UPDATE 8:41pm PST: THE RAYS ARE GOING TO THE WORLD SERIES!!!! Who would have thunk it?! Congratulations!!!

I am more nervous about tonight's final ALCS game then I've been for any game all year - even all those make-or-break games the Yankees blew. If they hadn't been getting in the way of the Yankees post-season dreams I would have been secondarily rooting for those devilish Rays all year, so once the Yankees so gracefully extracted themselves from the playoff run I threw my support behind the underpaid youngsters. They breezed through the games with the White Sox and were handling the Sox for a few days there, but I think their inexperience came into the equation once they realized they were a heartbeat away from the World Series. Did they get too excited? Did the pressure start to way down on them? I don't know, but I hope Joe the Skipper sits them down for the best pep talk since Gipper Day tonight. My adoration of their Cinderella story and my perpetual burning desire to see the Red Sox retreat in humiliation have come together in my heart to create a longing for a Rays win comparable to the longing I felt during games 4-7 of the '04 ALCS.

So yeah... I've got some nerves rockin right now. Let's do a cheer I never anticipated doing: Gimme an R! (R!) Gimme an AYS! (AYS)!


On another note, Jeff Hardy lost to that that Russian guy who wears undies that look like they were purchased in 1973 and is EXACTLY what I imagine a militant 80's Soviet officer to look like on Friday. The hell?! They've been pushing Hardy on us for months, naturally leading me to anticipate an impending championship, and they pass on the opportunity to let him be the first person to beat Vladimir Stereotypicalrussiannameicantremember and boost his status even more? Now I'm nervous they don't have any plans to give him a title after all! If they make Big Show champion again before Hardy, I'll be sick. And I actually liked Big Show a lot before he became a bad guy, but he is such an unconvincing antagonist - his attempt at an "evil smile" actually make him look like a jovial fat man beaming at the birth of his first spawn - that I can't stand to watch him anymore. It's Hardy time.