I'm now convinced that Mike Celizic might be the worst non-former-athlete baseball writer I've ever read. Seemingly forgetting the haughty, dismissive hack-job he did on the pennant chase a mere 15 days ago, he has just published an article entitled "Thank Goodness For Wild Card Races." This opposed to his August 23rd piece "Baseball's Stretch Run Is Going To Be Boring."
Today:
It’s season No. 11 for Major League Baseball’s wild card, and anyone who still thinks the addition of one more team to the playoffs isn’t the best thing to happen to the game since beer vendors needs to find another sport to watch.
Two weeks ago:
This year is proof that the system has introduced the game to a new sort of competition, one in which there are no clear-cut favorites. That should make it more exciting, not less so.
Today:
What makes the Yankees compelling is not the $200 million payroll with which they started the season, but the sight of so many players picked off various scrap heaps.
Two weeks ago:
They’re not a good team anymore, and still they dominate the way we view 30 teams and six months of competition. These are good races we’re watching. But without the damn Yankees leading the way, it’s hard to see them that way. If the Yankees aren’t great, nobody’s great.
Today:
The fact that the Yankees are chasing Boston and not the other way around just makes it better.
Two weeks ago:
Even the wild-card race is tainted by the Yankees. They’re not supposed to be fighting to just slip into the playoffs. And they’re definitely not supposed to be worried about being passed by Oakland and Cleveland.
It’s guilt by association. If the Yankees aren’t great, then nobody else can be, either.
What is wrong with this guy? The only explanation I can possibly come up with is that he just assumes nobody reads his columns and won't notice a complete about face in the span of 15 days. Either that or he's a complete retard.
He also includes this nugget:
When Bud Selig slipped the wild card past the owners 10 years ago, a lot of people said it was an abomination and proof that the game was going to perdition in a hand basket.
From USA Today 10/4/2004:
Major League Baseball's decision in 1993 to realign its leagues into three divisions and include the team with the next-best record in the playoffs was considered heresy by the purists, particularly because it copied a concept from football, of all things.
The only baseball owner to vote against the change, which took effect in 1994 before the postseason was canceled by labor strife, was from Texas.
Boy, he sure slipped it by those thickheaded owners!
I give up.
