Sometimes the weirdness just blindsides you, like reality's purse-snatcher or that scene in "The Usual Suspects" where Keyser Soze stops limping.
You think you've got this new usual figured out. You think it seems perfectly normal to you now that the Indianapolis 500 is in August and the Kentucky Derby is in September and the NBA, NHL, MLB and college and pro football are all going on at the same time ...
And then it happens.
Then you see that the Tampa Bay Lightning, up three-games-to-one in the Stanley Cup Final, could be parading around the ice with Lord Stanley's hardware tonight.
You say it like that, of course, and it doesn't seem all that weird. But say it like this:
A hockey team from Florida is about to beat a hockey team from Texas for the Stanley Cup.
In Edmonton, Alberta, 2,000 miles away from either Tampa or Dallas.
In an empty building.
On September 26.
Now that is weird, boys and girls.
Also weird: The Reds, Padres and Marlins have all clinched spots in baseball's postseason.
The Reds haven't seen the postseason in eight years. The Padres haven't in 22, or before Fernando Tatis Jr. was born. And the Marlins lost 105 games just last season.
Of course, the Fish are in only because MLB is letting everybody and his brother into the playoffs now, which is weird in itself. Eight teams in both the AL and NL will make the playoffs. If the poobahs had been any more lenient, even my cruddy Pittsburgh Pirates might have made the playoffs.
Well, OK. So the Cruds were never going to be there.
But you take my point.
Point is, Sportsball World gets more bizarre every day. And you really can't predict when its bizarreness is going to hit you. About all you can do is follow the lead of Emperor Joseph in "Amadeus," whose standard way of ending a conversation (particularly a contentious one) was to say "Well. There it is."
So when Weber State winds up playing Army for the national title in the Our Boys Didn't Get Sick Bowl, you'll know what to say.
Well. There it is.
No comments:
Post a Comment