Baseball Born Again

A weird thing happened to me this year.

Usually such an absorbed, diehard Red Sox fan (although lately I have taken to calling myself diehard "by West Coast standards", because I don't know that I could keep up with those Bostonians), I allowed myself to drift off, float away from the Red Sox and MLB in general, and, in a way, take a break from the game.

I think I watched only one or two complete Red Sox games.

I never made it to the Morrison Hotel, a local Boston bar (actually its a bar on SE Morrison that shares it's Boston theme with some Jim Morrison decor) to watch a game. I did manage to see one of the first Red Sox-Yankees matchups at the New Old Lompoc, before the building was razed.

And late in the season I tried to get in the habit of occasionally listening to the game on the Red Sox' Spanish-language broadcast - but even that I did more out of a desire for language maintenance and improvement than to quench an undeniable baseball thirst.

When the season neared its end, and I knew that the Red Sox were not going to make it, but I hadn't realized just how far they were from making it, how bad they actually were.

They finished the season in the cellar. That's how bad.

But then, as I tried to wrap my head around the new postseason and Wild Card qualification rules and setups, I ended up getting really excited about the game again.

So much so, that when the two Wild Card playoff games were played last Friday, I watched them both. Not in their entirety, but following on my phone when I wasn't around a TV, or listening to the game. And then the next day, I watched or listened to the majority of the games as well, catching at least a small part of each game.

And then on Sunday morning, I got up and listened to the game, before heading back to work at noon after a weekend full of baseball. This was kind of strange, as I had been living in such a bubble of baseball for a few days.

I continued to follow the games all week. It is kind of fun, to watch the postseason when your team is not involved. There are the Yankees to hate, and I'm fairly anti-St. Louis and anti-San Francisco.

And the quality of the baseball has been incredible! So close, so many extra innings, and, for the first time since the Division Series has existed, every single series went the full five games.

That's a lot of baseball!

But then came the disappointment. I was rooting for the A's, the Orioles, the Nationals, and the Reds, and one by one, after so many promising late comebacks and large, safe leads, they all succumbed to their opponents!

And that leaves me rooting for the Tigers.

If it comes down to a New York-St. Louis World Series, my dislike of these two teams will make me lose that draw to the game I have so recently rediscovered.

On the bright side... it's a short offseason. Because it's a World Baseball Classic offseason! And I can hardly wait.

More Updating (and a fun matching game!)

It has been very easy for me to stop blogging.

Still, it is not something that I want to quit. As a matter of fact, I often get ideas for blog entries, but then I feel it would be strange to post them after such a gap.

So instead, what you get is a random entry every few months with an assortment of pictures to illustrate my goings-on.

I'm not feeling very writerly today, however. So let me just make a list of a few of the wonderful things I've been doing, and I'll put some pictures at the end, and this way you can have a fun game of "Match the Picture with its Caption".

So, without any more waiting...

Things Grace Has Done or Been Up To:

1. Looking for and applying for jobs and internships

2. Jury duty (one whole month)

3. Drinking lots of coffee.

4. Drinking lots of tea.

5. Biking around town.

6. Occasional trips downtown with mother or sister.

7. Attended a book release party at Tin House.

8. Seen "Gone With the Wind" at a theater in Hillsboro.

9. Gone on a few neighborhood walks.

10. Admired fall colors.

11. Had drinks at Driftwood in the Hotel deLuxe. (Hint: The hotel has a lobby)

12. Watched a Hitchcock movie and helped make & eat homemade doughnuts on Halloween (the doughnuts are tradition)

13. Read a few books (some fun, some trashy, some good)

14. Played with the kitty.

15. Watched TV ("Glee", "Psych", "The Office", "30 Rock", "Rescue Me", "Project Runway", and the new "Sherlock Holmes" series)

16. Ate out around town.

17. Caught up with visiting grandparents.

18. Voted (from home - thank you very much, Oregon vote-by-mail system)

19. Taken the MAX to the airport with my sister to pick up my Dad and visit Target on the way

20. Watched the World Series

21. Gone to Wordstock

22. Volunteered at Wordstock

23. Gone to the new Spirit of '77 Bar (to see the Rangers beat the Yankees)

24. Received my Master's diploma in the mail. In case you didn't know how to say "Book and Digital Media Studies" in Latin, that would be "studium librorum et instrumentorum communicationis numericorum".

25. Played with Microsoft Access.

26. And several other things.

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

Answers: a (6 and 10); b (9 and 10); c (8); d (6 and 10); e (TRICK QUESTION, just a funny Portland-y shot); f (12); g (13 and 3); h (5); i (11).

October...

I always say April and October are my favorite months, and there's a few simple reasons for that. For one, my birthday is in April. It's springtime, usually just beginning to get warm. There are flowers, things are pretty. And baseball season begins.

And October I love because it's the beginning of winter - when you still like the sound of winter, when you can begin to wear layers and warm socks and corduroy pants again. The trees turn pretty colors. And then there's the baseball playoffs.

This year is a little uncomfortable, though, as the Red Sox are officially one of baseball's most hated teams. It's been growing for a while now, but now that the Yankees haven't made the postseason, the Red Sox seem to have taken their place as Team Undesirable.

I don't really like being hated. And I disagree with what some people say about the Sox having some of the most obnoxious fans in baseball, though I suppose I wouldn't know since I didn't see any Sox games since they won their 2nd championship - but I've always thought Mariner's fans more obnoxious than those of Boston: at least we aren't of the fair-weather variety.

Well, obnoxious or no, we're in, and I'm up at 4 a.m. to follow Game 1 of the Boston - Los Angeles ALDS. A plus of the playoffs is that I become so much more organized with my studies when I know I have 3-4 hours to devote to baseball every day or two, often at inconvenient times. Last night, I did some homework, then went to bed at 9. When the game ends around 7.30, I'll shower, then study until it's time for class.

For Game 2, which is on Friday in the US, but Saturday morning here, I'll probably get up at 3.30, then go back to sleep after the game for a couple of hours before heading to work.

I'm just hoping the Sox go all the way - not only for the obvious reasons, but because my grades just might improve as a result. And I'll get a lot of knitting done in the meantime.