October Baseball

Once again, the Boston Red Sox have risen to the top of the baseball world and were crowned CHAMPIONS on Sunday night. The Colorado Rockies, in spite of how well they played, were swept under the rug in only four games. I was actually pulling for the Rockies in Game 4, simply because I wanted the Series to go on for a few more days, as well as see Josh Beckett pitch ONE MORE TIME this season. It would also have been nice for the Sox to win it at home instead of on the road. It was a reasonable hope, given the Rockies had 45 come-from-behind victories this year, a pretty incredible feat in and of itself. But alas, it was not to be. So congrats to both teams for winning their respective league pennants, and to the Red Sox for winning it all!

Baseball is my favorite sport, but things didn't start out that way. I grew up in a family of football fans. As I mentioned in a previous post, I watched the Dallas Cowboys during their heyday when Tom Landry was coach, Roger Staubach was QB, and they were considered not only America's Team but God's Team. Ah, those were the days...except they never did beat the Steelers in the Super Bowl. Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, Franco Harris...I hated them. In spite of how good those guys were, I despised them. I was and still am a Cowboys fan through and through. The hard part for me about being a Dallas fan in those days? Riding to school with Steeler fans. The morning after the last time Pittsburgh beat Dallas in the Super Bowl was the worst. The Steelers at that time were 4-0 when playing in the Super Bowl, and the kids I carpooled with were not mere Steeler fans...their dad was a former Steeler player. They didn't have to say a word about the game, they just rode to school, quietly staring out the window. Ouch...it still stings. (Yes, Charlie and Beverly, if you're reading this, I'm talking about you!)

In the midst of all this great football, I started going to Texas Rangers baseball games. It was my payment for babysitting for my sister. She really got a bargain, but I learned to love baseball. Texas rarely won, but Texas had some fabulous players that were heroes: Buddy Bell, Steve Buschell, Jim Sundberg...the list goes on.

To this day I still love baseball. In my opinion, it is THE all-American sport. There is something beautiful and poetic about a 6-4-3 double play that mere words cannot describe. And while summertime baseball is beautiful, October baseball is amazing. October baseball is an all-together different level of play, and it is awe-inspiring.

I say awe-inspiring, and yet I have never personally experienced post-season play with the Rangers. To see fans at a baseball game wrapped up in coats, gloves, hats, etc., is a foreign concept, something strange and wonderful never experienced in Texas, a truly miraculous event that I get down on my knees and beg God to give to the Rangers. This team is in a league of its own, and I don't mean that in a good way. Let me explain: first you have the farm teams--A Ball, AA Ball, AAA Ball; then there's the Rangers, then there's the rest of major league baseball. The Rangers are the final stepping stone before making it to baseball greatness. Lest you should think me completely out of my mind, do the names Slammin' Sammy Sosa, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, or Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez ring a bell? All three of these guys played for Texas before going on to bigger and better teams. Sammy Sosa ran head-to-head with Mark McGwire in 1998 to see who would break Roger Maris's home run record. Pudge Rodriguez, a huge fan favorite, was about to be traded when a "SAVE PUDGE" campaign throughout the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex kept him on the team. He was traded a few years later and has won two World Series since leaving the Rangers (Florida Marlins and Detroit Tigers). Alex Rodriguez--if you pay ANY attention to baseball, you know what's going on with him. The salary he commands boggles the mind. And yet, my poor hapless Rangers remain in the cellar, barely seeing daylight. It's the curse of a Rangers fan.

Thankfully my secondary team--the Red Sox--has what it takes to make it to the championship game. And while some fans see the Sox as the second coming of the Evil Empire (sorry folks, that honor has been reserved for the Yankees), vacationing with friends up on Cape Cod has made me a bit of a Red Sox devotee. The Rangers are still "my" team (perhaps at this point out of pure pity), but I am excited that Red Sox won the Series this year. After all, as Rangers fans eternally cry out, there's always next year.