One more excruciating day of waiting

I feel like Martin Sheen at the beginning of Apocalypse Now, holed up in my living room, guzzling tequila and putting kung-fu moves on the furniture. Over three nights, I've gone through 15 mirrors, maiming myself and smearing blood across my face. The usual stuff, honing the juju before a big game. Awaiting the call from MGR Boone, awaiting The Mission... 

Did MLB think we needed five empty days to prepare for the world series? This isn't a week of Calgon Bath Oil Beads. I'm running out of TVs. I've eaten two remotes. I'll be lucky to survive this. 

In the meantime...

1. If you wanna laugh, check out Luke Weaver's surreal deadpan interviews with Meredith Marakovits this season. My fave: He compares winning to an ice cream truck. Funniest Yank since Jay Johnstone? Trump boasts of the Weave. We have the Weave. 

2. All season, no matter who we played, the Yankees could always boast the biggest, scariest muthafukkah on the field. Didn't matter if it was KC (Witt Jr.), or Cleveland (Ramirez), or Toronto (Vlad Jr.) or Boston (Devers or Tampa (um? a little help here?) Nobody compared to Aaron Judge. You could take two hitters and piggyback them. Still not even close. But in this series, we actually do face a matching slugger. Just sayin...' 

3. A story in The Athletic describes the Yankees as extremely close-knit, a big family, thanks to Boone, Judge, Rizzo, et al. Winning does that, and bullshit reigns during world series week. Still, there's something there. In in past years - (like, the last 15) - Yankee teams have splintered by now, toxically melting down into excuses for what went wrong. This team does seem different. It took an incredible gut-punch from Cleveland, the kind that would kill us in the past. They got up, rubbed dirt on the wounds, and won some tough, close games. Meanwhile, LA just walloped the Mets; their games were laughers. We have shown character. They have shown might. I like our chances.

4. Hate to belabor this, but if the Yankees don't take the brass ring, next year's team could be a sad fragment of what we now have. Several key players will leave in free agency. It's too early to fret over 2025, but soon, some faves - Gleyber, Doogie, Holmes, Tommy K, and of course, Soto -will come up for what is probably their final Yankee moments. Get the Kleenex. And don't forget The Master's final radio call. (And why do I think Suzyn will be gone, too?) The end of an era looms.  

Now, excuse me, I have another mirror to shatter.