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So, About That Series

The second World Championship for the Phillies in my lifetime, which is two more than many Phils fans before got in their lifetimes, was totally different from the first. That one was the end of frustration, and deeply moving. This one came as a delightful surprise. I am happy as can be, but not transformed.

This is not the team's doing. The Phillies, who'd been a good team with question marks all season, were a dominant one in the playoffs. They went 11-3, won all 7 home games, and won via pitching and homers, the most traditional means of postseason success. Wherever Earl Weaver was watching, he must've liked the show.

But it was no 1980. That franchise had never won, and the playoff failures of the absolutely loaded late-'70s Phillies made it seem they never would. Then, just when everybody gave up on them, the Phillies did win. That just didn't make me happy. It changed my life. I realized, right then and there, that being a traditional Philly boobird (I was good at it) was no way to appreciate sports. Watching ballgames is no place for raging at an uncaring universe. What if you win? Then you'll look silly.

So I still cuss the Phils sometimes, but only for the moment. All is forgiven on the next pitch. And on the next pitches of October, 2008 I was forgiving, and appreciating, the best team in baseball.

Congratulatons, gang. We knew you had it in you. It just wouldn't be very Philly for us to admit it.

posted by Michael Gee @ 9:25 AM