My brother-in-law said, "Holy cow that was a hell of a game. I'm glad the Dodgers won because they got screwed having to play in the wild card game with the 2nd best record in baseball. They need to change the rule. All the other division winners had far worse records except for the Giants, which is why they got stuck in the single elimination game."
I've thought Chris Taylor is great for a long time. I keep up with nearly every game. This is my favorite time of year: Dodgers baseball & Halloween.
Living in the Bay Area exposes us to all of sports but the Giants are close to my heart. Last night’s game was a big disappointment. Dodgers simply murdered us! Hope our guys recover and come sailing back to make this series an interesting one.
Thank you for these clips and stories. I love baseball. I think the great plays are made more enjoyable because of the long minutes where it seems "nothing exciting is happening", which is probably the biggest reason why baseball has fallen out of favor. But for great players and great teams something is always happening. The great players like Joe Morgan always paid attention every minute to everything going on even though his team was at bat. (Morgan's autobiography is manna from heaven for baseball fans and process nerds like me. He recounts how he and Davy Concepcion spent hours tossing balls back and forth from all angles including backwards so they could make any play.) The miniscule "tells" pitchers display before they throw a certain pitch. How the fielders shift based on the batter. The ability to maintain focus on the game even if the ball is is not headed towards them. The great explosive moments are preceded by long stretches of showing up and paying attention.
It was/is a great column. but then you got to the part where you said you were rooting for Toronto against Philly! Toronto???!!! A dagger to my heart. It may take me some time to recover.
Great piece and what wonderful memories for you! I’m not a Dodgers fan either (though as a Red Sox fan I will always be a fan of Dave Roberts) but that walkoff homer of Taylors was immense fun.
Oh Greg, I suppose I could just NOT comment, but I feel compelled to, once again, be the turd in the punchbowl. lol I've never been interested in any sports, neither is my brother, nor was my father. My mother, who just turned 89, is a baseball fan -- and is the reason that "fanatic" is the longer form of that word. She has the Xfinity sports package, but has no use for anything but baseball, no football -- in fact, it annoys her that regular TV seems to always be running late this time of year -- no hockey, no basketball, no women's sports teams. ONLY baseball. There are two seasons in her house; baseball season, and Hallmark Christmas Movie Season -- which conveniently runs from the end of baseball season, almost to the beginning of the next season. Those guys must be making Christmas movies year-round!
She still tries to talk to me about baseball, and players, and teams she likes and doesn't like, but it translates to me like an adult in a Charlie Brown special -- just whah, whah, whah, whah. She's a walking baseball trivia machine. I used to pretend to understand, but she sees through that now, so I stopped and just let her talk and add a "huh," once in a while. She is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, but will watch ANY baseball game -- if there was baseball in the southern hemisphere, and she could get it on cable, there'd be NO Hallmark Christmas Movie Season at all!
BUT, I read the column and watched the clips and still appreciate the excitement that comes from the fandom, and I even understand what 3 and 2 with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth means, and that shit WAS pretty impressive! Just don't ask me about things like 4th down on the 20 yard line with whatever, whatever -- I've really tried to understand football and come up short every time. I know there's four quarters, and it makes "60 Minutes" late every Sunday until the beginning of February, but that's really it.
Every Canadian over the age of 52 has that moment etched in their brains forever.
2. Wayne Gretzky taking the puck up the ice in the closing seconds of the Canada Cup, again against the evil CCCP, passing it perfectly to Mario Lemieux who zips it into the top corner of the net as if it were nothing - to win the Cup. 1987.
My brother-in-law said, "Holy cow that was a hell of a game. I'm glad the Dodgers won because they got screwed having to play in the wild card game with the 2nd best record in baseball. They need to change the rule. All the other division winners had far worse records except for the Giants, which is why they got stuck in the single elimination game."
I've thought Chris Taylor is great for a long time. I keep up with nearly every game. This is my favorite time of year: Dodgers baseball & Halloween.
Living in the Bay Area exposes us to all of sports but the Giants are close to my heart. Last night’s game was a big disappointment. Dodgers simply murdered us! Hope our guys recover and come sailing back to make this series an interesting one.
Thank you for these clips and stories. I love baseball. I think the great plays are made more enjoyable because of the long minutes where it seems "nothing exciting is happening", which is probably the biggest reason why baseball has fallen out of favor. But for great players and great teams something is always happening. The great players like Joe Morgan always paid attention every minute to everything going on even though his team was at bat. (Morgan's autobiography is manna from heaven for baseball fans and process nerds like me. He recounts how he and Davy Concepcion spent hours tossing balls back and forth from all angles including backwards so they could make any play.) The miniscule "tells" pitchers display before they throw a certain pitch. How the fielders shift based on the batter. The ability to maintain focus on the game even if the ball is is not headed towards them. The great explosive moments are preceded by long stretches of showing up and paying attention.
I don't know how many times I've hit the game winning basket, playing alone in my driveway, what a great feeling!
It was/is a great column. but then you got to the part where you said you were rooting for Toronto against Philly! Toronto???!!! A dagger to my heart. It may take me some time to recover.
Thank you for the uplifting videos. I needed it!
Great piece and what wonderful memories for you! I’m not a Dodgers fan either (though as a Red Sox fan I will always be a fan of Dave Roberts) but that walkoff homer of Taylors was immense fun.
Oh Greg, I suppose I could just NOT comment, but I feel compelled to, once again, be the turd in the punchbowl. lol I've never been interested in any sports, neither is my brother, nor was my father. My mother, who just turned 89, is a baseball fan -- and is the reason that "fanatic" is the longer form of that word. She has the Xfinity sports package, but has no use for anything but baseball, no football -- in fact, it annoys her that regular TV seems to always be running late this time of year -- no hockey, no basketball, no women's sports teams. ONLY baseball. There are two seasons in her house; baseball season, and Hallmark Christmas Movie Season -- which conveniently runs from the end of baseball season, almost to the beginning of the next season. Those guys must be making Christmas movies year-round!
She still tries to talk to me about baseball, and players, and teams she likes and doesn't like, but it translates to me like an adult in a Charlie Brown special -- just whah, whah, whah, whah. She's a walking baseball trivia machine. I used to pretend to understand, but she sees through that now, so I stopped and just let her talk and add a "huh," once in a while. She is a die-hard Chicago White Sox fan, but will watch ANY baseball game -- if there was baseball in the southern hemisphere, and she could get it on cable, there'd be NO Hallmark Christmas Movie Season at all!
BUT, I read the column and watched the clips and still appreciate the excitement that comes from the fandom, and I even understand what 3 and 2 with 2 outs in the bottom of the ninth means, and that shit WAS pretty impressive! Just don't ask me about things like 4th down on the 20 yard line with whatever, whatever -- I've really tried to understand football and come up short every time. I know there's four quarters, and it makes "60 Minutes" late every Sunday until the beginning of February, but that's really it.
For Canadians, there are 2 moments in hockey -
1. Paul Henderson scoring in the closing seconds of game 8 in Moscow to take the series win over the evil CCCP. 1972.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMf2fAXPS1Q
Every Canadian over the age of 52 has that moment etched in their brains forever.
2. Wayne Gretzky taking the puck up the ice in the closing seconds of the Canada Cup, again against the evil CCCP, passing it perfectly to Mario Lemieux who zips it into the top corner of the net as if it were nothing - to win the Cup. 1987.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frtft0LUMiE