April 5, 2010

Mike Burke was president of New York's American League entry in 1969. When its National League counterpart clinched its first division title, he sent this telegram to M. Donald Grant: Congratulations on being number one. Am rooting for you to hang in there and take all the marbles. As a New Yorker I am ecstatic, as a baseball person I am extremely pleased, and as a Yankee I consider suicide the easy option. I feel no joy for anyone right now and I feel no sympathy for anyone right now. I am tempted to quote perhaps my favorite fictional character of all time, Toby Ziegler of The West Wing, at this moment: There's literally no one in the world that I don't hate right now. Except TWW creator Aaron Sorkin, a Yankees fan, made Toby a Yankees fan, too, and honestly, I've used up my hate for the 2009 baseball season. I feel no joy for anyone and I feel no sympathy for anyone, but I'm not filled with all that much bile for any of the participants of the Worl...