Now that the excitement of the Red Sox embarassing the Yankees has started to wear off, it's time to look forward at tomorrow night's World Series. Seemingly everyone I know is a Cardinals fan, which will make the next week more difficult, but they'll learn to deal with loss sooner or later.

It's hard to go from playing the Yankees to facing the Cardinals, as the Yankees are so eminently hatable. In contrast, the Cardinals are just so damn...nice. There are no BALCO investigations or bigots, none of the Cardinals have dated Mariah Carey, no one on the Cardinals suffered a bizarre illness with the exact same symptoms as steroid withdrawal, the Cardinals' owner didn't take away his employees' dental plan, and Redbird fans are not smug, obnoxious jerks who mispronounce the name "Mario".

The Cardinals do share with the Yankees a common bond of having a pitcher punch a wall in disgust after a poor performance, but they don't have a closer who bears a striking resemblance to a fruit bat, an outfielder who recorded a smooth jazz album and looks a little like Mr. Peanut, or an overpriced infielder with blue lips.

Where have you gone, Paul O'Neill, you who often made better contact with the Gatorade cooler in the dugout than with the ball? What happened, Roger Clemens? I'll miss having the opportunity to see you melt down when the fans taunt you for throwing bats. This series has no villains, no one to jeer and taunt (unless you're a Phillies fan with some batteries and Scott Rolen nearby), although it does have a midget.

And if the Cardinals lose, the fans won't bitch and moan or call for their manager's head, and if they win the fans won't riot or flip over cars. Even the Red Sox messageboards, full of passionate fanatics who call Yankee Stadium "The Toilet" and refer to New York City as a 3rd-world country, is strangely respectful of the opposing team, praising Pujols' remarkable career and the Cardinals' team speed and defense (although Sox fans everywhere are licking their chops at the prospect of facing Jeff Suppan in game 7 at Fenway, where he's about 0-Infinity in his career).

Game On.