One more day

Only one more day until the first game of the 2009 season for the Red Sox. That is, if the weather cooperates.

In the meantime, to get geared up, I'd like to share two of my favorite baseball essays. One of the first pieces I ever remember reading by Peter Gammons appeared in Sports Illustrated's November 3, 1986 issue. I cut it out and I've re-read it many times over the years. It perfectly summed up my feelings that dread night of Game 6. Thankfully, all of those beautiful words are readily available now from the SI vault

How will it feel? For years we had asked ourselves, "How will it feel if the Red Sox ever win?" How will it feel if there are two outs and none on in the bottom of the 10th with a 5-3 lead in Game 6 of the World Series? How, in God's name, will it feel?

The reason why he's such a respected writer!

My other favorite is by A. Bartlett Giamatti, one of the most brilliant men to ever hold the office of Commisioner of Baseball. Although the piece is better read in October, as baseball winds down, it's still wonderful:

"The Green Fields of the Mind "

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.

Tomorrow can't come too soon!!

SI opens its vaults

Sports Illustrated has recently opened up its vault of articles! You can look at literally every article they've ever published - now for free. It's an incredible resource - you can trace the history of so many subjects, or reread favorite articles from the past.

Which leads me to this: one of my all-time favorite columns written by Peter Gammons after the 1986 World Series. It's entitled "Living and Dying With The Woe Sox." It was one of the first articles that gave him national exposure, introduced the rest of the US to his brilliance. I carried a tattered copy of this article with me for years - pasted copies in my scrapbooks and journals, even laminated one. I nearly memorized it. It so perfectly summarized how I felt after that Series. Some of my favorite lines:

I told a friend. "But before we could find out what it feels like to win, we have to be made to suffer one last, excruciating time."...

How will it feel? For years we had asked ourselves, "How will it feel if the Red Sox ever win?" ... How, in God's name, will it feel?

Well, it took another 18 years for us to find out. How did it feel? As I lay on the floor on that incredible night in October 2004, sobbing with relief and excitement, I remember thinking about that line. How did it feel? Damn good.