Word: pennants
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
When the Red Sox won the American League pennant in 1986, the Boston Globe published a special section of famous New England authors waxing poetic on the spiritual ramifications of Dave Henderson's home runs...
...more. In a misguided business decision that may be remembered as the sporting world's answer to the 1985 roll-out of the new Coke, the major-league owners voted last week, 27-1, to cheapen, if not destroy, all future September pennant races. Beginning next year, both the American and the National leagues will be divided into three -- rather than the existing two -- divisions. To create an additional, ersatz round of league play-offs as an offering unto the Gods of Television (ABC and NBC, who will split the postseason telecasts), the owners agreed to let losers stumble into...
...citadel of nostalgic memory. From the Pan Am Building in New York City to the final episode of Cheers, the familiar moorings that give meaning to everyday life become unhinged. So it is with the greatest protracted emotional spectacle in sports: the nail-biting tension of September baseball pennant races...
...Labor Day weekend no- hitter at Yankee Stadium; devoted fans, dispensing with such frivolities as sleep to catch late-night-TV games from the West Coast; mornings reserved for poring over box scores and analyzing the pitching lines for the crucial upcoming games. The daily drama of the pennant race flows inexorably from its underlying zero-sum logic: a ball club either beats all comers in its seven- team division or sadly packs its equipment bags at the end of the regular season...
This, then, is the world of unintended consequences. Hailed by the owners as a double-the-winners, double-the-fun gimmick, realignment would give this September's pennant-race plot line all the drama of a ratings war between Arsenio Hall and Chevy Chase. Nix the three-way scramble among the Blue Jays, Yankees and Orioles: the second-place team, based on current records, would be the American League wild card. Forget the monthlong showdown between the Giants and the surging Braves -- San Francisco and Atlanta would be running away with their respective divisions. The details of National League realignment...