Take a peek into my living room around 10:15 on Tuesday, October 12 and you will find me jumping around, screaming, with goosebumps, and near tears....over a game....a baseball game....a Texas Rangers baseball game. Doesn't compute? It didn't compute to me either, but I wasn't about to question it. The Texas Rangers had just won a playoff series...their first playoff series...EVER. They had just beaten the favored Tampa Bay Rays in a win-or-go-home game 5 of the American League Division Series. I had purposely been not watching the game until the bottom of the 9th inning. I strongly believe that I am a curse to this team. The games I don't watch, they win. The games I watch, they lose. Erik had been following along on the internet (for some reason the internet does not bring about the curse) and once I knew that it was safe I tuned in to see the final 3 outs and following celebration.
It is hard to explain this experience to someone who is not a fan. The Texas Rangers have been around for about 40 years, and they have been playing bad baseball for most of those 40 years. Sure, we had our share of super stars (Nolan Ryan comes to mind) and we finally made it to a couple of ALDS in the 90s. That was different though, the teams of the 90s never had a shot. It is different this time though, this team is special.
I am a football girl at heart--I love it, watch games at all levels from high school to the pros. An ideal fall weekend includes a good high school game on Friday, catching a couple of spirited college games on Saturday, my beloved Cowboys on Sunday, and a rocking Monday Night Football game. I have always followed baseball, but considered it a way to fill the time between the Super Bowl and the beginning of training camp.
But baseball represents so much of my childhood. I never played a team sport, but my brother Michael played all of them and baseball was my family's favorite. He started as a Pee Wee player in a coach pitch league and my dad was there coaching the whole way. Our spring and summer evenings were spent at the Little League baseball parks. Michael was a great baseball player and usually made the all star team so we spent a couple of weeks each summer driving to Garland for all star games. The kids on his teams became almost like family to us. My mom will still say "remember so-and-so, he was a pitcher in the Little League team." I learned so much about baseball and used to help my mom score the games for my dad.
We used to go to a couple of Rangers games each summer. We started at the old Arlington Stadium when the logo was a baseball wearing a cowboy hat. I always had stars in my eyes as we watched the big leaguers play their game--not even realizing that they were probably a good 20 games out of first place. I was even lucky enough to see Nolan Ryan pitch a few games and I remember burning to a crisp during a hot day game one spring...oh the pre-sunscreen days. We loved going on various promotional nights and I always cherished my free t-shirt, baseball, inflatable bat, etc. The new Ballpark in Arlington opened when I was away at college, and I remember how excited I was to go my first game there. I also remember watching the games on TV on carefree summer nights.
The win on Tuesday night might as well have been our World Series. Years, heck decades, of loyal fanship are finally paying off for us die hard Rangers fans. I got a thrill last week when I saw the American League Championship Series banners at the Ballpark and heard that they were painting the ALCS logo on the field...our field...at The Ballpark. It just one of those surreal moments. The realization that the World Series could be here in a couple of weeks is almost too much to handle. And what a story it could be--we are up against the Yankees who have about 40 ALCS pennants hanging around their place in New York. They are the giants of baseball and we seem like a rag-tag group next to them. The logical part of my mind says that it is impossible, but that other side of me wants to dream and dream big. Our Texas Rangers are playing under the big lights and I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. This is the stuff of movies.
I feel bad for those who do not follow sports. They are missing out on so much history, so much emotion, the feeling of believing in the impossible, the sting when your team fails, and the hope that a new season brings. Sports enrich our lives and I am happy to be a fan. Go get 'em Rangers!
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