Tonight, the continuing saga of the greatest rivalry in the history of sports continues between the Yankees and the Red Sox. The Yankees with their history and mystique and the Red Sox with a World Series under their belt and the final breaking of the "Curse of the Bambino". It took an offering of a bloody sock to the baseball gods to finally cleanse Boston of the curse that bedeviled & tortured them for so long. If the Yankees are indeed the Evil Empire, and they lost last year, then doesn't this mean that this year the Empire Strikes Back ? No, the baseball universe doesn't revolve around New York and Boston, but it's pretty darn close.

Even without the curse or even "Who's Your Daddy?" Pedro Martinez playing for Boston, this series is what baseball fans dream about. You've got two MVP candidates, Alex Rodriguez and David "clutch" Ortiz. Derek Jeter, who seemed blessed to win the World Series every year hasn't won one in a few years - so he's hungry - as is the rest of the Yankee squad that haven't forgotten about last year's debacle. The Red Sox are no longer the underdog even though they are 1 game behind and need to win 2 out of 3 just to force a one-game playoff. The Boston Red Sox are still the reigning World Champions and until the Yankees or someone else knocks them out, they are still the world champs. It's the same as when the Yankees won three consecutive World Series until Arizona finally and improbably knocked them out from winning a fourth via a 9th inning bloop single against the greatest reliever of all time - Mariano Rivera.

In Spring it looked like the Red Sox had the American East sewn up as the Yankees faded. But just like many past seasons, the Yankees have come from behind - they've caught and finally surpass the Red Sox in the standings after Boston lead for most of the season. Many Red Sox fans are already grumbling, "Damn those Yankees, they've done it to us again!" Yankees in 1st place, Red Sox in 2nd - now all is well in baseball...