Series could be a dandy, hopefully like 1967

Wow, what a National League Championship Series! And for that matter, what an ALCS as well.

If the World Series that began Saturday night turns out to be half as exciting as those two, then baseball fans are in for a real treat.

Other than the fact the NLCS probably added quite a few gray hairs and some extra trips to the cardiologist for St. Louis loyalists, Cardinal Nation shouldn't have very much to complain about.

The Cardinals proved to be the National League's best team over a 162-game schedule and followed that up in the playoffs -- which is not easy to do given the recent success of wild card squads.

The NLCS featured quite a roller-coaster ride. The Cardinals won the first two games of the series, then the Astros won three straight, and finally St. Louis closed things out by capturing the final two in thrilling fashion.

One constant was the home team winning every game. Another constant was sensational St. Louis defense -- the Cardinals have committed just one error in the postseason -- including center fielder Jim Edmonds' unbelievable catch early in Thursday's Game 7 that just might have saved the season.

And over in the American League, the Red Sox only turned in the biggest comeback in major league history by erasing a 3-0 deficit, including two spine-tingling, extra-inning wins when the Yankees were within a few outs of clinching.

Which brings us to St. Louis vs. Boston for all the marbles. It's a rematch of the 1967 World Series that also happens to be one of my fondest early baseball memories, as I was then 9 years old but already totally into all sports.

And I'll never forget one of my first sports heroes, Bob Gibson -- I'm sure thousands and thousands of kids growing up in St. Louis at the time also idolized him -- taking the mound and finishing off Boston in Game 7 for his third complete-game victory of a fantastic series.

Based on what has happened in the playoffs so far, this tilt could prove to be just as exciting.

And let's hope it again goes the Cardinals' way.

Although I didn't go to any of the NLCS games, I got hold of a copy of the official series magazine put out by Major League Baseball and sold at the stadiums during the contests in both St. Louis and Houston.

While leafing through the publication, I came across a full-page photograph taken during the regular season of Albert Pujols hitting a home run and, upon returning to the dugout, being cheered by Cardinals fans.

And, surprise of surprises, the guy in the first row of seats directly behind the dugout who was bowing to Pujols happened to be my good buddy Kevin Phillips, a local attorney and lifelong Cardinals fan.

Kevin, who has broadcast area high school and college sporting events on the side for more than 20 years -- he's entering his second season as the voice of Southeast Missouri State University women's basketball -- could be seen in the picture as clearly as Pujols, as could Steve Hanschen, another local resident who attended that particular game with Kevin, although Steve wasn't bowing.

Kevin told me he was as surprised as anybody when he saw himself in the magazine after receiving several calls from friends about the photograph.

Southeast officially retired its Indians and Otahkians nicknames during a ceremony Friday.

But since the school's new nickname of Redhawks won't officially be put into use until late January, I've had plenty of Southeast fans ask me if it's still proper in the interim to refer to the sports teams as Indians and Otahkians, particularly when cheering at the games.

Well, the official word from Southeast officials is yes.

But it strikes me as pretty strange for Southeast to retire the nicknames on one hand but still allow them to be used on the other. Isn't that just a bit contradictory?

Toward that end, the Southeast Missourian has decided, until Redhawks officially comes into play, we won't be using Indians or Otahkians in the newspaper.

Marty Mishow is a sports writer for the Southeast Missourian.