This Year is Different

Usually around this time of year I'm sulking. The Phillies normally end their season miserably... then the hope that I've put in the Eagles gets crushed by their disappointing finish.

This year is different.

As usual, the Eagles blew it. They lost a game they were supposed to win... which was typical of their play this season. In fact, I chose to stay home to watch the game instead of joining the 200+ Philly fans that congregate at a local bar downtown because I knew the Eagles were gonna lose. All season they won the games there were supposed to lose [like last week against the Giants] and lost or tied the games they were supposed to win. I'm pretty sure McNabb gets lazy when he thinks he's gonna win. It's horrible.

Another year... another NFC Championship game... and another loss. In the past 8 years, the Eagles have made that far 5 times... winning only ONCE before losing in the Super Bowl. 5/8. That's roughly 63% of the time. And they lost 4/5 times. Pitiful.

Anyway... the point. This year is different... because the Phillies won the World Series. No one was singing the Eagles' fight song at the end of the Phil's season this year. The stadium didn't empty early the last month of the season. I wasn't depressed. And no one was saying, "But they looked so good on paper!" or "I guess there's always next season." The Phillies... unlike the Eagles... finally lived up to their potential.

It's January 19th... and we've got a long way to go before Pitchers and Catchers Reporting Day...

Curt Schilling

I was just watching the MLB network for the first time ever. They had a program about the 2004 World Series. I don't see how anyone could watch that or any other 2004 postseason highlight reel and deny that Curt Schilling is a Hall Of Famer. Just based on what he did and which team he did it for, who he did it against and where he did it. Phenominal.

Merry Christmas, Indeed!

This year, my family and I not only celebrated Christmas together... we almost ceremoniously celebrated the World Series VICTORY by our beloved Philadelphia Phillies.

We wore our team shirts.

We discussed intricate details of the Series.

We played with the confetti picked up by my aunt and uncle from the parade down Broad Street as we watched the parade on DVD.

We watched Part II of Game 5... with Harry Kalas's radio broadcast of the pitch-by-pitch.

And... we stepped back in time to watch the last several innings of a game we went to in 1989. September 17th, to be exact. We've watched the VHS taped version of the game dozens of times since then and we still talk about that game amongst each other. We were along the 3rd base line for the first game of a double-header against the Cardinals. The Phils had a ton of hits, but couldn't put them together to score runs... so with a 5-5 tie game, we went into extra innings. The Eagles were playing the Redskins at the same time [in Washington] and the Vet aired the game on the stadium TVs. The crowd erupted as the Eagles did something miraculous and pulled off a win. Minutes [and maybe even seconds] later, John Kruk stepped up to the plate and blasted a 12th inning walk-off home run.

That small window of time is memorialized in my brain forever as one of my all-time favorite sports memories. Well... it was my very favorite... until the whole winning a World Series thing came along. The '89 game isn't irrelevant to my life... but it certainly plays second fiddle now to October 2008.

So now we're World Champs. Philly fans have been let down for eons, it seems... so to finally have something to REALLY cheer about for our city is still a little bit surreal. Getting to celebrate with my family certainly helped... but it's still hard to believe that they actually did it.

The Philadelphia Phillies actually won a World Series. A team from Philly actually won a championship!

Merry Christmas to me!!