North by Northwestern

If you turn on the World Series this week, you’ll see David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Josh Beckett and some other familiar guys playing a team you’ve never heard of. The announcers will tell you they’re the hottest team in all of sports: they’ve won 21 of their last 22 games. But still, you won’t believe that they’re a real team. Seriously, who are these guys?

They’re the Colorado Rockies, and with the sixth-lowest payroll in baseball, they’re the sixth-last team you’d expect to see in the World Series. At least, that would have been true before baseball’s age of parity. 2007 was the year of equality in baseball, where no team finished below .400 or above .600. For those uncomfortable with sports records or percentages, that’s the equivalent of everyone in your Intro to Psych class getting between a 70 and 80 on the midterm.

That’s surprising when you compare it with this list of the MLB’s 2007 payrolls. When the highest-paid team (the New York Yankees…shocker) is spending almost eight times more than the lowest-paid team (the sad, sad Tampa Bay Devil Rays), it’s almost unthinkable that these teams could end up within 80 wins of each other, let alone 28. This postseason featured teams from across the payroll board. At the top, New York (1), Boston (2), and Los Angeles (4) made the cut. At the bottom, Colorado (25) and Arizona (26) faced each other in the last round. What’s more, Cleveland, with a $62 million payroll, defeated New York’s $190 million roster in the first round of the American League playoffs.

This signals a new era of baseball where a high payroll doesn’t guarantee victory. The Indians are the best example of lower-tier teams’ newfound success. They’ve locked up their core players for cheap contracts, guaranteeing their long-term success without a huge investment. It’s enough to give hope to any team. All it takes are a few good, young players and a roll of victories. In this age of baseball parity (it’s even permeated the NBA and NFL, though not to this extent), any team in any year could go on a run. For both seasoned and casual fans, it’s an exciting time when every season could be the season.

No interest in baseball? There’s promise elsewhere here on campus. Sure, the Northwestern Wildcats as the next big thing in college football is a tough sell in Evanston. But it’s not any more unheard of than Boston College ranking 2nd in the nation, dethroning South Florida University. This has been the “year of the upset” in the NCAA. It all started with the now-legendary Appalachian State victory over Michigan. That’s a division 1-AA team defeating one of history’s best programs. Since then, unranked teams have been taking down ranked opponents with alarming regularity. There are no great teams this year, but there are no awful ones, either. Even Duke won a game (sorry for bringing that up again).

Sure, there’s an argument against parity. With the goofy BCS rankings, one upset can mean that the best team in the nation won’t play for the national championship. But it’s not like that system wasn’t already screwed up anyways. What parity does is give every team hope. Northwestern has long been the punching bag of the Big 10; we’ve got the smart kids that get picked last in gym. Sure, good athletes get in sometimes (thanks again Tyrell), but our school has always had trouble bringing in the good recruits. Our athletic budget is smaller, our admission standards are higher and our program just isn’t prestigious.

But with equality in the NCAA, there’s plenty of hope for the Wildcat program. Basketball recruits are turning down the bigger schools, like Duke and UNC, for other, less prestigious schools. With the chance for any team to make the NCAA tournament (except, inexplicably, Northwestern. Ever), why be a bench player at UNC when you could start at a lesser school? Couple that with Northwestern’s expanded athletic budget and it’s not unthinkable that our football and basketball programs could compete in the future. Or at least one upset weekend.