Update. Well it’s finally settled: in the debate over whether to watch World Series Game 5 or the Santa Barbara mayor’s race debate, Giants fans were better off watching the game while Dodgers fans probably should have stuck to the debate.
Houston 13, Dodgers 12. Ouch.
El Lay partisans who missed the only televised event of the campaign (which, astonishingly, ended two hours and 45 minutes before the excruciating finish of Houston’s walk-off) were no doubt certain, early in the evening, that Clayton Kershaw and an early four-run lead were all that was needed for a comfy night of celebration; and not without justification – the Dodgers’ record when Kershaw pitches with four or more runs of support now is 100-1. Ouch.
To help change the subject the morning after go a little easier, Josh Molina’s wrapper on the debate is here. KEYT's own news report is here. Winners and Losers coming in a bit.
PIK UP PRVS: The one and only televised debate of the Santa Barbara mayor’s race is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. tonight, just over an hour after first pitch of Game 5 of the World Series.
This means that, oh say, 12 or 13 honorable and virtuous citizens, who otherwise would surely tune in to the last, best chance to see the five candidates in the most wide-open mayoral campaign this decade, might be drawn away by the once-a-century spectacle of the Dodgers in the Series.
What’s a voter to do?
Here are five key takeaways about the Series vs. Debate debate:
1) The Series features only one star left-hander, the Dodgers' preeminent pitcher Clayton Kershaw. The debate, however, features three of the biggest lefties in Santa Barbara, in the persons of Hal Conklin, Cathy Murillo and Bendy White. No contest.
2) The big controversy in the Series so far is that a Houston Astros player made a racially insentive gesture insulting the Japanese heritage of Dodgers pitcher Yu Darvish. Yet the debate features council member Frank Hotchkiss, author of an infamous opinion piece in a local newspaper, arguing the internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans during World War II had little to do with racism. Point: debate.
3) The Dodgers are successful for one plain and simple reason: their owners have and spend more money than anyone else in baseball. The debate features wealthy retired CEO Angel Martinez, whose spending on the mayor’s race, more than a quarter-million dollars to date, is all but certain to shatter records. Watching him perform is a once-a-lifetime opportunity – you can see rich athletes cavort anytime.
4) The last time KEYT held a live debate, during last year’s campaign for Congress, strong winds nearly blew the candidates off the station’s back patio. There’s not much wind in the forecast for tonight but even so, it's tough to pass up the possibility of witnessing a stray gust sweep five politicians into the abyss.
5) This is why they invented DVR.
Noozhawk has a full advancer with debate details here.
See you at 7 p.m. Play ball.
JR
