NATIONALIZE THE PHILLIES!
While the president, Congress and both presidential candidates argue over how to address our increasingly bleak economic future, here's an idea for both Joe Sixpack and Joe the Plumber: For the next two weeks or so, invest your time and interest - and even your free-floating anxiety - in the Fightin' Phils.
Tune in to the World Series next week and root for the National League team. They know a thing or two about comebacks. And hope.
Until the last two weeks of the regular season, the Phillies' stock was seriously underperforming: In mid-September, when they limped into a four-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers, they were 3 1/2 games behind the Eastern Division-leading New York Mets and four games behind the Brewers for the wild-card position.
And the Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 11,433 points.
Then, just as the stock market began its primal seize, the Phillies began a lightning surge, sweeping the Brewers and going 13-3 for the rest of the regular season . . . and leaving usually cynical Phillies fans simply thunder-struck.
As the economy melted down, our panic and anxiety were tempered by the thrill of watching the Phillies fortunes go up and up. While the Dow lost 2,856 points in a grim tumble, the Phillies were spiking, winning 20 out of 25 games to clinch the pennant Wednesday night. The dissonance was so profound, we decided to graph them against each other.
We wouldn't want to minimize the economic crisis we face as a country - actually the world. But it will still be there after Rollins and Victorino and Utley and Howard take their swings.
So, even though Philadelphians have every right to go completely over-the-top in excitement for our team, we're happy to share our ownership with the rest of the nation - that is, except for fans in Boston or Tampa Bay.
And unlike the housing market, this is one bubble that doesn't have to burst. Unlike the Dow, what goes up doesn't have to go down. *
