Wow, that was a World Series for the ages, wasn't it? And by that I mean the Dark Ages.

It was nice of everyone to honor the Dead Ball Era like that. Some thoughts on what we saw (or didn't, if you go by the TV ratings):

• Houston can now go back to doing what it does best. Instead of vying for baseball supremacy against Chicago, it can return to battling the likes of Philadelphia and Detroit for the title of Fattest City in America.

• It's one thing to have a low-scoring series defined by dominating pitching. Guys like Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, Jack Morris and Randy Johnson cementing their legends in the October chill. It's another thing when you're calling the cops on these hitters for impersonating major-leaguers. I saw Matt Damon fail to get the ball of of the infield at the celebrity Home Run Derby at the 1999 All-Star Game at Fenway Park, and I think he could have batted seventh for the Astros.

• Instead of being astonished at how the Astros were shut out in nine of Roger Clemens' 32 regular-season starts in 2005, I'm wondering how they scored at all in the other 23.

• With the White Sox holding a 1-0 lead and facing a man on second with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 4, Ozzie Guillen elected to intentionally walk Lance Berkman to get to Morgan Ensberg. He put the potential go-ahead run on base with one out to face the Astros' clean-up hitter, who batted .111 for the series. That right there defined the World Seriezzzzzz.

• Overheard in the FOX booth after the game: "We paid how much for the rights to broadcast that shit?"

• When FOX went to shots of that Chicago bar during the ninth inning of Game 4, I couldn't help thinking, "Oh, so that's where the 24 White Sox fans are hanging out tonight." Feel free to show some emotion, people. With one out to go, they looked as anxious as I am in the fifth inning of a Yanks-Royals affair in May. Did they think the series was best-of-nine?

• How much does it suck to be a Cubs fan right now? First the whole Bartman thing, then the tarnishing of the entire Sammy Sosa era, then the Red Sux beat them to the curse-busting punch, and now they have to take shit from fans of the White Sox, whose greatest moments in history include a most infamous gambling scandal, outfielder Al Smith having an entire beer dumped on him in the 1959 World Series, some ugly ass uniforms (with shorts!), the doomed Disco Demolition Night, Lamar Hoyt's cocaine use and the building of the worst modern ballpark in all of sports.

• Who did Barbara Bush blow to get those choice seats? I guess her husband. After the game, son Dubya presented the Astros with a "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED" banner.

• Besides guys who couldn't hit a beach ball off a tee, this series lacked a villain. So A.J. Pierzynski ticks people off by running across the mound after making an out. Have you noticed he makes outs a lot, batting .257 with 23 walks in 2005? That's like hating a third-option wide receiver because he celebrated after converting two first downs all year. Damn you, Ricky Proehl!

• Thank god for FOX's animated pitching instructor, Scooter, or else I don't think anyone would be able to figure out what a curveball does.

• Who had money on Brad Lidge going 0-3 in the postseason? Wow. That's why I thought people who placed Eric Gagne over Mariano Rivera as the game's best closer needed to see Danny Bonaduce's shrink. Let those guys pitch over 111 postseason innings, with an 0.81 ERA, and then we can have a discussion.

• I love how people bash the Yanks for "letting" Andy Pettitte leave. We didn't offer enough money, they say. But when other players switch teams for money — like, um, that A-Rod guy and a zillion others — they get crucified. Or maybe Andy just wanted to pitch for Houston no matter what, in which case we couldn't do anything about it.

Paul Katcher owns and operates the Upper West Side ’s most popular blog and periodically contributes its content to realhoboken.com. To see Paul’s photo gallery or to read his past work, visit www.paulkatcher.com.