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October 30, 2008
Posted: 07:51 AM ET
Sports Anchor Rafer Weigel
Victory for the Phillies. Maybe not so much for the TV networks. So that’s it? The World Series ending on a half game? As the song goes, “Is that all there is?” In case you didn’t hear, the Phillies won game 5—the first suspended game in World Series history—to take home the team’s first trophy since 1980. Congrats to Phillies fans. As a Cub fan I know what it’s like to root for a perennial loser. The last time the city of Philadelphia won a “major” championship was 1983. The town’s most inspirational modern sports figure is Rocky—who’s fictional! But it appears there’s little love for this series outside of the City of Brotherly Love. TV ratings were bad. The nightmare that MLB was concerned about, that a lack of a “glamour” team would lead to disinterest, more or less came true. But that’s not why the Fall Classic fell short. Umpires admitting to blowing calls adding to the debate about expanding instant replay in the game. Forecasters blew weather reports as a storm blew in to halt game 5. And, Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig blew it when he didn’t call that earlier when the storm was pelting player and fans, especially when he knew he was going to make the two teams play 9 innings regardless. But Selig did it because of TV. The game was on during prime time and perhaps Fox didn’t have a back up like a re-run of “Dumb and Dumber” handy. And because of TV, Selig didn’t start the game earlier Monday to avoid the possibility of a delay. The sad irony is nobody watched game 5 on TV outside of Philly and Tampa Bay. It drew the lowest TV rating for a game 5 in World Series history. It’s a shame since they were two good teams with two great stories—the Cinderella Rays and the fifth-largest city starving for a title. Tampa Bay will be back. They are a very young team and speaking of starving getting this far will only make them hungrier. That city will not have to wait as long as Philadelphia fans to celebrate a baseball trophy. And Philly fans should be satisfied for another 28 years. But will the rest of us be back next year? Posted by: Sports Anchor Rafer Weigel |
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