Sunday, October 10, 2010
Division Series Championship Celebrations
The New York Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins in the American League Division Series (ALDS) last night to move onto the American League Championship Series (ALCS) where they will meet either the Texas Rangers or the Tampa Bay Rays. Rather than an understated celebration, the Yankees had a full blown celebration with all the trimmings (spraying champagne, protective covering over lockers, etc.) that would make you think they had won their league championship or the World Series. At this point, teams winning a division series have not won a championship, all they have won is the right to play for the pennant and the right to go to the World Series, which hardly deserves the celebration these teams have. In comparison, in hockey, football, and basketball, you won't see a team celebrating because they win a first or second round series/game. Teams in these other sports act more humbly and realize that they have more work to do. Baseball teams should do the same. Besides, they don't hand out t-shirts and hats for winning a division series.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
As an ardent Yankees fan, and a very-seldom Yankees apologist...
ReplyDeleteI could not agree with you more.
To be fair, I did not mean to single out the Yankees in this case; there have been and there will be many occasions when I will espouse my hatred of the Yankees, but this is not one of them. I don't get why ANY team that wins a division series goes overboard with the celebration.
ReplyDeleteThis is true, but it is ironic that we pointed out the Yankees because my girlfriend noticed the same thing. She was out with friends when the game was on and asked me, "Do the Yankees have so much money that they pour champagne after every win?"
ReplyDeleteShe has no concept of "playoffs", or "winning a series", or for that matter "baseball" in its entirety.
Heck, they have already planned their ticker parade.... Why would a bit of champagne irk you?
ReplyDeleteNBA and NHL aren't fair comparisons, as half of the teams make the playoffs every year. The mere feat of qualifying for October, let alone winning a series, is an extremely difficult task.
ReplyDeleteAnd I sincerely doubt that teams in other sports act any more or less humbly, or that the Yankee hitters somehow ignored the prospects of facing Cliff Lee while the Patriots calmly reflect on Peyton Manning's audible calls while sitting in lotus position.
I suspect that the only real difference among these sports is that LDS celebrations are joined by a live camera crew, while others move to the nearest Hooters.
/Contrarian Shin
I have nothing against the full blown celebration when a team makes the playoffs because it is a difficult task. However, I'm talking about winning a first round series that only gets you the chance to play for a league championship. I have no problem with celebrating a series win after the LCS, but to do so after the LDS is a bit much, in my opinion. Perhaps even worse is the banner that they hang up in the locker room after winning the LDS: National (or American) League Division Series Champion. What, they give out a trophy for winning a Division Series now? They can certainly show joy and relief at having survived and advanced to the next round, but the over the top celebration is just too much.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, I don't remember seeing teams in other sports celebrate an early round win the way that baseball teams do in the Division Series.
Regardless of the sport(MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL), you can/should celebrate:
ReplyDelete- When you make the playoffs
- When you win your division in the regular season (baseball, especially)
- When you win your conference/league championship in the playoffs
- When you win your sport's championship
- Any combination of the above
KPB, I think that these are rules we can all agree to live by.
ReplyDelete