In 2003 the Black Sox were the Stampeders. It was against the Stampeders in the final game of the 2003 regular season, that the Ducks were involved in the only bench-clearing brawl in team history. None of the current Black Sox had anything to do with the lunacy that transpired that day. The Ducks went on to win the Championship from the fifth seed in the six team league.
The Black Sox ended the Ducks chance to repeat in a controversial second round playoff victory, which the Black Sox won two games to one. South Oakland won the first game 7-0, then the next game was rained out and rescheduled and the Ducks had to forfeit game two.
Their was something odd surrounding the game two forfeit, which I don't remember exactly. We didn't have enough players show up to the game which but it was rained out anyway, it wasn't quite right.
That stuff happens, the Black Sox had enough players, and the Ducks didn't.
So it goes.
Game three was rained out and rescheduled, and we had to play with seven guys, and the Black Sox won. It would have been nice to have the game rescheduled for a time when we could have had enough guys to field a team.
It is because of this playoff series I went out of my way to have an enormous roster, so we would never have to forfeit. But I always felt obligated to play everyone, and there were a few seasons where our depth dropped dramatically after the first 9-12 players, on a 24-man roster, which lead to some painful come-from-ahead, losses.
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I have only seen him through grainy documentary footage and still photos. I know his story through cinema, and literature. "Eight Men Out", the story of the eight White Sox players who conspired to throw the 1919 World Series is my favorite, non-comedic baseball movie, it is based on the book with the same name.
The part of Eight Men Out that gets me, is the final scene where John Cusack's character is watching what amounts to an NABA game, in which Joe Jackson is playing under a pseudonym,because he loves baseball.
Joe Jackson is why I hate Pete Rose and his constant blabbing about reinstatement.
Rumor has it, Kenny and the Black Sox were contacted by a group of gamblers before the 2005 Pittsburgh NABA championship game, and were paid a hefty sum to throw the series against the underdog Warriors. Matt Slavonic took the money, but hit over .375 in the series and didn't commit an error in the field.
We lost 15-1 to these guys on opening day. We need a win desperately.
