First base. Second base. Third base. Home

"Around the bases we will roam" is said by my favorite team, the Bad News Bears circa 1976, but I've got another lyric or two up my sleeve...

"I said 'Well Daddy, don't you know that things go in cycles?
Way that Bobby Brown is just amping like Michael.
It't all expected. Things are for the looking..."

I'm positive all my fellow partiers could finish the line, but they might "Shake, shake it" right past my point.

I'm getting sick and tired of hearing how one league is so much better than another. How the American League is worlds better than the National League, how the NFC is the junior varsity compared to thier AFC counterparts and how the best team in the Eastern Conference would barely reach the NBA playoffs out West.

I think my first paragraph details my opinion. Everything goes in cycles and the history of time doesn't start and stop with one single season. In fact, if you deal with the only thing that matters, meaning the last team standing, things are more even than they look.

I'll start with my least favorite topic - The NBA. Yes, the Western Conference is dominant and has all the super stars. LeBron, D. Wade, Agent Zero, Shaq and the...

Oh, yeah. All those superstars filling up TV commercials play in the East, and none in Michael Wilbon's 'Cradle of Basketball', i.e. Boston, New York or Philadelphia. No, the West has Kobe, KG (one conference final), T-Mac and Yao (need I say more?) and the most boring champs in the past 20 years, your San Antonio Spurzzzzz...

Sorry, almost fell asleep thinking about Bruce Bowen step on someone else's foot while Mr. Eva Longoria races to the paint, only to dish to the walking sleeping pill or The Big Fundamental and yes, I've left out the Suns because they Suns play when the sun is about to come up on the East, so few to less see the excitment that is Boris Diaw to Raja Bell...

But I've left one tangent for another. Over the past four years, despite the West having dominant records in the regular season, the two conferences have split the NBA Finals (Heat and Pistons). Yes, the West had a run with the Lakers and Spurs before that, but the East owned the 90s.

The Dream shake, Big Shot Bob and Clyde Dancin' Drexler won two, but the rest were by the East with the original Bad Boys before Martin Lawrence, Will Smith and Sean Combs taking two and you know who with the rest. The 70s and 80s were actually split even, 5-5, for each conference and by then, you're back far enough for the Celtic Dynasty. Guess where they play?

Speaking of Eastern dominance, how about the NFL? Yes, the AFC has won 8 of the last 10 Super Bowls, (Quick, who's won the two titles from the NFC?) But before that, it wasn't even close. From Joey Football's second ring with the 49ers in 1985 to Pain Killer Brett's only title win over Statue Drew and the Pats in 1997, the NFC always took home the title. It's during this period that one division takes home SEVEN.

Maybe I was just too young at the time or there wasn't a 24-hour sports network with a need to battle a 24-hour NFL Network, but I don't remember hearing ex-jocks say how pathetic the AFC was. In fact, I'm willing to bet that people picked the Broncos at least twice, thought Marino would win a ring or two and let's not even get started about the Bills...

Just like the NFC East was dominant and now is under the weather, the rumor is the NL sucks like a 12-year old from a non-discript Pacific Rim island. Last year, the interleague record was 154-98 in favor of the AL, who had the Tigers steal headlines all year, only to watch the Twins steal the division. It was a great year for AL Baseball, with another Eastern crown for the Yanks and in the end...THE CARDINALS WON THE WORLD SERIES.

In fact, the leagues have split the past six WS titles since the Diamondbacks squeezed the best from Curt Shilling and Big Unit. The 90s were dominanted by AL teams when it came to the series, but Seattle, Cleveland, Boston, Atlanta and Houston were all good teams for good amounts of time during that decade. There was never talk of imbalance, just the quiet blind-eye to the size of Brady Anderson's home run total and McGwire's neck veins...

So what does all of this mean? It means just like James 'Thunder' Early said,

"The game of hits goes around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around..."