Thoughts On the Phillies Winning the World Series

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At 4:15 a.m. on Thursday morning, after a night of partying and celebration following the Phils World Series win, I finally climbed into the back of a cab, left alone with my thoughts. I thought of the countless hours I had spent with friends watching this team for the last several years. The cheering, the yelling, the frustration and the excitement. The pounds on the back and the stares of disbelief. I thought of Frank, still one of my best friends, pitching against us on a cold opening day of Little League in 1987 with a coat on. I remembered my Senior League team, trying to rush through our championship game so we could get to the movies. I thought of the friends I had been gathering to watch the playoffs with, friends I don’t really discuss feelings with, but whom I love and who love me. I thought of the joy that these Phillies had played with for the last couple of years, of the constant fists pumping or hands clapping after every single double. I thought about how much this must mean to Jamie Moyer, in the league for so long and finally winning a title. I thought of ants and rubber tree plants. I thought of how I moved here almost exactly 7 years ago, and how good this city’s been to me since. I thought of my friends who had talked earlier in the night about recently losing their fathers, the men they had listened to Harry the K on the porch with, and how this World Series victory brought those memories alive. I thought of my father, whom I had excitedly called at around 11:30 earlier in the night. And even though I woke him up on a work night, he told me how glad he was to hear from me. I thought of the catch we had played in backyard so many years ago. I thought of Steve, the volunteer coach in my neighborhood who is on the baseball field down the street from myself seemingly every minute of every day, trying to help young kids learn the game of baseball. I thought of my Little League coach, Mr. Turner, who had turned us around in three years from an 0-15 band of misfits to champions of the league (Incidentally, that’s me, 3rd from right, top row. And I can still name every kid on that team and what position they played.). I thought of all of the strangers I had hugged and high-fived over the previous years at the ballpark, people whose names I never got, but with whom I shared a brief but wonderful slice of joy with. I thought of all these things as I rode in that cab in the wee hours of the morning. And I cried like a baby.

The Philadelphia Phillies are Champions of the Baseball World

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I ran into a friend of mine on Broad last night who said, “This is the best night of my life. And I’ve been married and had a daughter.” I cried shortly before I went to bed at 5 a.m. and I cried a little again a few minutes ago reading about Charlie, and I’ll probably cry again during the parade. I know I’m not from here originally, but I have been a sports fan since I was 5 years old, and have never gotten to be a part of anything like this either. This is exalting. The raging hangover I have will go away. The night I had last night will not. And the parade is going to be magnificent. More to come.

Writing over at PhilliesPhever.com

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Sorry I’ve been a little slack on here lately, but I’ve been doing a fair amount of writing over on philliesphever.com (I mean, I’m getting paid to write about the World Series. I gotta be honest, it doesn’t get much cooler than that.) So come on over and join me at Philliesphever.com. The water’s warm. And as far as Alf Landon contests and regularly scheduled quizzos and all that, I promise things will start to get back to normal following this Series and the election. But for now, the hell with normal. It’s a crazy wonderful time to be alive. I just wish Alf Landon could be here to enjoy it with us.

Corporate Quizzo for Charity

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There is going to be a Quizzo Fund Raiser next Friday night (November 7th) at the Racquet Club at 16th and Locust. It is $500 a team to sign up, BUT LISTEN UP BEFORE YOU SAY THAT IS WAY TOO MUCH MONEY.
1) That includes beer, wine, and hors d’oevres.
2) You may have up to 10 people on your team (so essentially $50 a pop, with food and drink included)
3) All of the proceeds are going to a good cause. That’s why I agreed to do this, because it was something I support. It is the Temple University MBA and MS Student Association Scholarship, which is awarded to the Philadelphia High School Student who has demonstrated academic excellence but needs economic help to attend the University.
4) It will trick people into thinking that you’re classy.
5) I will have some tickets to give away next week, so I’ll keep you updated on that as well.

The Plan for Tonight

We are going to have quizzo tonight at the Locust Rendeavous. I am going to start promptly at 6:15 and try to be done by 7:30. I was there on Monday and it was already a zoo by 7:30, so I’m gonna try to get this thing moving. Of course, the advantage of playing quizzo tonight is that you can claim the cherry spots in the bar for the game. Black Sheep quizzo is cancelled tonight. We’ll resume there next week. Hope to see ya tonight!

Holy Cow! It’s That Time Again!

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I’ve been so caught up in Phillies madness that I almost forgot that it was time for our annual tradition: The 6th annual Halloween Spooktacular! Yes, all of this week’s questions will be all about ghosts, goblins, killers, and monsters. And we’ll have plenty of candy. Needless to say, we are kind of at the whim of Major League baseball in terms of when we will be playing this week, but there are definitely Spooktaculars tonight. So come on out to O’Neals at 8 p.m. and the Bards at 10:15 p.m. and play the 6th annual JGT Halloween Spooktacular…if you dare. Braw-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!