In any case, as I’m watching the Phillies kick the crap out of the Dodgers tonight, I can’t help but wonder what the press will dub the various World Series match-ups. We all know that Angels/Dodgers will be the “Freeway Series,” but is that really creative enough? And what about the rest of them? Obviously, I have some ideas:

Angels v. Dodgers
-The “Freeway Series”
-The “Hollywoodn’t You Rather See a Different Series” Series
-The “The Angels Angels of Anaheim vs. The Angels Dodgers” Series

Angels v. Phillies
-The “Cities of Very Brotherly Love” Series
-The “Cradle and Coffin of Liberty” Series
-The “Who Really Cares?” Series
-The “Uh-Oh, Both Teams’ Primary Color is Red. Good Thing Phillies Fans Will Be Wearing Their Eagles Jerseys” Series

Yankees v. Dodgers
-The “Couple of Joe” Series
-The “Biggest Slap in the Face to Don Mattingly” Series
-The “One The Media Want to See” Series
-The “Manny Just Won’t Go Away” Series
-The “2,788 Miles is Way Too Far, Can We Meet in Tulsa?” Series
-The “27-Time World Champions” Series

Yankees v. Phillies
-The “Urban Sprawl” Series
-The “NJ Turnpike” Series
-The “It’s Called a Sub, Not a Hoagie” Series
-The “Yankees Fans Meet Phil–E-A-G-L-E-S, EAGLES!!!–lies Fans” Series (I swear to God that Eagles fans are the most obnoxious fans in the world. The two Phillies games I’ve ever been to, which were in the middle of the summer, I have heard Eagles chants)
-The “Who Can Complain the Most About Losing” Series
-The “27-Time World Champions” Series

So, those are some of my preliminary thoughts. Please comment below to add your own ideas. I set it up so there is no need to register!

Oh! I almost forgot. GO YANKEES!!!

In 11 AB: 2 HR, 6 RBI, .455 BA, 1.000 SLG

And, yes, I’m well aware that Yankee Stadium is located along the banks of the Harlem River. If you still don’t get it, read a newspaper.

My first memories are lingering snapshots of experiences or snippets of knowledge. I know I never had a choice in which team I’d root for as a child. There are pictures of me no more than a month or two old with my head capped in navy blue and the white-embroidered, interlocking “NY.” Ever since, I have had the good and bad fortune of being a Yankees fan–a member of the millions of people cheering on the so-called “Evil Empire” to victory (and quite a bit of disappointment, too) season after season.

Starting out, my Baseball IQ was–to be generous–low. I didn’t understand much of the game when I was a little kind in the mid-to-late 80s cheering for the only two players I remember knowing on the team: Don Mattingly and Rickey Henderson. To be fair, the Yankees teams of the 80s WERE pretty forgettable. Let’s take 1987 for example (courtesy of www.baseball-almanac.com):

C Rick Cerone
1B Don Mattingly
2B Willie Randolph
3B Mike Pagliarulo
SS Wayne Tolleson
LF Gary Ward
CF Claudell Washington
RF Dave Winfield
DH Ron Kittle

Now, with his .241 avg. and 9 HR over a 10-year career, I’m surprised I can’t find my Wayne Tolleson jersey lying around somewhere. I could definitely go out and get one, though. Oddly enough, his jersey is the most popular one out there these days! I can hear it as if it were yesterday over The Stadium’s PA:

Now batting… #2… Wayne Tolleson… #2…

Well, something about that doesn’t seem right. In any case, I’ve digressed considerably from my original thoughts, so I’m gonna bring it back!

The one memory that sticks out completely above all the rest is probably the simplest of them all. It was the first game I ever went to. I was probably 6 or 7. I know I went with my dad and either Anthony Moschella or Ryan Herring (or both) and their dads. However, unlike most people (remember, my BBIQ…), I can’t tell you whom the Yankees were playing that night. I DO remember that they lost. But the vision that stuck with me ever since then is something I’ll never lose. And given The New Stadium configuration, it’s a memory that I may not get to share with future generations of Tamburros. I think a lot of people remember it the same way, and it went like this:

I was walking through the dirty corridors, dodging loud fans and hot dog carts, and staring at the numbers painted on the walls indicating the entrances to the various seating sections. Ours came up. I walked into the tunnel, up the ramp, out the other end, and there it was. It was the greenest green I’d ever seen. It was the bluest blue, the biggest big, the whitest white, the everything-est everything I’d ever seen, and it was better than I could have imagined.

It was at that moment that I fell in love with baseball. These days, it will never be the same as that moment, but I can still go back to that day when I want that feeling of pure awe. And, don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining at all. The New Stadium is awe-inspiring in its own right. No, you can’t get field seats very easily, and if you do, they don’t come cheap. But at the same time, there are far more people than the 17,000 or so that attended my first game with me.

That day is what I think about every time I go to a game. I think about riding in the rumble seat in the back of Ryan’s dad’s station wagon, waiting for what seemed like days in the George Washington Bridge traffic. I remember trying desperately to understand what the hell my dad was talking about when he showed me how to keep a scorecard. I certainly remember going home early to beat the traffic because the Yankees were getting beat pretty hard, and listening to the broadcast crackle in the speakers as I slowly fell asleep.

The perspective is different now. Baseball has changed in a lot of ways. I think it has changed mostly for the better after a difficult couple of decades with drugs and steroids tainting our idols. But if you talk to fans and watch the players, I think it’s finding its roots again as America’s Pastime and will always be what it always was: a great game, and the best we have. I may not be as green as I was when I first saw a game, but things do seem a lot simpler sitting in those blue seats in the Bronx. And I CAN tell you this: I still feel like a kid when I grab my mitt, force my 62-year-old dad to go out in the back and throw the ball around, and enjoy MY favorite pastime.

Enjoy the playoffs, my friends, and always love the game!

“I hope he blames Bush for this, too!” –Me. Is that narcissistic of me? Whatever…can’t be as bad as accepting the Nobel Peace Prize for doing zero.

“This just in. I received an Academy Award this morning because I promised to write, produce and direct the greatest movie ever made some day” –Jamie Clarke

“Yeah it’s like getting a college degree from a state school for drinking and screwing around for 4 years…………………..” –Bob Sempsey

“BREAKING NEWS:
Obama has just won the MVP award in the American League.” –Jamie Clarke

“I hope Kanye interrupts his acceptance speech…” –Jamie Clarke

[RE: Jamie Clarke] “Yo, I’m real happy for you, ima let you finish… But JFK was one of the best presidents OF ALL TIME!!” –Angel Sanchez

And just as a reminder for all of you who missed it, here’s President Obama’s unofficial list of accomplishments

GO BOMBERS!

MOTOWNPETEY:  Hi, can I get through here?

OFFICERHELPSALOT:  Is it an emergency?

MP:  [thinking he might let me through.  what a swell guy!] Uh, I have class at Fairleigh Dickinson.

OHaL:  Are you late?

MP:  [looks at clock.  rethinking previous assessment]  Well, no, I’m not late…

OHaL:  So, why are you driving so fast?

MP: [ugh...]  I didn’t realize I was going that fast [I must have been traveling 27 mph and he could clearly discern that from his standing position that could only really see the last 100ft of the road--the section of road on which I was slowing down].

OHaL:  Didn’t you see all the orange cones [perhaps 3 or so placed off to the side of the road that haven't moved in weeks regardless of construction going on]?  That means look out, slow down, caution.

MP:  [are you freaking kidding me?  I guess these two little cones mean I'm not getting through, huh?  Can we get on with this already?]  Sorry, I thought I was OK.  Where should I go?  Do I need to go around?

OHaL:  [proceeds to give proper directions around the coned-off route].

I don’t know.  I guess it wasn’t a big deal.  But did I really need that at 9:00 am on my way to a class that constantly reminds me of that fact that I have no job and no life?  Not really.  Could he have just said, “Yeah, you’re going to need to go such-and-such route, and would you mind the speed limit?  It seemed like you were going a bit quickly for the neighborhood.”  I think that would have been nice.  It was no real inconvenience, but it does go to show why people get the wrong impression about police officers.  I have a great deal of respect for anyone who protects me from all the crazy people in this world, but please address me and others with the same amount of respect Officer Helpsalot.

So, despite the fact that he was practically my neighbor (Harding Twp. is just next door) for a year while he flirted with New York sports, I’m not a Fa[rv]e/Packers/Jets/Vikings fan.  In fact, I’m just barely a Giants fan.  However, this headline is worth posting as Brett Fa[rv]e has become the first player in NFL history to beat all 32 teams.  And now, for his next trick:  First NFL player to retire from all 32 teams.

One thing I can promise is that I will write until the water runs dry.