Clinchmas Open Thread: waxing philosophical about a kid's game

Just the thought of it is putting a smile on my head. That image of Bruce raising his hands with the entire crowd on its feet, both arms up behind him is just the epitome makes me break out in grins.

At 13 years old after the last game in 1999, and last night.

Ahh, catharsis…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiDp4Eq4CqA

The Reds are one of my last connections to my childhood and Ohio. Just like most of you, I hid the portable radio under the bed to listen to Marty and Joe. Now, calling up my dad and grandad to talk about whatever dumb move I thought Dusty made the night before or how awesome our pitching rotation is going to be keeps me far closer to my family than I otherwise would be. Honestly, life sucks for a helluva lot of people right now. But for me, I’ve always had this team (and this site, more recently) to escape to. Hell, the night I almost died in a gutter 3,000 miles away from home with no one to talk to I got to come on RR and decompress. This weird little corner of the internet and often frustrating team have been an invaluable fallback for me the last three years. Many thanks to all y’all who’ve kept it up and running, and thank the lord for Bob Castellini, Walt Jocketty, and Dusty Baker for making this work.

Not that I’m not happy the Reds won, but it just hasn’t felt like that big of a deal. I think this is largely because, in my mind, they wrapped up the division weeks ago and have been simply “running out the clock”.

It was cool to win the game with a 9th inning home run, but I wasn’t nearly as excited about it as, say, Kirk Gibson’s HR in 1988, and I have never been a Dodgers fan. The stakes just felt too low. If he hadn’t hit the HR, then they would have clinched later that night when the Cards lost, or on another day.

Maybe I’m just a horrible misanthrope who can’t get any enjoyment out of life, but this HR didn’t inspire me to write poetry or stay up all night celebrating. I was pleased they won, but really no more pleased than when Votto hit that winning HR a few weeks ago, or any number of other games this year.

here!

But all I could do was listen to the WLW feed over the internet. It was still fantastic! For me, it will go down as one of only two Reds home runs (so far) where I will always remember the feeling of euphoria that came with it. The other was Eric Davis’s first inning home run in the first game of the 1990 World Series. It was at that moment that I just knew the Reds were going to win it, and it takes something special to rival that feeling.

For me personally this will be a summer I will never forget. Right around opening day I found out my wife had been cheating on me, the whole summer I didn’t know if my restaurant would close or not and I would be out of a job, and my aunt passed away suddenly after I was the last person to speak to her. Baseball has been one of the few bright spots for me this summer. I have gone to over 20 MLB games in 5 different cities, many times by myself, to escape the personal hell I have been going through. Some nights I would sit at home by myself and watch the game and talk to you guys in the game threads. Often times life fucking sucks, but 162 days from April to October there is always baseball (and beer).
Many “hip” people I know talk about how much they hate sports or don’t understand it. Its fucking fun damnit! And it is nights like last night and the feeling of catharsis that comes from 30,00 people sharing a moment of joy that brings me back every year. These moments have been few and far between, and probably will remain so for our small market team. So I am going to enjoy it now. Last night was such a perfect way for this to happen. I am not going to be greedy, I don’t need anymore. If they get swept out of the playoffs, it will not make what happened last night any less sweet. I will, however be back at GABP on Saturday afternoon to say thanks to the boys in Red, and I will be there Game 1 of the NLDS being loud, happy and drunk….So there is my long rambling bullshit. Go Reds.

I thought there was going to be pics of Mr. Red pooping on Albert Pojuls.

Im starting a hunger strike til I get one.

But it applies here. It’s why the genre distinctions of music don’t really matter, and I definitely believe that you could replace “rock’n’roll” with “sports.”

Take it away, Joe Strummer:

“I think rock‘n’roll exists to deliver this truth that needs to be constantly delivered — rock, hip-hop, whatever you call it. It reminds us, like this unspoken message, that it is fun to be alive. It’s a hell of a lot better than being dead.”

It’s fun to be alive. It’s fun to have baseball to still look forward to. It’s a hell of a lot better than being eliminated.

if Hal McCoy went transtextual, would we have to call him “Haley?” “Halle,” perhaps?