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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

Everybody wang chung tonight

Strangely, the AL and NL division series amount to I Love The 80s: the Tigers, who last won a World Series in 1984, face off against the A’s, who won the Earthquake Series of 1989 after collapsing in 1988; and the Mets, who managed to get by the Red Sox despite losing the first two at home in 1986 (I don’t know if you’ve ever seen any clips of game six of that series), take on the Cardinals, who won the Watery Beer Series of 1982 and lost in seven in 1985 and 1987.

I propose that each team be paired with an immortal classic from the list of Top 100 Songs for its championship year.  To wit:

From the soul-crushingly abysmal year of 1982, the Cardinals can choose to be represented by Deniece Williams’s entirely appropriate “It’s Gonna Take a Miracle” (# 87), America’s “You Can Do Magic” (# 29), or, if they’re really into the inspirational-instrumental thing, Vangelis’s “Chariots of Fire” (# 21).

From the mind-numbingly dismal year of 1984, the Tigers can go with Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time” (# 90), Survivor’s “I Can’t Hold Back” (# 68), or Phil Collins’s searing, hauntingly evocative “Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)” (# 8, ye gods).

From the world-historically abominable year of 1986 (redeemed for me in other ways, however, by the Birth of the First Child), the Mets can pick from among Rod Stewart’s “Love Touch” (# 73), Wang Chung’s “Everybody Have Fun Tonight” (# 22, and often cited on this blog as a Perfect Paradox Song, insofar as it is physically impossible to have fun while the song is playing, just as—as Janet points out—it is physically impossible to dance to Orleans’ “Dance with Me”), or Lionel Richie’s bitter, disillusioned “Dancing on the Ceiling” (# 36).

And finally, from the rather-interestingly transitional year of 1989, the A’s can treat themselves to Jody Watley’s “Real Love” (# 58), Prince’s “Batdance” (# 47), or Young MC’s “Bust a Move” (# 10).  Yes, I know, Phil Collins is still in there—at # 1, no less.  And no less than five Bobby Brown songs from Bobby’s pre-psychosis period!  The inimitable Milli Vanilli!  Mike and the Mechanics’ even-worse-than-Lionel-Richie “The Living Years”!  Clearly this was a year when all kinds of geopolitical binaries were beginning to crumble.

On the basis of these lineups, I have good news for Oaktown Girl: it’s the A’s over the Mets, in a replay of the 1973 Series.  And just you wait ‘til I mine the top 100 from that year!

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Completely unrelated public service announcement: members of the American Historical Association are invited to sign a resolution opposing the use of speech codes to restrict academic freedom.  Apparently the drafters need a few more signers in order to put the resolution on the AHA’s agenda for the January business meeting, so if you’re a current member of the AHA and are of a mind, stop by and help out.  I got no dog in this one myself, not being a member of the AHA, but if you’re interested in the debate behind the resolution, you can check out this and that and the other thing.

Posted by Michael on 10/10 at 11:41 AM
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