Just...WOW!

I didn't know how I was going to react when they finally won. After all, it had been 15 years since the Phillies were IN the World Series and 28 years since they won it. So much has changed in my life since then, and this time I didn't have children to tend to or worry about, so I found myself very, very deeply infected with Phillies fever. Since about the beginning of September, I was gauging my mood (for the most part) on the results of the previous night's game. Wins made me euphoric; losses put me in a funk for hours. I know it probably isn't the healthiest way to live, but for me, this year, baseball kept me from spending all my energy on my job.

I don't know why I did this, but I started clipping the news articles at the beginning of the NLCS and put them on the wall outside my classroom door. As a result, my workplace looks like a teen-aged boy's bedroom. It's corny, but I have taken a huge amount of pleasure from doing this. I watched some games with my kids, some with my kids' friends, some alone, and for resumption of the last game last night I went to a neighborhood bar/restaurant to watch with a friend. It was amazing - a key pinch hit, a HUGE double play, an incredible deke and throwout at home, what might very well have been the last hit for Pat Burrell as a Phillie, and, finally, the stupendous bullpen, anchored by Brad Lidge. It was surreal - and the satisfaction I felt was unexpectedly calm. I was WAY more fired up when they won the National League. But I think the pleasure I feel will last for a while - at least a couple of days.

I like the way this makes the city - the extended metropolitan area - feel. Sure, there were some knuckleheads doing stupid things, but, in general, people enjoyed themselves thoroughly and joyfully. Maybe it would be fun to win year after year, but would it be so wonderful if it became commonplace?

Now, if I can just feel this good next Wednesday morning....