humans have meandered into this page.
|
|
|
|
History:
It was April 1982. I was thirteen and wasn't even in high school yet. I'm not what you would call an athlete when I was a kid. Back then I hated baseball; I saw it as one of those things in television that interrupted cartoons and sitcoms, but all that changed that year.I had somehow become enchanted with baseball. And I watched the news as a team, who played dismally the year before, had started the season 10-0. This team, the Atlanta Braves, were formerly the pit of jokes, but this year they had somehow become different. This piqued my interest. Their win streak stopped at 13-0, which was then a record.
I followed them throughout that year. I agonized through their late season losing streak; I rejoiced each win they had. They always seemed to be victimized by the L.A. Dodgers, who were in the same division… the National League West. I followed the team until the last day of the season. The Braves clung to a one game lead in the division, followed closely by the Dodgers. The Braves played the San Diego Padres at Jack Murphy Stadium, while the Dodgers played the Giants at Candlestick Park.
It was the middle innings when the Braves had gotten into trouble. The Padres had gotten runners on base and were threatening to score. Then it came, a tailor-made double play ball to second. The Braves' middle infield, the combination of Glenn Hubbard and Rafael Ramirez, had turned more double plays than any other team in the league, and it stood to reason that they would turn this double play as well. As the ball bounced quickly through the infield the second base umpire was not able to avoid it. The ball was dead and the Padres had gotten by unscathed; they went on to score that inning and winning the game.
The Braves had a ½ game lead over the Dodgers, whose game was still in progress. The Dodgers had a short lead over the Giants in the late innings. Tommy Lasorda brings in Terry Forster from the bullpen, who proceeds to give up a home run and the lead. A lead that the Dodgers would not regain. The Braves win the pennant. Ironically, Terry Forster became an Atlanta Braves pitcher the following season.
Since that summer eighteen years ago, I have been an Atlanta Braves fan. I'm not sure what is was; it might've been simply because they were cut-ups back then. They were outcasted over-acheivers, who I identified with. I'm not sure what it was, but my loyalty has never waivered.
These days I track the games on the radio, and not even the real radio. I track the game on the web. Most summer afternoons I listen to the game while I go about my business investigating or fixing bugs. The web has made it so much easier to remain loyal to your sports teams. No longer do you have to submit to the brainwashing of the local broadcasts.
As I read one article I came across a reference to a five tool player. What is a five tool player? I had heard the phrase before, and was curious. The Braves broadcasts include a section called the UPS Internet Question of the Game where a listener may submit a question. So I did. I would've been very amused to hear my question on the air.
The one thing I didn't realize is that if your question gets read on the air, you win tickets to a Braves' home game. After some gymnastics about arranging the dates, I wound up with tickets to the Braves' game against the Dodgers on August 13, 2000 in Turner Field.
There was a part of me that really wanted to go to this game. The plane tickets were over $400, and I really could not justify the expense. I was torn between interpretting this as a free ticket to regress to the boy of thirteen and the life I lead back then and knowing that the feasability of this was really inpractical. The adult in me won.
Still I listened as the Braves were quietly defeated by the Dodgers. Many years have passed since I first started identifying with the Braves. Each year each team plays 162 games. It's hard to look back and think of each individual game, but somehow I'll never forget this one. In this vast sea of games, where it is sometimes difficult to distinguish one from the next, it is somehow comforting that each individual game means something special to someone out there, as this one will with me.
Even if it was a Braves' loss.
Back to Material Possessions.
August 13, 2000