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American Morning

Sports Talk

Aired October 17, 2003 - 06:53   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, unlikely hero Aaron Boone cast the Yankees' comeback by booming one out of the park. It was the decisive seventh game of the series with the Boston Red Sox and those Yankees are now World Series bound. Although hope nearly faded for those Yankee devotees. But as the team rallied, the drama intensified. Once Boone's homer left the park, fans in the Bronx didn't just cheer, they roared. I think you can still hear them. You can hear them here in Atlanta.
Here now to fill us in on the baseball diamond drama is Chris Cotter of Atlanta sports talk "790 The Zone."

CHRIS COTTER, "790 THE ZONE": And you can hear the groan from the folks in Boston.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's so sad.

COTTER: You know what? Not as loud as the groan in Chicago, though, because these two teams, even though they're both considered lovable losers, the Cubs and Red Sox really have a totally different history in terms of how they got here. The Cubs are lovable losers because they never even have a shot. From day one, they know they don't have a shot, they're finishing in last place.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, this is a team that gets perilously close, you know, they're right there and they think they might go and then it seems like it's more than not the Yankees are the team that knocks them off.

COSTELLO: Well, that's exactly what happened because they were leading most of the game. The rocket bomb, they took him out in the third inning, and the Red Sox still lost.

COTTER: And Pedro, they, you know what? Brady Little, the Red Sox manager, stayed with Pedro too long. He's their ace, so I can understand why he would with him. But he stayed with him at least one batter and probably two batters two long. Pedro's arm was just shot. He had nothing left. And when you get to the seventh game of a series, as a manager, you have to be aware of, you know, right when your pitcher needs to come out. He asked them and Pedro said, yes, I can stay. I can stay in, I still feel strong. But a manager needs to know when it's time to pull them.

COSTELLO: Yes, they interviewed Pedro after the game. He looked really down, I mean really down.

COTTER: As you would expect. COSTELLO: But he said he wasn't tired in the eighth. He said the adrenaline was flowing he knew he had to be in there and...

COTTER: A manager needs to know when to pull him and he should have pulled him.

COSTELLO: Well, hindsight's 20/20, though.

COTTER: Hindsight is.

COSTELLO: Yes. Let's talk about the fan, the Chicago fan, because I think that there's going to be talk about him for quite some time.

COTTER: This guy, I mean, it's, you know, they've been talking about the curse of the Billy goat since, well, what, the '30s, I guess, in Chicago. And now you're going to have this fan, and it's too bad. They need to leave this guy alone. I mean he's 26 years old. He still lives with his parents. He's got a lot of other issues to deal with. Now he has millions of people in Chicago all worried about him. Look, just leave this guy alone. It's a game.

COSTELLO: Well, you know...

COTTER: You wouldn't...

COSTELLO: The governor of Florida has offered him asylum.

COTTER: Don't go.

COSTELLO: And some hotel chain has offered him three months free.

COTTER: Don't go. How many people are going to be standing there waiting in O'Hare Airport? It'll be like the scene from the movie "Airplane" when one guy's got a tire iron, the other guy has boxing gloves and a bat. They're going to be waiting for this guy to come off that plane. Don't go. Just hide out for a little while, hang loose.

COSTELLO: Yes, you'll be OK.

COTTER: Wait till the Bulls start playing and then everyone in Chicago will be worried about something else. The Blackhawks are terrible. Just give it a few weeks. Lay low. And then everything will be all right. It'll blow over.

COSTELLO: Oh, but there's a movie in the works and we're going to talk about that in minute.

COTTER: Oh...

COSTELLO: Chris Cotter, many thanks.

And thank you for that expression of frustration.

COTTER: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired October 17, 2003 - 06:53   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, unlikely hero Aaron Boone cast the Yankees' comeback by booming one out of the park. It was the decisive seventh game of the series with the Boston Red Sox and those Yankees are now World Series bound. Although hope nearly faded for those Yankee devotees. But as the team rallied, the drama intensified. Once Boone's homer left the park, fans in the Bronx didn't just cheer, they roared. I think you can still hear them. You can hear them here in Atlanta.
Here now to fill us in on the baseball diamond drama is Chris Cotter of Atlanta sports talk "790 The Zone."

CHRIS COTTER, "790 THE ZONE": And you can hear the groan from the folks in Boston.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's so sad.

COTTER: You know what? Not as loud as the groan in Chicago, though, because these two teams, even though they're both considered lovable losers, the Cubs and Red Sox really have a totally different history in terms of how they got here. The Cubs are lovable losers because they never even have a shot. From day one, they know they don't have a shot, they're finishing in last place.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, this is a team that gets perilously close, you know, they're right there and they think they might go and then it seems like it's more than not the Yankees are the team that knocks them off.

COSTELLO: Well, that's exactly what happened because they were leading most of the game. The rocket bomb, they took him out in the third inning, and the Red Sox still lost.

COTTER: And Pedro, they, you know what? Brady Little, the Red Sox manager, stayed with Pedro too long. He's their ace, so I can understand why he would with him. But he stayed with him at least one batter and probably two batters two long. Pedro's arm was just shot. He had nothing left. And when you get to the seventh game of a series, as a manager, you have to be aware of, you know, right when your pitcher needs to come out. He asked them and Pedro said, yes, I can stay. I can stay in, I still feel strong. But a manager needs to know when it's time to pull them.

COSTELLO: Yes, they interviewed Pedro after the game. He looked really down, I mean really down.

COTTER: As you would expect. COSTELLO: But he said he wasn't tired in the eighth. He said the adrenaline was flowing he knew he had to be in there and...

COTTER: A manager needs to know when to pull him and he should have pulled him.

COSTELLO: Well, hindsight's 20/20, though.

COTTER: Hindsight is.

COSTELLO: Yes. Let's talk about the fan, the Chicago fan, because I think that there's going to be talk about him for quite some time.

COTTER: This guy, I mean, it's, you know, they've been talking about the curse of the Billy goat since, well, what, the '30s, I guess, in Chicago. And now you're going to have this fan, and it's too bad. They need to leave this guy alone. I mean he's 26 years old. He still lives with his parents. He's got a lot of other issues to deal with. Now he has millions of people in Chicago all worried about him. Look, just leave this guy alone. It's a game.

COSTELLO: Well, you know...

COTTER: You wouldn't...

COSTELLO: The governor of Florida has offered him asylum.

COTTER: Don't go.

COSTELLO: And some hotel chain has offered him three months free.

COTTER: Don't go. How many people are going to be standing there waiting in O'Hare Airport? It'll be like the scene from the movie "Airplane" when one guy's got a tire iron, the other guy has boxing gloves and a bat. They're going to be waiting for this guy to come off that plane. Don't go. Just hide out for a little while, hang loose.

COSTELLO: Yes, you'll be OK.

COTTER: Wait till the Bulls start playing and then everyone in Chicago will be worried about something else. The Blackhawks are terrible. Just give it a few weeks. Lay low. And then everything will be all right. It'll blow over.

COSTELLO: Oh, but there's a movie in the works and we're going to talk about that in minute.

COTTER: Oh...

COSTELLO: Chris Cotter, many thanks.

And thank you for that expression of frustration.

COTTER: You're welcome.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com