A Fan?

 I follow college football, even in the off-season, just because I like it.  But as for all other sports, probably not.  I start getting into college basketball around mid-February, but other than this, I pay little attention to sports.  But the other night Fox had a baseball game they televised between the Yankees and the Red Sox.  I have never been a Yankees fan.  But as I watched the last half of that game, I think I became one at least for that night.

The Yankees have always been able to buy the best team in the major leagues, so I became a hater of the Yankees.  But several things happened in that game that made me a believer--of sorts.  A Yankee batter hit a foul tip that really clobbered the catcher.  The Yankee's batter put his hand on the shoulder of the Red Sox catcher asking him if he was alright.  And then Aaron Judge, true to form, drove in the winning run with a double.  The Yankees won 11-8 in ten innings.

But it was what John Smolz, the announcer, who knows baseball, said that convinced me.  He made the comment that it may have been the best game of the year in all of pro baseball.  From what I saw it was.  Smolz recapped the scores inning by inning and when I started watching the Yankees were losing 8-6.  But most of the innings ended up being tied.  That is what baseball is about.  I picked up the game in the sixth inning, but the surprising part was it held my interest.  I wasn't about to say the Yankees had lost.

I thought to myself the Yankees weren't about to get beat by Boston.  Especially in Boston.  Maybe not in NY either, but when Judge hit the game winning double I knew the Yankees were back.  But am I now a fan of the Yankees?  They've had the most championships money can buy.  There are other teams that might have something to say about it, like Cleveland, but it seems this year the Yankees will have their say.  I hate that Judge has a 360 million dollar contract just for playing a game.  

But at least for a moment, I was a believer.  I probably will not ever be a Yankees fan, but I was for just one night.  It was the night we arrived back in Florida and I needed that game for relaxation.  And it worked.  I was riveted, thinking there was no way the Yankees were going to lose that game.  Once John Smolz said it was perhaps the best pro game of the year, just from what I saw, he was right.  The Yankees tied it in the ninth and went on to win in ten.  It was a movie script ending.  It really was that kind of game.  

Baseball is a 162 game season and one game in that many is just one game.  But the Yankees played at World Series mentality.  They might be thinking about November.  At least their fans are.  I haven't thought much beyond past this week, but I won't be surprised if they'll be playing this November from what I saw the other night.  That was not "just another game."  I was a fan--if just for one night.  This morning I'm smoking my Dunhill with some Old Professor.  My coffee this morning is from Guatamala.  Thank you for your time and Peace to each one of you.

Dave