Wednesday, October 15, 2008

RED OCTOBER: The Philadelphia Phillies are going to the World Series.

I repeat: The Philadelphia Phillies are going to the World Series.

I remember 1980, those bizarre extra inning games at the Astrodome, attending Game 2 of the World Series, jumping up and down on the couch on October 21, 1980 after the miracle Boone/Rose second out and the strikeout of Willie Wilson. I was seven.

I remember 1983. We attended all the playoff games in Section 214 of the Vet, surrounded by the players' wives and families, so I got to hang out with a nine-year-old Gary Matthews Jr, Joe Morgan's kids and others. I was 11, and after five LCS appearances in an eight-year span, I figured they'd be back again soon.

I actually missed going to the 1993 playoffs. It was my senior year of college, and I was knee-deep in thesis and unable to make it back home. I had to watch that 15-14 disaster, the Schilling masterpiece and Joe Carter's bomb from the tv room in the Hitchcock House lounge.

This has been a long fifteen years.

In between, I've seen the Sixers give me remarkable joy in 2000-01 only to fall short at the end, and the Eagles break my heart in three straight conference championship games (two in person) followed by 4th-and-26, a trip to the Super Bowl and, yeah, more disappointment.

It's time to hope again. Philadelphia, push your chips in the middle of the table. Starting next Wednesday, we've got four more wins to go. It's time for this city's twenty-five year drought to finally end.

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