I was so disgusted with sports this year that I declared myself a sports agnostic. I didn’t believe in any of it.
But it’s very hard for a St. Louis native not to get excited when the Cardinals are in the World Series. After all, loving baseball is my birthright.
This year seems especially magical for St. Louis. In August, we were 10 1/2 games back. The season seemed like it was circling the drain. No one was thinking they’d be playing in the World Series. That would have seemed implausible.
My friend’s son left for boot camp back then, totally thinking the Cards were out of it and the season was over. Denied sports coverage and media for several weeks, he said he was jogging in formation when he heard the radio from a passing car: “And the Cardinals are heading to the playoffs…”
“Send sports news!” he wrote in a letter home that same day. “What is going on?”
So now, I’m sucked in. On Facebook, all my Missouri friends — some new friends I’ve made in California, some old friends from school who are scattered around the country — are all excited. El birdos! they say. They post rewritten Cardinals versions of the Lord’s Prayer and The Night Before Christmas. They are discussing the rally squirrel and the meaning of the phrase “Happy Flight.”
It’s been a crazy postseason for sure. The Cardinals need three more wins, and I’m finding myself too nervous to sit down and watch a game. I’m listening on the radio, checking scores online. Watching with a nervous knot in my stomach and enjoying every second of it.
It’s funny. Every time I give up on baseball, something happens and I get sucked right back in.
