Maybe now, after a seventh consecutive year without a championship, despite having the highest payroll for so long, Yankee fans will stop being so arrogant.

Maybe now, after seeing the Red Sox go as farther than their team again, they'll think twice before assuming the Red Sox will choke.

Maybe now, after seeing Steinbrenner threaten to let their manager go (twelve straight post-season appearances is not enough?), they'll start to realize there is more to baseball than winning. We could make a deal, they could stop acting like they're the "winners" and we're the "chokers," and acting like every loss is just a win upside-down, and we could come out and say, yes, that was a good effort from a team that had been so far behind--a good effort is all one can expect, you can't win every year....

The chance of any of that happening is about as fat as Joba, who I'm hoping people will have to Google to find out who I'm talking about when they read this five years from now. So I'll just happily laugh in the faces of Yankee fans. "Would you care to retract that statement, sir?" "No! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Yankees lose again!"

The funny thing is when you think, Hey, all the assholes who spammed my blog with comments about how the Yanks are DEFINITELY better than the SOX and WILL win it all will just shut their mouths now, humbled. Ha! They'll still come up with some excuse why I'm the asshole and why the Yanks will always be grand champs and the Red Sox will never be winners even when they're holding the trophy. That's why I say "screw 'em."

Thank you, Indians! Nice job.

How great was the Jeter double play? And then the out he made in the ninth. As my girlfriend said, How come they didn't show his parents after those at bats?? And A-Rod--oh, A-Rod, how I love to watch you in the post-season. There seems to be a faction that tries to act like A-Rod actually IS good in the clutch. Did you watch this series? Or the one before it? Or before that? This guy screwed the pooch again in October. He nor Jeter could save the Yanks. You know why? Because they aren't pitchers. This team was doomed from day one. You can bash your way to the playoffs, but not through them.

Johnny Damon. How I love to see you lose. "Tell Theo thanks for Johnny," Yankee fans (INEXPLICABLY, AS JOHNNY WON WITH US BUT NOT WITH THEM--sorry, I like to really stress points that Yankee fans erase from their memories) said at the time. From Theo: "You're welcome, ASS HOLES." Coco Crisp will be playing in the ALCS this season.

Wang: the "ace"! Really showed up this series.

Rocket, how could I forget you! I don't know if there's anything left to say to that guy. Except "eat it, traitor."

Let's look at the predictions from this blog for this series:

Nine people said Indians in five.
Four said Indians in four.
One said Indians in three.
One said Yankees in five.

Me, Peter, Michael, and Quinn nailed this one. But I was the only one to guess Sox in 3, so I guess I'll give myself an autographed Gedman card tonight before bed. I'd like to thank the fans, who made it all possible.

Some notes on TBS' broadcast tonight: The main announcer--I kept thinking it was DeWayne Staats, but it was Chip Caray. (See this article ripping him.) He seemed to be rooting for the Yankees. I actually started thinking maybe I should see if I can pull in Jon Sterling for more neutral announcing! I guess if you're a Yankee fan, you'd be "shocked" by the Indians beating you--that's what Caray kept saying. He blurted out, at one point, "this is absolutely amazing," referring to the Indians adding to their lead. Really? The team tied for the best record beating the wild card team by a few runs is "absolutely amazing"? They "shocked" Yankee fans? If they'd been shocked, they would've stayed for the whole game, instead of leaving early because they knew their team would lose. No faith, these Yankee fans. But I don't blame 'em, with the group of chokers they have to root for year after year. And then Brenley goes and says, "these Indians aren't afraid of the Red Sox." There we go again: Yankees--an awesome, unstoppable powerhouse, even as they watch another team celebrate (on their home field) in the first round of the playoffs for the third consecutive year. Red Sox--just some team not to be afraid of, even though we just swept through the Angels.

When Damon made the catch in the eighth, Caray screamed blue murder, like, like, well, like Michael Kay. It was a nice catch. But not that nice.

He also opted to break out the old "a little vitamin D from the Melk Man" on a routine fly to Cabrera.

And Tony Gwynn, who looks an awful lot like Buddha, made a few blunders, including referring to the bottom hand as the top hand.

So, pretty terrible job by TBS, but I'm just so happy right now, it doesn't matter at all.

Finally, I know some people thought it might be better to play the Yanks than the Indians in the ALCS. First of all, I couldn't have rooted for that. But I assure you, if the Yanks had won, I'd have been happy to have the chance to take them out ourselves. But still, even if that was important enough to me to actually root for the Yanks in their ALDS, I feel like that would've been a bad move anyway. Had the Yanks won, they would've been a team who'd won three straight. In other words, the Yanks you don't want to see. Sure, we'd have loved to have gone up against the Yanks who lost games one and two, but to want to play a hot Yankee squad would've been, uh, irresponsible, or something. So I'll happily take my chances with the Indians. They are good, but what are we, chopped Joba?

"Not the Yankees" vs. the Red Sox, ALCS game one, Friday. (AP photo above by Bill Kostroun)

Okay, forget I said "finally" up there. I've got a better final note. I think the most telling thing about the *new* New York Yankees came on Abreu's homer in the ninth. The Yanks were down 6-3, and Abreu's one-out homer got them as close as they'd end up getting. What song did the PA system at Yankee Stadium play? Theme from The Natural. Of course, in the movie, Roy Hobbes' home run won the pennant for his team. Bobby Abreu's was too little, too late. But they still played the song. "Almost--but not quite." "Coulda, shoulda, woulda." "If, if, if." Baseball fans, I give you the New York Yankees.