Mike O'Connell

So it is set. The matchup of the century. Quite literally. In this corner, the team that hasn’t won a World Series in 68 years, and in the other corner, the team that hasn’t won it in 108.

Either way you’ve got a great story. Either the Cubs are going to break their century-long curse (making the Indians the new Cubs), or the Indians are going to go from the titleless city to one that will now own two, following LeBron and co.’s win last June.

And might I add a parallel to that other race going on these days? Hillary? Chicago born? Trump? Wins nomination in Cleveland?

Somebody has a sense of humor.

Alert outside world I am indisposed tonight.

Baseball, baseball, Charlie Brown Halloween special, and a Presidential debate.

Heaven can wait.

For more than three decades I’ve greatly preferred creamy peanut butter to crunchy, and in recent years I’ve rarely given the latter any consideration at all. Last night I realized I’ve been giving crunchy peanut butter the short shrift. Having long ago abandoned said product, I was pleasantly surprised by its flavor and consistency.

Bravo, crunchy peanut butter, bravo. You have earned a place in my culinary rotation.

Like most people in this country my opinions of our presidential candidates have not changed in the past 48-72 hours. I didn’t know that Donald Trump was a boisterous womanizer? This was news? And after watching the moral decay of this nation the past three decades, somehow last Friday we all became Victorian prudes.

At least it made for an entertaining TV show. I mean debate.

Lost in this political struggle over the weekend was real news from Washington: a sweep from its local football and baseball teams, who both prevailed yesterday with hard-fought victories. Oh that our Washington Spirit could have pulled out a win yesterday in the National Women’s Soccer League championship match. Alas, the Spirit fell in heartbreaking fashion, preventing the trifecta for which D.C. sports fans were ready.

Can’t win ’em all, I guess.

Unless you’re the Toronto Blue Jays.

Last night vice presidential candidates Tim Kaine and Mike Pence squared off in what will be their only nationally televised debate. They spent most of the evening talking about the tops of their tickets, so I’m still a little confused about who these guys actually are. (Apparently one of them represents me?) I suppose this is common, though, especially this uncommon year with lightning rod candidates at the top and inoffensive white guy running mates. Regardless, on a night with little else to be seen in primetime (thanks, Jays and O’s, for waiting), this “debate” was amusing if nothing else.

More illustrative of this campaign was Sunday’s front-page article in The Washington Post: “Finally. Someone who thinks like me.” You’ve got to hand it to the Post to go out and find a Trump supporter to interview, let alone profile with a few thousand words.

Who was this person? The craziest one they could find, showing that yup, all Trump supporters are morons who think that Obama is a Muslim and a closeted homosexual, and that Michelle is either a man in drag or a transvestite. (I swear to God these are all theories highlighted in the article.)

The interviewee, a Ms. Melanie Austin, lives in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, population 2,292. “My crappy little corrupt community” she affectionately calls it. Disaffected, disenfranchised, jobless, a smoker (this is mentioned more than once)… the phrase “bitter clinger” comes to mind. Or perhaps basket of deplorables.

This is how the Washington Establishment sees America. They can barely stomach the fact that these people are allowed to think, let alone vote. Such unenlightened rubes. Cornballs. Hillbillies. These are the yokels who will fall for Trump like they fall for slick-talking, fly-by-night televangelists. People who can’t afford a decent pair of shoes who still send 10 dollars a week to some phony charity pushed by a guy with nice hair. Now they’re falling for the guy with bad hair, too: a certain Mr. Trump, who may very well be the next President of the United States.

With, you know, that Pence guy as Vice President.