all, even if you had to deal with a regular series sweep by the Cubs. I mean, come on, look where the Cubs are now. And look where the Cards are. You have bragging rights, even if you don't go all the way. I'd much rather be a Cards fan. :)

[anjo25]

Since I'm A Cubs Fan, I think its obvious...

[hubkittel]

And hubkittel, you are the first Cardinal fan I've ever heard express these kinds of sentiments. But I think you say you are struggling with the idea more than you actually believe it. I don't know you, but I think if it came down to it, you'd rather see the Cards take it all, even if you had to deal with a regular series sweep by the Cubs. I mean, come on, look where the Cubs are now. And look where the Cards are. You have bragging rights, even if you don't go all the way.

lou, this whole thing started out as kind of a lark (that's why i posted it in between innings)-i justed wanted to see how great the animosity really ran between the bitter rivals in mlb. i thought it would be kind of funny to see if a red sox fan (having got their championship) would be willing to sacrifice another world series victory on the altar of their hatred of the yanks.

the idea came from a cub fan i work with. normally, we can be fairly civil around each other when talking baseball but the blood runs hot when the cards/cubs series roll around. now, i can talk crap to cub fans with the best of them. my favorite is the list of things that have been invented since the cubs last won the series (things like electricity). but his answers to these things the last couple of years has been simple: who won the season series? there's no answer to that. i can rattle off nine world championships, sixteen pennants, etc. but who won the season series?

i would argue that regardless of what happens in october, you can not have bragging rights unless you win the season series (unless you run into your rival in the post season and then it's blood pressure meds for everybody). college football is like that-talk to people on both sides of alabama/auburn, miami/fsu, ok/texas.

but in sports, to quote herm edwards, you play to win the game. and winning means the championship. that's why we all laced 'em up over the years-to get the big trophy. that's why the guys are out there playing today (that and the big fat check).


I'd much rather be a Cards fan. :)
:clapping :clapping :clapping we are legion-but always room for one more.

[Erik Bedard]

I would settle for the ALCS if it meant beating the Yanks 27 times and having them finish last, but if they don't finish last, then a championship it must be.

[Sweet Lou]

:clapping :clapping :clapping we are legion-but always room for one more.
Well, I'm stuck here in Chitown, can't be a Sox fan, can't be a Cubs fan (unless my daughter becomes a Cubs fan, then I'll have to join her, as well as join some support groups) I'm a Mariners fan first, but would love to be a fan of a second team and wholeheartedly root for them. Loved the new Busch Stadium, went there earlier this year, loved all the plaques on the sidewalk outside, all the history. Go Cards! :)

[Wade8813]

For me, any hatred for other teams stems mostly from the fact that they impede my team winning more. I don't like the Angels, A's, and Rangers because they're division rivals, and thus are the most direct competition. I hate the Yankees because they've impeded the Mariners playoffs a lot in the past, and besides, it's the American thing to do to hate the Yankees.

[Seattle1]

What could possibly be better than winning the World Series? Glad to see the poll is 35-1 so far, but I wonder about the "1."

[Red Sox Rule]

I'd take the World Series

[Captain Cold Nose]

While I'd take the World Series, with the unbalanced schedule if you beat the same team 18 or 19 times in a year, not only do you have a great shot at the playoffs, the chances of a team recovering from such a drubbing is pretty low. There's a lot of satisfaction in seeing your rival that deep out of it.