Sports. It is life!`

Gabi is a hater. She wishes she could understand what roughly half the general population of the world roughly understands - Sport is Life. No, sport does not give life. Neither is sport a substitute for life. Sport acts as a metaphor for life, and sometimes as a catalyst or outlying picture for life.

Friday evening I went to see my co-workers at a smoky bar with about a dozen TVs, all turned to the third of the Sox-on-Sox tourney. One of the my associate/friends is a big Boston fan. We've been able to laugh at it, but I know it's eating him up inside. So, of course, I take every opportunity I can to get at him. Why? Because the White Sox represent the new-old way of playing team ball - as a team.

Look around, folks. Despite the whole fantasy league disease going around (yeah, and I'm losing at the thing), US teams are looking less for that superstar and more for that ever-elusive team chemistry. The Cleveland Indians will probably dominate in the next few years, not because they have - or could get - superstars, but because they worked hard to scamper and get a young squad that's hungry and work well together. The White Sox are doing well this year because of sacrifice. They got rid of their biggest hitter (Magglio Ordonez) and have scrounged around for every available hit, bunt, steal, movement of the plates. They have combined that with some wizardry from the mound to make a Carnival Cruise-load of one-run wins this season, the best record in baseball this season, one of the smallest budgets in baseball, and their first post-season series win in almost ninety years.

And it never hurts to have a Dye on the squad, I'll tell you what!

Take the Bulls. Usually, I would follow that with a lame Vaudeville joke, but they've become a team to reckon with and with no sign of a superstar in sight. The closest we have is a young man who actually fuctions as a closer. What has worked is team chemistry. In this case, as well as with recent past champions Detroit Pistons, New England Patriots, and San Antonio Spurs, it is a group of men willing to forsake their numbers, figures, highlight reels and published names in order to grab that championship ring. They want to win. Tracy McGrady can keep his face on ESPN the Magazine, TO can talk about TO all day long, Atlanta can keep their non-passing QB all year long, but they are not going anywhere. This new breed of sport has rediscovered what the old teams knew all along, teams win together and lose apart. They are in constant need of each other. No superstar ego is worth the health of the team.

It's community all over again.