2 Sweeps, 2 Games Up

That's 6 in a row for the Bombers, as AJ dominated for 7 innings to earn his 9th victory of the year in a 6-4 win. Baltimore, like Detroit before them, exit the Bronx by way of the broom. Down in Tejas, the Lone-Star boys completed their own sweep, and now Boston sits 2 back in the East. Oakland tries their luck with the Yanks over the weekend, and I'll be at the Stadium tonight to watch the Fat Man mow 'em down.


Yesterday, my friend Brian and I had a chat. This 'chat' mostly consisted of me pointing out Boston's shortcomings, and refreshing him on the current state of the standings. Brian is a die-hard Red Sox fan, one of the unfortunate ones who grew up in the state of New York, and he became so enraged by my gloating that he offered a $50 bet on the Division. That is, if the Yanks take it, I win the bet, if the Sox take it, he wins. I jumped at the chance, of course, so now it's official, and officially subject to the SCSD jinx.

Even if I win, though, I'll still owe Brian a lot of money because of a very stupid bet I made freshman year of college. Swathed in the arrogance of 26 World Championships, bolstered by decades of Red Sox futility, I made the bold statement that Boston would not win a World Series in my lifetime. Brian asked me if I'd like to put $500 on that, and I agreed. Then we realized the nature of the bet required me to be dead before I could receive payment. I suggested that he give the money to my family, or will it to me in the case of his death, but instead we settled on a 50-year period. The final terms looked like this:

I stood to gain: $500, not before 2051, if the Red Sox win zero World Series in that time period. Will not collect payment before age 71, if still living. Otherwise, money paid to family.

Brian stood to gain: $500, any year, if the Red Sox win just one World Series before 2051. In case of premature death, money will be remitted to family upon Red Sox victory.

Obviously not the smartest bet I've ever made (although there's something badass about a bet that involves death), even before the 2004 disaster. So I have an outsanding $480 debt to Brian (I won $20 betting on the NBA playoffs this year), and sometimes I wonder if my life has turned into a fable, and the money is like some kind of curse hanging over me, preventing me from reaching my full potential until it's paid off. Not that life is ruinous, mind you, but maybe the minute the reckoning is squared, I'll be vaulted into the high reaches of humanity. Stands to reason, yeah?

I'm pretty sure Brian thinks I'll never pay, but I fully intend to do so at some ceremonial moment when our paths cross. Anyway, the point is that even if the Yanks win the division, I'll still owe him $430. So there's not a ton of risk for him. Or me either, really. The difference between $430 and $520 doesn't seem overly consequential to me.

But them's the stakes. And I like my chances, a lot, provided the Red Sox don't pull a tremendous and unlikely coup by landing Doc Halladay. In that case, things get a wee bit dicey. It probably would have been wise to wait a week before accepting the bet, but they don't call me rash because my skin's blotchy. I got nice skin.

Not much more to say today, so I'll sign off. Tomorrow's post will be a report from the Stadium. Pray for sunshine, Yankee Nation. The only one who can stop us now is mother nature.