Cheering A Baseball Classic

First of all:  I am a Baseball Fan

Second:  I am a Chicago Cubs Fan

Thirdly:  Because of #2, I should not be cheering for the Cardinals, right?

Regardless, it was hard not to cheer wildly last night.  What a GAME!!

The Cardinals became the first team in World Series history to come back - twice - from 2 run deficits in the 9th and 10th inning - to then pull out a win a most dramatic Game 6!

World Series/Game 6 excitement has some pretty historic company - just in my lifetime alone:

-Carlton Fisk, the Red Sox catcher, "waving" his fly ball into fair territory for a winning homer against the Reds in 1975.
-Bill Buckner, also with the Red Sox (and an ex-Cub) letting a ground ball go through his legs against the Mets in '86.
-(*See Edit below)  Kirk Gibson fist pumping his injured body around the bases after hitting a game winning homer - in his only WS plate appearance - for the Dodgers against Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley in '88.  (One of my personal favorite baseball moments of all time!)
-Joe Carter (an ex-Cub too) also hitting a walk off home run for the Blue Jays - but this time, to win the '93 World Series.

-And now:  Cardinal David Freese - a St. Louis native - majestically jacking a ball high and deep into the October late-night sky - to see it soar over the center field fence - to tie the 2011 World Series at 3 games even against the Texas Rangers.

Ohboy-ohboy-ohboy-ohboy-OHBOY!!!!!!!!!

No - I am not a St. Louis Cardinal Fan.

BUT - Man, I AM CHEERING --->

-For many people I know who are first my good FRIENDS - as well as Cardinal Fans.  I genuinely am happy for them!
-For my in-laws (they are here visiting us from MO!) who stayed up WAY past their bed time to watch the end of the game downstairs.  They still remember the golden Stan Musial era - and when Harry Carey was a Red-Bird broadcaster.
-For my brother-in-law Kraig - who was AT THE GAME - and had BEHIND HOME PLATE TICKETS!!!!!  (My goodness!! -- I just got light headed writing down this sentence!!!)
-For the Grand Old Game of Baseball - it will do her good to have the first Game 7 in almost a decade.
-For the FUN that it was to banter back and forth during the game and after on Facebook and literally dozens of texts!!
-For the simple boyhood sense of magic that still lives on in my 47 year old soul around a sport that can still capture my imagination and delight my senses - and THRILL me to the very core!!

Yup - I'm a little tired today.  This Great World Series Game 6 Episode ended way past my bed-time too - and I had to be at a Bible study at 6:15 this morning.

I can catch up on the sleep - eventually.  If you stayed up last night - you will too...

But - It would've been impossible to catch up on the EXCITEMENT that was a part of an unbelievable an improbable Game 6 - that I am SO thankful I stayed up to experience...!

(*Edit:  Ooops!!  My cousin Tim - an even bigger baseball fan - has corrected the error that Gibson's homer was in Game 1 of the '88 WS.  Thx for the catch, Tim - but it sure FELT like a Game 6 - LOL!  It still is an awesome moment - I was jumping all around my apartment like a nut-case - with the neighbors wondering what the honk was going on!!)