Fairy Tales

 

Fairy tales do come true, it can happen to you...

It happened to the Milwaukee Brewers, a team that's been around since 1970 and never before won a World Series.  But they did this October.  

The Brewers had roots as the expansion franchise the Seattle Pilots.  They weren't the first team there to be called the Brewers, but Milwaukee's previous glory was as the home of the Braves, when Hank Aaron played the outfield and in its first years in the 1950s, the team dominated with the lethal pitching combo of Lew Burdette and Warren Spahn.  When the Pittsburgh Pirates won the pennant in 1960 on the way to their first World Series win in decades, they first had to beat out the pesky Milwaukee Braves.  That team had started as the Boston Braves, and in 1965 moved to the bigger city and TV market of Atlanta.  

So this year the Brewers were the unglamorous small market team with no home run kings but a fireballing rookie pitcher, that quietly won a lot of games and then toppled the mighty Dodgers (with their individual star players whose salaries are higher than the entire Brewers payroll) in four games to reach the Series.  And then they beat Tampa Bay in five.

Hooray for the small market team, and may it bode well for another small market team next year--the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Definitely not a small market team but a phenomenon just the same, the Golden State Valkyries won the WNBA championship in just its second year of existence.  They beat the defending champions Las Vegas to get there.  They beat the Atlanta Dream in seven games, and home court advantage was crucial.  The Vals in their short history have never not sold out a home game in the NBA arena the Chase Center, which for their games is known as Ballhalla.  I believe I heard that more than 100,000 people showed up for game 7, so those without the big bucks to get in could watch it together on the screens outside.

Like the Brewers, this is a team without major lauded stars that plays a team game.  Their players are skilled so any one of them can dominate a given game or portion of a game.  Their best offensive player was usually Gabby Williams, and she had an historic seventh game, scoring more points in a half than any player ever had in the playoffs.  She scored 28 points in the second half, a total of 30--especially considering that the score of the game was 68-63.  Her logo 3 will be a perennial highlight.

The relationship of the team members--skilled players that typically were underused or misused and undervalued by other teams they'd played for--to the fans and to the larger community was a big factor in the team's success.  Gabby Williams said it was key to her own 7th game performance, especially after seeing all the lavender banners and signs of support on her drive to Ballhalla.  She said after the game that her major motivation was in response to the community that embraced her all season.

Elsewhere...

Once again, the story of sports is the story of injuries.  At least two NFL teams (the Ravens, the Eagles) have seen their very promising season evaporate when they lost their starting quarterbacks.  The situation is even worse in the NBA, with the highly touted OKC a particular victim.  The Golden State Warriors, trying to deal with not having two of its key players until after the first of the year because of last season's injuries, were dealt a late blow with recurring and mysterious physical problem that made  another starter unavailable.

So they started the season with two ugly losses--one a beatdown by the Lakers, the other an embarrassing comeback by the Grizzlies late in the fourth quarter.  Media pundits declared their demise.  

Since then they have won five games straight, including a back to back, when they kept out veteran players each game.  Their young players are blossoming, particularly the rookie Yaxel Lendenborg, who scored 37 against the Clippers.  In this stretch, the Warriors came back to get revenge on the Lakers with their own big comeback.  They came back again against Phoenix to turn a 17 point deficit in the second half to a victory.  Steph Curry was dazzling throughout, scoring 44 against the Timberwolves, 31 against the Lakers and 34 against the Suns, providing more highlight reel material with (for example) an ankle breaker against Doncic of the Lakers and an amazing series of moves to the basket against the Suns.  What they gonna say now?