I spent the weekend at my niece's place a little less than a hour north of Philadelphia. They are understandably euphoric down there about the Phillies. Signs virtually everywhere congratulated the 2008 Phillies, and the area seems completely swept up with pride. Considering I've never thought of Philly as a baseball town, it's pretty nice.
I visited another niece at Eastern University, just outside the city limits, and she said the noise on the campus after the final out was incredible. At first she wasn't sure what it was all about (she was writing a paper). She quickly remembered that the Phillies were playing.
I saw a temporary message board on the Pennsylvania Turnpike related to the Phils. The stores in the King of Prussia malls were full of World Series merchandise. Everywhere I looked, there were people wearing Phillies hats, shirts, jerseys, and jackets.
It was kind of cool.
My niece's husband was given a "Philadelphia 2008 Champions" shirt. He gave it to me. I'll wear it. I have nothing against the Phillies.
But no, I'm not jumping on any bandwagon. I have limits.
So while trolling around the Web tonight, I came across this video of Tino Martinez's home run against the Diamondbacks in the 2001 World Series. A night later, I would be there for Scott Brosius' "deja vu all over again" homer.
Think back to how heavy our hearts were and how great those games were. But oh it still hurts to have lost that freakin' series. In fact it hurts more today, as I'm convinced I sold my soul (as did many others) to beat the Mets in 2000.
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