Giving credit to some great fans where some real credit is due

The Phoenix Snakes and the Denver Rocky Mountain Highs (YCS needs to get on board with this revised team name too)... You have to admit that neither of these teams have much history (well, the Snakes did win a World Series on a lucky jam-off-the-handle single), but I really have to give credit to these fans.

The Colorado and Arizona fans were wild towel-waving freaks in their respective series. I was kinda shocked about the level of energy in Arizona and Colorado; the level of energy was insane. And because these series were broadcasted on TBS, you know that the crowd noise wasn't some ploy by Fox Sports to make the game seem more intense than anyone could ever imagine.

I do have to say that in a way, the enthusiasm seems a little contrived. The MLB sticks a new team into a high-population area and hopes that fans buy into the buzz. On the other hand, you have to give credit to fans who really went all out for teams that started as bunches of schmucks plopped into a profitable metropolitan area and grew into successful franchises.

Also, you have to admit it's "easier" for Cubs fans, Bo Sox fans, and Spankees fans to buy into the long traditions and/or supposed curses of their clubs, get really riled up for the playoffs, and cheer their asses off for a tradition that really have little part of. But it takes a real fan and a really proud inhabitant of the Southwest to cheer for teams that have no more than a decade and a half of a comparatively un-storied history.

Thus, I congratulate the Snakes and the Highs on their well earned berths into the NCLS. The fans earned it, and so did the teams. Please though, put down the towels -- that goes for fans of all professional and non-professional teams. We're all getting really sick of inhaling towel threads.

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