SHUHEI MATSUO
Assistant Sports Editor
Everyone wore red and every fountain in the city changed the color to red. And when the Cardinals won the World Series on Friday night, the whole city was red.
You might wonder why St. Louis’s baseball team winning the MLB Championships such a big deal for the Pepperdine community. Is it because the Cards were the biggest underdogs going into the postseason but beat the team that dominated the Los Angeles Dodgers to play against the Detroit Tigers, who beat the Yankees and the A’s?
Sorry, Dodgers fans, but that’s not exactly where I was going.
It was because some of the Graphic staff members were in St. Louis for the National College Media Convention last week. And lucky enough, we were there to witness the most special moment in this season’s MLB.
Before I describe how wild the city became Friday, let me tell you how lucky we were.
First, the Cards had the lowest regular-season winning average (.516) of all eight teams in the playoffs and were going into the postseason with seven losses in the last 10 games. So not too many people besides the ones in St. Louis thought they would win the World Series.
Second, all the past three World-Series winning teams — the Chicago White Sox, the Boston Red Sox and the Florida Marlins — won the World Series at their opponents’ turf, which makes this year’s victory by the Cards little more special because they won at home for the first time in three years.
Third, St. Louis became this year’s convention’s host months maybe a couple of years before last week. I mean, those people who decided to do this last week might have know it was a World-Series week, but the American League had to win the All-Star game in July to give Detroit the home-turf advantage in this series so the Cards could win the championship in St. Louis while we were there.
And most importantly, the hotel we stayed was only a couple of blocks away from the New Busch Stadium that opened this year. So we couldn’t have asked for any better place for such an exciting experience.
For those who read my columns and predictions, I think it’s obvious that I’m a huge Padres fan. And yes, those red birds brutally ate my team out in the first round of the playoffs. Before going to the convention, I was still against the Cards even though I was excited to be in the town that was hosting the World Series. But when they won Game 5 on Friday, I was as energized as every other local fan. When in Rome, you don’t have to try to be like the Romans: you become like them, naturally.
Oh wait, I take that back. Maybe I had the St. Louis spirit on the inside, but I didn’t quite look like a Cardinals fan: I was wearing a bright green jacket.
One of the things that I learned at the convention is that as much as 93 percent of communication is nonverbal. And how you dress is one of the nonverbal elements. But I’m saying I was a Cardinals fan last week in this column, am I not? Oh wait, writing is verbal. I guess only 7 percent of me belonged to the Cardinals.
10-30-2006