The Great Tease of My Life
In 2004 the Boston Red Sox saw their fanbase explode as an entire generation hopped on the bandwagon all the way to the World Series title. Much of this was a result of the open Red Sox worship displayed by Hollywood celebrities such as Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stephen King, and the Farrelly brothers (who churned out the abominable Fever Pitch). What made the Sox even more charming was the agonizing way the team lost every year. Bill Buckner in '86, Aaron Boone in '03, and Bucky bleep-ing Dent all helped fuel the monster and make the yearning for a title so strong that it reached outside the normal fanbase. Thus, when the team made their run, Red Sox nation spread over America like wild fire, even reaching the West Coast.

Although the Red Sox were a great story, baseball fans in Los Angeles need not look all the way across the country to find a team with great misfortune. Our very own Dodgers have been teasing their fans for years.

The Dodgers' last World Series win came in 1988. In 1988 I was two years old, and more interested in Ninja Turtles and eating sand than baseball. This means I have gone my entire baseball life without seeing my team get anywhere close to a championship. The cruel thing is they've always been just good enough to give their fans hope, but just bad enough to take that hope and crush it come season's end.

Since the '88 season, the Dodgers have finished with a winning record 14 times, yet have failed to advance in the playoffs. In that time, they have exactly one playoff win: an improbable victory that will forever be known as "Lima Time". Other than that, they have been unforgivably bad in the postseason. We have had our share of torturous events such as the Jeff Kent/JD Drew base running traffic jam in '06, Barry Bonds' pirouette home run in '97, and perhaps most of all the Curse-of-the-Bambino-like potential of the Mike Piazza trade in '98. Dodger fans have been anything but pain free in recent years.

Yesterday, after winning four in a row and giving their fans a glimmer of hope by pulling to within a game and a half of the Wild Card, the Dodgers lost. They fell to 2.5 games back, and with only 13 games remaining, it looks as if another season of torment will end without a World Series.

Am I jealous of Red Sox fans? A little. I'll admit it. I want to see Alyssa Milano shamelessly bleed her Dodger Blue to the press. I want to see an awful movie like Fever Pitch 2: Dodger Blues made. Most of all, I want to see my team hold up a World Series trophy.

Luckily, the future looks bright. With emerging young stars like Russell Martin, James Loney, Matt Kemp, and Chad Billingsley, the Dodgers look set to make numerous runs at the title. And maybe, just maybe, one of these years they'll get there. Red Sox fans had to wait 86 years for their salvation. Hopefully, I won't have to wait quite that long for mine.

Week 1 Correction
It turns out if the score of a game exactly equals the spread, you push, you don't lose. I was not aware of this fact, meaning my actual Week 1 record was 8-6-2. This means I actually would have made money had I bet on games this past weekend. I mean, if gambling were legal that is.