If my blog’s new theme doesn’t prove that I should no longer be allowed to make bets with my friends, I don’t know what does.
Shortly after meeting INPY earlier this year and becoming BFFs over SoCo and limes and our Dodgers-Yankees rivalry, we made a bet on the baseball season. Since INPY documented it on his blog, I’ll let his words speak for themselves:
[Arjewtino] and I have a little wager that I will now make public. He is a Dodgers fan, but I don’t hold that against him. (Not TOO much) It could be SLIGHLTY worse and he could belong to the tribe that is known as Red Sox Nation. (Gag) But, as a true baseball fan he knows of the storied history our two teams share…the anger, the WS run ins…all of it. And since the Dodgers are FINALLY picked to actually do well, we have put this little wager together;
It’s a head to head, Yankees v. Dodgers straight up who will have the better year. If, say the Yankees make the playoffs and the Dodgers don’t…game over. If they both make the playoffs it’s who wins more games/advances further. And if, by the grace of God we meet in the WS (as many are predicting) then it’s a straight up winner take all…
And what is on the line?
Loser has to (1) dress up in the jersey and the hat of the other’s team and allow photo documentation and (2) the Blog gets a makeover in the other teams colors and logos for a full week.
The season started out great for Big Blue as we (yes, we) won 10 of our first 14 games. We started May over .600 and in first place in the NL West as the Yankees played under .500 through June. By the time the All-Star break rolled around, the Dodgers were up 5 games on the Bronx Bombers.
INPY was nervous about the bet and admitted as much to me. Hell, he barely cared about it when he saw the Red Sox build a season-high 14-game lead in the AL East. To his credit, he kept fending off immature attacks from RSN yokels and promised his Satanic team would stage a comeback.
Sure enough, the Yanks’ season, and my chances at winning the 6-month-long wager, started to change.
By the end of July, the Dodgers were up on the Yankees by only a half-game. By the end of August, the Dodgers were down four games and playing like Alyssa Milano was manning third base. Seriously, Tommy Lasorda could have hit better with men in scoring position.
On September 16, the Yankees held a 4 ½-game lead over the Blue Crew.
My team responded to this deficit in typical Dodgers’ fashion: by losing 10 of their next 11 games. The Evil Empire, however, finished the regular season by winning 9 of their final 13 games and securing the AL Wild Card.
Final Line:
Yankees 94-68 (.580)
Dodgers 82-80 (.506); 12 games back
I am an when it comes to betting. I may win at blackjack in Atlantic City or at Roshambo against HAL, but when it comes to wagering my dignity against my friends, I have the willpower of The Princess around champagne and cupcakes.
Still, I felt it was a fair wager and there is some satisfaction in having seen the Yanks get spanked by the Cleveland Indians in the first round. We agreed that photo documentation was unnecessary since neither of us remembered actually saying those words when we made the bet but that the blog makeover was instrumental.
So here it is. Enjoy Arjewtino’s new look this week, INPY. Soak it in, relish the images of Jeter and the NY logo on my banner.
‘cause there’s always next year.
Thanks to Kathryn, a Yankees fan herself, for designing my banner.