The World Series!

Last month I read a very enjoyable memoir titled "Wait Till Next Year". It was written by Doris Kearns Goodwin and it was about growing up in Brooklyn, New York and being a Giants fan back in the 1950s - 1970s. By the time I finished the book I felt like I had really missed out by not having grown up with a favorite baseball team. Baseball was a huge part of her life and her neighborhood interactions but of course, New York back in those days had 3 teams: the Giants, the Yankees and the Mets. I did have a baseball team in my city when I was growing up, the Bees, but I wasn't exposed to them very much. I mostly grew up riding horses.

A few years ago when Heidi and Eric were first living in Phoenix, Eric encouraged Heidi to pick a baseball team and get interested so she went for the Diamondbacks. They even had tickets and went to most of the games. Colton and Cory were just toddlers back then and they would go along to the games. Pretty soon Cory and Colton knew all the players names and understood the game better than I ever did. Heidi's new found interest paid off a big dividend when the Diamondbacks went to the World Series against the New York Yankees. It was the fall of 2001 -- right after the World Trader Center attack and it was a very patriotic and highly emotional series. It was hard not to want the Yankees to win just for the sake of helping to heal the trama that New York City had been dealing with but at the same time, it was soooooooo exciting to have the Diamondbacks there for the first time! All of a sudden, I felt like I had a semi-connection to the Diamondbacks because of the Swapps and their enthusiasm. I watched every game that series and was jumping for joy when the Diamondbacks took it all! So exciting.

Fast forward now to this year. Do I dare admit here that I had never heard of the Colorado Rockies? Sorry but I'm a grandma now -- I only know Dora, Diego and the Backyardagins! But when I did hear about them I was way excited. I love their name, I love that they are my state's next door neighbors and I loved their hard-playing, hard-working, successful rise up the charts to make it into the Series so I decided they are the team that I would cheer for this year. Maybe they'd become "my" team. Then last Saturday I went to lunch with my bestest friend from my childhood days clear through to these grandma days and she was telling me of a very personal connection her family has to Jacoby Ellsbury (I hope that is how you spell his name) of the Boston Red Sox and what he has done to be where he is right now and I thought it was so cool. Maybe I should be for the Red Sox... after all, I know that guy (well, not really but I know someone who knows his mother, etc.) So now I'm a bit perplexed! Who should I support?

I tuned into Game 1 last night and thought maybe I'd decide as I watched the game -- maybe it would become clear to me. Wow! What a beginning! The Red Sox strike out the first 3 Rockies batters and then the first Red Sox player hits a home run! Not helping here! I really do usually like to cheer for the underdog but it also feels really good to enjoy the winning team. Hey, that was only the first game. Things could change. Maybe the Rockies were still on mountain time?!?!? I guess that is what makes the World Series so special. So now I'll watch Game 2 and see if I can tell who "my team" really is. GO ?????