My friend Josh, who joked that I've talked to him more over the past month of baseball playoffs than in the years of working together, made a comment immediately after game 4 of the World Series: "The sun still hasn't risen on a world in which the Sox broke the Curse."
Well, fortunately the sun did rise. And set again. And yesterday it set in New York City after a perfect, crisp October day. One couldn't help but be grateful and content.
Here are some of the things I've been happiest about:
After watching and listening to what I'm estimating to be around one thousand Red Sox games since 1986, the last eight games were the sweetest of all. What Curt Schilling did -- winning two starts on a ruptured and sutured tendon, was akin to what MJ accomplished in game 5 of the 1997 championship. No, what Schilling did was even more incredible. The four-straight comeback against the Yankees was not only unprecedented in baseball, but it was the best pennant battle since 1951. And to win the 100th World Series in a sweep against the "best team in baseball" should not only put the 1918 chants to rest, but earn the 2004 Red Sox a spot as one of the greatest baseball teams of all time.
And for the record, in case I ever run for mayor of this town or something, New York may be my adopted home, but rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for Microsoft. You can love the city. You can love the people. But loving Steinbrenner's ('52) overpriced boys in pinstripes is like waxing poetic about Word 2003.
I'm happy to be back in New York for a few days after some four months in California. While I like the West Coast very much, home is home, and some things never change. Even staying on the UES (not my usual neighborhood), the pace, the sounds, the flow, is all just so comfortable. Coming back here is like pulling on old Levi's and a hoodie and kicking back for a lazy Sunday afternoon.
I was happy to get off the plane at JFK (in time to watch the last 4 innings of game 4) and see a lunar eclipse. Didn't even know that was coming.
I am so happy, and feel so blessed, that so many people came out last night. I only wish I could have taken more pictures and had something to send back to everyone. A person couldn't ask for better friends, and seeing so many people all in one place for one night means more to me than you could imagine. Thank you, all.
I am happy that my Mom sent my sister the baby book that she started compiling 30 years ago. Looking through it I realized that I was not a particularly cute baby, and that my Dad was a damn lucky man to marry my Mom. And, though I'm not sure how he pulled this off, he actually had a full head of hair back in the Seventies. If only I could have been so lucky (about the hair -- I definitely recognize my luck with the gf). And amusingly, my Mom, in spite of me now being officially in my 30's, gave my sister explicit instructions to take the book back.
I am happy to be here for a few more days with no plans other than to relax and wander and reminisce. More to come...
(Picture taken in a great, and little, coffee shop on E 81st St.)