After last night’s ninth-inning derailment, I was just about ready to give up on baseball.
Well, not really, but it felt like it for a few minutes. That was a gut punch if ever there was one, or indeed a heartbreak. Funny how dealing with such big emotional swings requires being described by things visceral.
Some hours of sleep later, I am no longer ready to jump off a metaphorical fandom bridge. Being a Dodger fan, Feeling Blue is like yin-yang: it encompasses both the positive and the negative, the high and the low. One Feels Blue being a Dodger fan. To achieve enlightenment, one must accept both sides.
This bit of rationalization didn’t occur to me until I happened to come back to my computer earlier this afternoon and replaced my earphones on my head. Organ music was playing, and you could hear a crowd waiting expectantly for a game to start. It was a sound file in my iTunes library that I recorded the night I sat in the press box back in June. It was before the game, and Nancy Bea was playing her organ between PA announcements. A moment of zen-like bliss. One of the best nights of my life, and there it was flowing into my brain again.
The Dodgers lost that night, but it did nothing to dim the glow I had walking around for the next week.
As the philosopher said, sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, sometimes it rains.
Whatever happens in tomorrow night’s Game 5, there will always be another spring training. It’s the circle of life, and no single loss, no matter how visceral, will change that.
Yes, that night in the press box was something special. I too captured a lot on my mini-voice recorder. Have to admit, once in awhile I kick back and hit play just to “re-live” the experience. An amazing time from start to finish. A fun season no matter how Wednesday night goes. Seems so odd that going into the season with such ripe pitching potential, the season may all come down to a journeyman starter who was kicked off his last team and has been a Dodger for about 15 minutes. Like Orlando Hudson said the night I was in the “blogger spot” and Ethier delivered one of his walk-off hits, “It’s a crazy game. That’s why America loves it.”
Well, only three innings left to do something, and Kershaw just gave up a two-run homer to Shane “Yul Brenner” Victorino. Ooof.
Barring a miraculous comeback by both the Dodgers and Angels, ESPN will be overjoyed with what is shaping up to be Yankees-Phillies in the World Series.
[...] from the wrenching disappointment the past week, and a few issues here and there, the 2009 season has been more of a joy to follow [...]
[...] 10/20/09: “Feeling Blue” [...]