A defense with more meaning

Remember I can'y spell...


Tomorrow morning we are leaving for the walk and I may have failed to satisify the "logic" or reasons behind it.

Since I have most of today to myself I will present them as best as I can. To make it easier to follow, I will highlight 3 events that solidified my need for this. All will be posted before we set out and you can choose to read them or skip them. I am not hoping to win any converts on the issue, just look at it from my point of view.


Exhibit B: The 2001 World Series


By no means am I going to or will ever use the tragic events of 9/11 in a light manner. The only reason I am mentioning them is to remind you of how the media and the country reached out to New York City. Commericals featuring celebrities and politicans urged people to go and visit NYC. I have been given condolensces this year, 6 years after the attacks from people from Australia, St. Louis, Ohio, and San Francisco. It seemed that for a while the whole country was supporting New York. Ok now to the World Series...


Could a baseball game be that important? Recently Seth Meyers from Saturday Night Live did a commentary on the World Series. Meyers, a lifelong Red Sox fan, stated that no city deserved a championship this year then New York. Who could argue with that? New York was favored to win, expected to win, but it was more than that. The Yankees needed to win, or at least in my mind set. How could they not? This was more than a World Series; this was the national pastime being played at a time when the nation needed a few hours of normalcy. During the series against Oakland I went out and purchased a new Yankee hat. The hat has a small American flag sown on the side; to me it was a perfect match. The Yankees and America.

I called my friend Anthony and started to make plans to visit him for the Parade. His dad's office overlooked the parade route and I had gone there in 98 to watch the Yanks go through the Canyon of Heroes.
As were talking, I watched Mark Grace lead off with a single to center. All of a sudden my stomach turned and I didn't feel to well. I could tell by Anthony's voice that he wasn't watching the game at the point and was oblivious to the sense of doom that was entering my world. Rivera's throw to second didn't make it on time, allowing runners on first and second, suddenly a horrible thought entered my brain, "You jinxed them." "Ant, I will call you back." I hung up the phone and collapsed on the bed.

"Alright, they can get through this." I tried reassuring myself, and when Delucci got thrown out at third base things looked a little brighter. Tony Womack never did anything wrong to me, he never offended me in any way shape or form. Yet, I was cursing his existence as he stepped into the batters box. "We need this Womack, don't fuck this up for us!" Womack did not get my message and tied the game with a double down the right field line. Somewhere on my floor I thought I heard clapping. Not now, not for that hit, its gotta be for something else I told myself.

Craig Counsel got hit on a 1-1 pitch. My confidence was more then shaken, my faith was being questioned like I was some sort of Job. Louis Gonzalez stepped into the batters box, Rivera looked like crap. A feeling of malaise was settling into my body. 0-1, I think my asthma was flaring up. Somehow the 14 inch Sanyo television was showing the game in slow motion. A bloop single that barley cleared the infield landed in the outfield. My mouth dropped as I heard that the Arizona Diamondbacks were world champs. Suddenly, I heard shouting and yelling, both inside and outside my dorm. What the hell was going on here? We were in New York, about an hour and a half from New York City and they were cheering that the Yankees just lost. It was a shock to the system.
They were happy? Why? How they hell could someone be cheering at a moment like this!? Writing this now a few years later, I realize how ridiculous that sounds. With all the problems that are going on in the world, how could a game make one person so upset? I was not competing out there, I had invested no amount of money into the outcome of that game, but I was hurt.


It was then I realized that there were people out there who truly hated the Yankees. I knew people did not like them. I went to school with, was taught by, and was related to Mets fans. Yet when a World Series win would mean so much to people, it didnt matter to those that truly hated the Yankees.