Hype, you have misled us again you bastard.

When I was 12 years old I started learning a lot about the world. Thanks to the 1997 Green Bay Packers' loss to the huge underdog Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl, one of the lessons I learned early on was just because everyone says a team is going to win IT DOESN'T MEAN THEY'RE GOING TO WIN.

Apparantly, the rest of sports nation missed this lesson. They missed it when the Patriots beat the Rams. They missed it when the hall-of-fame roster put together by the Lakers couldn't pull it off against the Pistons. They missed it when those same Pistons lost last year to the Heat. They missed it every time Peyton's Colts fell in the playoffs. They missed it when our own Wade-led Marquette team beat the "unbeatable" Kentucky Wildcats.

They missed it when the Tigers knocked off the Yankees, and I'll bet my firstborn son (that's a softball Bechtel) that they're missing it as we speak, even though the Worst World Series Team Ever is up 2-1 over the Team of Destiny.

And they'll say nobody saw it coming. But I bet Pujols saw it coming. I bet Tony LaRussa saw it coming. I bet half the city of St. Louis saw it coming. Hell, I even had a sneaking suspicion.

This is why the games are played. Eventually, we should realize that ANY team that makes it to a championship game or series is a damn good team, and worthy opponents for any other team that happens to be there.


Oh, and for the record, after Game One I said the Cards would win in 7. I'm sticking with that.