Bring Out The Broom!

I received an email notifying me that right after I wrote that the Yankees/Sox series didn't matter, the Bombers went on to sweep the series. Regardless, it still only matters to the Yankees. Still five games back, they will not catch Boston, making it only important to one team. Which brings me to this question: why is sweeping a series matter to so many people?

All over Sports Center and talk radio, you couldn't get any news about the series without hearing the word "sweep" around 12 times per minute. People use this phrase to make baseball games sound more relevant than they really are. Do you ever hear people get all up in arms when a team loses the back two games of a series, plus the first game of another? It's still the same 3 game skid, but it doesn't ever get the same amount of coverage. That's because there's no cute way to describe it. Experts like to use "sweep" and "bring out the broom" whenever they can. After the post-game of yesterday's Royals/Tigers series, one broadcaster said, "Well, the Royals weren't able complete the sweep", as if that mattered more to the players than the fact that they lost a game. It doesn't. Losing is losing, and winning is winning, and that's pretty much the only thing that matters. Nice little idioms don't give any extra significance. You know when getting swept matters? In October.