Last night I didn't sleep very well and as I was trying to get back to sleep, I started reflecting on the past decade for some reason. Lots of random memories started popping in my head and I soon realized getting back to sleep would be a futile effort.
So with the ‘inspiration’ back, I just have to overcome the laziness and be consistent about posting between now and the end of the year.
Even though this first reflection is sports-related, there wont be many reflections about sports. Given the mediocre teams that I root for, that obviously shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
October 20, 2005 - The Houston Astros win their first (and only) NL pennant
Here it was the night of game 6 of the National League Championship Series, perhaps the biggest and best moment ever for Astros’ fans and I’m at a dinner in San Francisco with a dozen reporters talking about AMD’s latest channel strategy. Normally I enjoy being at these type of work activities but I have to say, as the dinner went on, I found myself looking at my blackberry more and more.
I did go into the evening with the mindset that I wasn’t going to get distracted by the game. I was still so distraught over what had happened in game 5, that I was convinced the Astros were a cursed franchise and had no shot at winning the series. In case folks don’t remember, the Astros were up three games to one in the best of seven series and it appeared the Astros would clinch the NL pennant at Minute Maid Park in Houston with a game 5 victory. However, a 3-run homerun by Albert Pujols in the top of the ninth on a hanging slider from Brad Lidge gave the Cardinals a come from behind win. It also sent the series back to St. Louis with the Astros still up 3-2 in the series but the momentum was now in favor of the Cardinals.
That game I was able to watch on TV and sat there in stunned silence when Pujols hit his bomb. It was very similar to the feelings I had after a certain Houston Oilers playoff game in Buffalo back in 1993 or the 1997 Rose Bowl. To say it felt like a kick in the gut was an understatement.
I felt like there was no chance, even with Roy Oswalt on the mound, that the Astros were going to get a game 6 win. I obviously underestimated the mental fortitude of the team. When I saw the final score (6-1) come across my blackberry (Tricia was sending me pitch by pitch notes over that last inning) I didn’t know what to think or how to feel. It was a day I never thought would happen and here I was working and needing to restrain my emotions.
I was ultimately able to watch the game thanks to the DVR but it was a moment I desperately wanted to see live, one I had waited my whole life to see. The fact that I wasn’t able to enjoy the moment live was compounded by the fact that the Astros got swept in the World Series. No live moments of euphoria to enjoy there, that’s for sure.
Now as I think back to that evening, it was further reinforcement that I was at a point in my life that required me to be a responsible adult. It helped me realize that no moment as a sports fan could replace the joy and satisfaction of being a provider for my family.
