CITY OF ANGELS: Congratulations to the 2002 World Champion Anaheim Angels (that's gonna take some getting used to; I'm still not quite comfortable with "2001 World Champion Arizona Diamondbacks"). But they're a group of deserving players, they did us all a favor by eliminating the insidious Yankees, and I get the satisfaction of knowing my Twins lost to the eventual World Champions. And just as I said last year, if there's a kid out there (or more likely, hundreds or thousands of kids) who have been following the Angels their whole life and prayed for a championship for all these years, and they get to feel the way I did when the Twins went all the way in '87, then that's a wonderful thing that they finally got their wish. Then again, the Giants had a lot of kids like that too (all the way down to Darren Baker); guess they'll have to wait 'til next year like the rest of us.
Wanna know another reason why the Angels' fans deserve the championship? During the trophy ceremony, minutes after the greatest moment (by far) in the history of the franchise, they still found it in their hearts to boo Bud Selig. A moment like that just warms the heart, and reminds us again of the true magic of our national pastime.