You hit this one outadapark...shaved the inside edge of the plate for an "immaculate" 9th inning, 9 pitch closer!
As you with your Dodgers, it was so with my long, insufferable fandom for the NY Mets. It felt the same for me, when the Mets were rolled over by those same Padres, at Citi Field no less! Alas, it wasn't the wild card games that doomed the Kings of Queens, 'twas the final 2 weeks of the season. I'll spare y'all with the gory recap.
This year was THE year! My mantra : "Just once(1986) more before I "shuffle off this mortal coil"...a World Series title for the Metropolitans!
I loved your line : That's the special thing about sports though...they don't really matter."
A very good assessment of the whole episode, although you seem to have gotten over it sooner than I. And if those cheating A-hole-stros win it all, that will suck. Side note, check with your dad about my reaction to the first clause in your second sentence. Cardinal sin. Don't ever put that in print again!
Korby Siamis, I thought of you the moment I read it and my heart froze, but I consoled myself with the reasonable assumption that any kid who has the wit and sophistication to read and enjoy Willsdumbbrain has probably left the first Claus of your second sentence behind.
As the author knows, I was born in a distant past between the time the Braves left Boston and the time they arrived in Atlanta. I loved the Milwaukee Braves, and can still remember Eddie Matthews disinterested baritone at the autograph session in the Boys Department at Schusters Department Store as he responded to my excited “I’m a leftie, too, Eddie!” with a monotone, “Yeah, well keep swingin’, kid.” When they left for greener pastures and a new stadium I was devastated. But every kid needs hero’s so my brother and I enlisted in Ernie Banks army and the Cubs broadcast we could easily get on WGN. We remained Cubbies fans (Tom and his sons still are) until 1984, when the Cubs looked like this could finally be their year. Until Steve Garvey, playing for the Padres, had the series of his life, scoring almost more often than he had apparently done with women in LA (a trait he shared with the aforementioned Eddie M), and broke the Cubs backs, and my heart. I swore I’d never care about baseball again because the pain wasn’t worth it…But I was now in LA, and the Dodgers had the maestro, Vin Scully. And they had Oral, and the Penguin, and Sciosia, and Saxie, and then they got Fernando! So, I was hooked again. And rewarded when, in 1988’s incredible “season of the improbable,” the impossible happened. There have been highs and lows since, as beautifully described in this wonderfully written blog, but what’s made them even more worth the pain has been the joy of sharing them with my son, in a generational chain that reminds me of my relationship with my dad, and my mom, who taught me how to properly score a baseball game, and my Aunt Syl, who could do the same with a Chesterfield King hanging off her lip. Football may have its spectacle, but baseball is fathers and sons, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, mothers and daughters, older human with younger human, forever and ever, amen. Great blog!
I tried the Cubs bandwagon when the Braves left but it didn't take. Thankfully the Seattle Pilots moved here in '69 and became the Brewers which limited my sentence in baseball purgatory to 3 years.
You hit this one outadapark...shaved the inside edge of the plate for an "immaculate" 9th inning, 9 pitch closer!
As you with your Dodgers, it was so with my long, insufferable fandom for the NY Mets. It felt the same for me, when the Mets were rolled over by those same Padres, at Citi Field no less! Alas, it wasn't the wild card games that doomed the Kings of Queens, 'twas the final 2 weeks of the season. I'll spare y'all with the gory recap.
This year was THE year! My mantra : "Just once(1986) more before I "shuffle off this mortal coil"...a World Series title for the Metropolitans!
I loved your line : That's the special thing about sports though...they don't really matter."
Pitchers and catchers February 2023!
Will, KEEP WRITING, PLEASE!
I wouldn't want to fume about sports in the discord with anyone else <3
Pardon the obvious cliche but that's why they play the games (s). It's also an adult way of believing in Santa.
Well done - it hurt - a lot - but the Dodgers have been a lifelong friend and I love them still.
A very good assessment of the whole episode, although you seem to have gotten over it sooner than I. And if those cheating A-hole-stros win it all, that will suck. Side note, check with your dad about my reaction to the first clause in your second sentence. Cardinal sin. Don't ever put that in print again!
Korby Siamis, I thought of you the moment I read it and my heart froze, but I consoled myself with the reasonable assumption that any kid who has the wit and sophistication to read and enjoy Willsdumbbrain has probably left the first Claus of your second sentence behind.
I am happy that next spring you'll be at it again. That's great attitude. And maybe remind yourself that playoffs are a completely different sport.
As the author knows, I was born in a distant past between the time the Braves left Boston and the time they arrived in Atlanta. I loved the Milwaukee Braves, and can still remember Eddie Matthews disinterested baritone at the autograph session in the Boys Department at Schusters Department Store as he responded to my excited “I’m a leftie, too, Eddie!” with a monotone, “Yeah, well keep swingin’, kid.” When they left for greener pastures and a new stadium I was devastated. But every kid needs hero’s so my brother and I enlisted in Ernie Banks army and the Cubs broadcast we could easily get on WGN. We remained Cubbies fans (Tom and his sons still are) until 1984, when the Cubs looked like this could finally be their year. Until Steve Garvey, playing for the Padres, had the series of his life, scoring almost more often than he had apparently done with women in LA (a trait he shared with the aforementioned Eddie M), and broke the Cubs backs, and my heart. I swore I’d never care about baseball again because the pain wasn’t worth it…But I was now in LA, and the Dodgers had the maestro, Vin Scully. And they had Oral, and the Penguin, and Sciosia, and Saxie, and then they got Fernando! So, I was hooked again. And rewarded when, in 1988’s incredible “season of the improbable,” the impossible happened. There have been highs and lows since, as beautifully described in this wonderfully written blog, but what’s made them even more worth the pain has been the joy of sharing them with my son, in a generational chain that reminds me of my relationship with my dad, and my mom, who taught me how to properly score a baseball game, and my Aunt Syl, who could do the same with a Chesterfield King hanging off her lip. Football may have its spectacle, but baseball is fathers and sons, mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, mothers and daughters, older human with younger human, forever and ever, amen. Great blog!
I tried the Cubs bandwagon when the Braves left but it didn't take. Thankfully the Seattle Pilots moved here in '69 and became the Brewers which limited my sentence in baseball purgatory to 3 years.