I don't know, you guys. Batgirl's lost her fire. She keeps calling the Bitch Sox the "White Sox" as if that's their name or something. And while she's not rooting for either team, for once she finds herself in the strange position of not actively rooting against the Sox with every fiber of her being.

Something's deeply wrong here. Maybe it's the bird flu talking. Maybe it's that we have no bigger contigent of other-team fans here than Sox fans. Maybe it's that once one team's in the postseason and yours isn't, there's not much point in continuing the rivalry that year. Maybe it's once you get to the World Series, you deserve to lose the "Bitch" from your name for seven days in October. (Note: this doesn't hold for the Yankees, because getting to the Series is merely what they're expected to do. No one honors the Borg for assmilating people so well. It's only when they get individual consciousnesses and get knocked out of the first round of the assimilation playoffs that you start paying attention.) Maybe it's that this group of guys is quite a bit different than the Bitch Sox of old; other than Buerhle (Hate!), none of them have done any actual bitching. Jermaine Dye doesn't bitch, nor does that little guy that steals all the bases, nor the fat funny-looking reliever. They just shut up and play baseball. Or don't shut up and play baseball, in AJ's case.

The point is, whatever's wrong with Batgirl: once 2006 starts, she'll go back to hating them with a white hot passion just on principle. (Except you AJ. And Jermaine Dye. And the funny-looking guy.) I promise. For now, though, let's just shut up and play.

(Except for Buerhle. Bitch.)