As was proven last season, the mainstream sports media (ESPN, SportingNews, SI, LA and NY sports media) HATE it when teams from non-major media markets make it to championship games in the professional sports leagues. The hate and vitriol spewed in the direction of the Cardinals last season was shocking. Led primarily by Jayson Stark of ESPN, the baseball media couldn't trip over themselves fast enough to declare that the Cardinals didn't deserve to be in the World Series. This same media who praised Selig's dictatorial reshaping of baseball into a three-division system began to demand that new rules be created to limit the possibility of a team doing what the Cardinals did (reach the WS with only 83 wins). Even after the (mostly white)Cards embarrassed the supposedly all-powerful (mostly minority) Detroit Tigers, the baseball writers still couldn't let it go. If anything, their anger was intensified. They declared St. Louis a fraud and the World Series illegitimate. They also refused to ever mention St. Louis as World Series champs without also throwing in the disclaimer that they were the least-winning World Series champs in history. Here are a few snippets from the ESPN article that was written about the series clinching victory:
"No Fall Classic, for sure.
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Flatter than the Midwestern heartland and a flop in the TV
ratings, this World Series crowned a champion that barely made it
to the postseason."
"</span>Manager Tony La Russa's team had just 83 regular-season wins,
the fewest by a World Series champion."
"St. Louis won this World Series not through great play and certainly
not through tremendous talent, but by making fewer mistakes than their
opponents."
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In the year that has followed, the media has reveled in the Cards' misfortune. With the Chicago Cubs playing well and remaining near the top of the division, the baseball writers have been quite fond of covering the NL Central. This wasn't the case over the past 7 seasons, which were dominated by two teams, the nearly all white Cardinals and the nearly all white Astros. But this season, Houston and St. Louis have both suffered injuries and personnel losses that have crippled both teams. The Cubs and Brewers have been the dominant teams in the NL Central this season, so all was right in the worlds of the baseball media. Until, that is, Rick Ankiel returned. Ankiel's explosive performances sparked the Cardinals to a winning streak and a return to the top of the division. Then, right when the Cardinals were on the doorstep and could have moved into a tie for first place (for the first time all season), this 'scandal' breaks. What an incredibly fortunate bit of timing for the Cubs. Ankiel hasn't been able to hit anything the past week, the Cards have lost five straight games and have all but fallen out of contention.
This is a very simple situation. Firstly, there's no story here. Ankiel did nothing wrong. Secondly, it's very old news. All of this happened years ago. Thirdly, the media was sitting on this information because nobody would have cared what some random minor leaguer did two years ago. But when that same minor leaguer got a late season call-up and sparked his team to a run that threatened to return the Cardinals to the post-season yet again (the ultimate nightmare for big city media), suddenly this becomes a 'scandalous breaking news story'. Well, congratulations New York Daily News, your timing was perfect. You destroyed the Cards' momentum and it looks like the Cubs will represent the Central in the playoffs this year. As a side benefit, you have also diverted further attention away from the true villains of the sport (Barry Bonds, Sheffield, etc.) and onto a helpless young man who has no 'interest group' to shield him from the attacks. You got exactly what you want and all it took was ruining the dream of one lonely hero.
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