A Blur and a Differnt Feeling

On Sunday October 28th 2007, my baseball team (The Boston Red Sox) became World Series Champions. It was the second time in four years that we won the World Series.

Baseball has no real off season for me. Sure there are a few months were we are not playing games, but I busy myself obsessing about the free agent market, and what young players can be called up that can make an impact on the big club. I spend countless hours pouring over the newest statistics that can give the Red Sox and my fantasy baseball team that all mighty edge.

Once the season has started, I have already spent tons of money on making sure that I can see every single pitch. I bought a lovely HD TV. I purchased the Baseball Package so I can watch my Red Sox play every night. I purchase MLB.TV to watch the game via the Internet in case there is a day game, or I am unable to be at home. I ditch plans with my friends in order to watch the game. It is nothing short of a sickness.

Yet once all of the October dust has settled, and my Team and I stand victories, it is all a blur. Oh sure I have clear memories of everything that happened. I have countless stories to tell of triumph, indifference, and heart ache. Though this year the stories were mostly of triumph, but it is rather hard to put it all into words. It was like years and years of living crammed into a 173 games.

Before when we won the world series it was like a weight being lifted. It put an end to countless jokes. I had ammo to fire back at Yankee's fans. Now though...I am just happy to be able to enjoy watching a game and know that there isn't some silly thing that is going to get in my way. At long last I am just a fan.

Lance Hahn

It was the summer of 1997. I was riding somewhere in the sweltering heat with Luke Hall. He is playing some really catchy and fun pop on the cars tape deck. In the next few minutes I would learn that this band was known as J Church, or as he most likely put it, "THE ALL MIGHTY MOTHER FUCKING J CHURCH...BITCH!" The album was, The Dramatization of Alienation. This album became a main stay in my record collect for the next three to four years. It was spun so often that i feared it would break in half. It lead to shopping at record stores while traveling just to see what J Church records existed in that town that didn't exist in mine.

To call J Church prolific would be understatement at best and an out and out lie at it's worse. This band has a discography so complex I question if even they knew its full contents. There are maybe two other bands who I own more releases by then J Church, and I still do not think that I grasp what the band was all about. The songs run the gambit in style and sound, and I never really knew what to expect from one release to the next.

Over the weekend the founding member of the band (Lance Hahn) succumbed to illness. I was aware that he was sick. I had just received the newest J Church release (as well as a benefit CD for Lance) in the mail right before I left town. I never even entertained the idea that anything bad could happen. I had already moved on to thinking about what the next J Church release would be. Now I am forced to figure out what it will be like knowing there won't be anymore ultra obscure J Church records for me to stumble upon while record shopping. I am not a big fan of this new reality and truly wish things could go back to how they were before.

The NLCS

Let's get one thing out of the way, I am American League baseball fan. It is not because I think the Designated Hitter is the greatest thing since sliced bread (though who wants to see most pitchers hit?), but more because I happen to root for an American League team. I watch far more American League games then I do National League games because of this. I do however have a fair amount familiarity with the National League because of fantasy baseball.

With all that said, can we please stop saying "that no one saw the Arizona Diamond Backs or the Colorado Rockies coming." If you spent even five seconds looking at a projection system before the season started, you would know that both teams had a really good shot a making the playoffs. A great deal of that is predicated on the fact that pretty much everyone expected the N.L. central to be a salute to mediocrity again. Guess what, it was. Sure the Brewers had a pretty good year, but honestly I kind of expected that as well.

Both the Rockies and the Diamond Backs have been stock piling young up and coming talent for the last 3-7 years. It isn't surprising that young talent eventually matured into great major league talent. I would argue that it was inevitable. So please I am begging the talking heads to stop acting as if we should all be SHOCKED AND AMAZED that two smaller market teams made the NLCS. Also if they could stop talking about how MLB and TBS are pissed that two smaller market teams are in the NLCS that would be great as well. God forbid people watch the game solely because it is the best team sport there is. ..

On a side note: Sure my Red Sox have a huge pay roll, but don't act like we didn't get huge contributions from our farm system as well.

This is home.

I am without a doubt one of the biggest homers you could ever meet. I will sit around an extol the virtues of Memphis to whomever will listen. It is my childhood home. It is the place were I decided what I would do when I grew up. It is the site of my first kiss. It is the site of my first heart break. It is the site of the place where I first landed a varial over a set of stairs. It is also the place I left with both middle fingers waving back at it.

During my six years away from this town I learned and saw more things then I can possible put into words. I was convinced that Memphis was the worst city on the face of the Earth. I can't express how wrong I was to even entertain such thoughts. This town has more potential and character then most others I have visited.

We just recently had our city elections, which lead to all kinds of negative hype about the city. Most of the arguments you hear against the city are true. There is a great deal of crime. There is a huge separation between the races and the rich and the poor. It is a very difficult city to move to and meet new people. It is anything but pedestrian friendly.

I cannot argue with any of those statements. All I can do is try. So from now on, I am going into "Super Posi" mode. I am refusing to be one of the Memphians who talks bad about their city all the time. I am going to pimp its virtues. I ask those in all cities to join me in the act of stopping people from tearing down their cities and instead attempt to build them up.