Bottom of the ninth inning and David Ortiz stood in against Mariano Rivera. The bases were loaded, there were two outs and the Red Sox were down by 1 against the Yankees. Fenway was shaking with energy, with waves of noise cascading down from the Faithful on to the field as their Hero cocked his bat against the fireballer. Could Papi do it again? Or would the Best Closer In Baseball notch another save in the most enemy of enemy territories? A Sox win would extend out their lead in the East to five and a half. A Yankees win would keep the pressue on Boston down a grueling final stretch. Ramifications of a single at bat, a singular moment in time as watched by millions of fans. If a scientist were to distill an entire season to get the extract of pure Sport, he would get this. Mariano winds and delivers…
But alas, I wasn’t watching it. A diehard Yankee fan in front of a television on a Sunday night five miles from Fenway, and I wasn’t watching it. In fact, I wasn’t even thinking about it. I was awake, and in my right mind, but had no interest in the outcome of the game at that moment. It was only this morning that I realized I don’t know how the game ended. I turned it off when Pedroia was batting, and so had to check the final score on my cell phone at 8:30 this morning. It was a stark realization on this windy day. The team I grew up rooting for was not my biggest sports priority.
It was a pretty jarring thought, and one that I wanted to make my peace with as soon as possible. Thank goodness I write for a sports blog, eh? On my commute to my office, I counted all of the sports-related concerns that were on my mind last night that took precedence over my Sox/Yankees interest. I shuddered when I realized that this relatively important baseball game barely cracked the Top Five. For sake of healing, I am putting my Top Five here:
1. Patriots/Chargers Sunday Night Football – Read More