Wednesday October 19, 2005

It’ll be the White Sox and the Astros in the World Series. It ought to be an epic showdown, given the ridiculous quality of starting pitching on these two squads.

I’m thinking Chicago in seven games. It’s just their year. They simply coasted for a couple of months, then managed to turn the jets back on just in time to deny the surging Indians, racking up 99 wins. Once again, a longstanding winless streak will be lifted, regardless who wins this thing.  For the record, here’s the infamy list — the longest World Series championship droughts:

Chicago Cubs, 1908 (if this ends, the world will)
Chicago White Sox, 1917
Boston Red Sox, 1918 (broken, 2004)
Cleveland Indians, 1948
NY / SF Giants, 1954 (at Cleveland’s expense)
Houston Astros, 1962 (first year of the franchise)

One has to think that Cleveland have the horses to make another run at it in 2006 … hopefully …

Wednesday October 19, 2005

So I’m leafing through the textbook of the introductory economics class that I’m a grader for. Just then, here comes this quote in an introduction to a chapter on economic policy:

“Year after year in Washington, debates seem to come down to an old, tired argument: on one side, those who want more government regardless of the cost; on the other, those who want less government, regardless of the need. We should leave those arguments to the last century and chart a different course.”

– President Bush, addressing Congress, 2/27/01

And what a course it has been …

So with half of this decade in the bag, what do we say about it? Really big picture here, folks: Write the history of 2000-05 in a paragraph or two. Go.