Green grass, night images. The crowd seems louder at night. Reggie Jackson and the “Straw that stirs the drink.”

The 1980s, Yankees-Royals and a bat full of tar; Pirates-Braves in the early 90s and Sid Bream and his goofy base-running.

How about theYankees-Dodgers World Series duels from the 80s or the Oakland A’s dominance back in the early 70s.

Then there was UCLA and the seven-in-a-row from way back when. Repeating isn’t so bad. It was fun just to figure out who was going to beat those guys.

There’s something about shooting for that big fish. Remember the days of Steelers-Raiders, Lakers-Celtics, Ali-Frazier? You get the picture.

No matter what the fans or the media says about parity, we all love someone we love to hate. That one team we all point towards and say, “They’ve gotta come down-you’re time is coming.”

There has to be someone or some team we love pointing the finger to relieve our daily guilt. We’ve made it that way.

Who really wants a bunch of 8-8 teams in the NFL anyway? Give me a 16-0 Raider team that everyone hates and I’m a happy guy.

How else does Notre Dame succeed in garnering their own private NBC contract when they’re struggling with mediocrity? The half that isn’t rooting for them want to see them lose!

College football has thrived on the Old Boys Network since forever; Michigan, Ohio State, Nebraska and Penn State. And I don’t think college football is in any jeopardy of falling apart or losing its rivalries.

Sadly, Major League baseball is sorely lacking, or even deteriorating in this department, nowadays.

Sure, the teams are still there: Cubs-Cardinals and Dodgers-Giants but with so many players changing teams like they change their underwear, it seems the fans are the only ones to share in it by only identifying with the city.

The days when teams had the same players and you knew every one of them are gone for good.

That’s a good-bad proposition, depending on who you talk with.

Good for the player because now the athlete can get what they’re worth but bad for the fans because it’s increasingly difficult to identify with the players on the teams.

The fans have the loyalty, the players don’t. Unless you mention money.

So give me Yankees or Red Sox to meet the Cardinals and hope they play as long as they can. Sorry Houston but you just don’t bring back memories of days gone by.

And lets hope they meet again next year.

The Yankees-Red Sox-Cardinals are strong enough to uphold the expectations of those days of old.

As Ernie Banks once said, “Lets play seven?”

Filed by J.D. Long