Radical Transparency

Too excited to write.

Love and the PhilliesA postgame reaction.

I decided to use Seesmic to make this post because I think the screaming-induced rasp in my voice lends it legitimacy.

Dear Boston Red Sox Fans...With love from Philadelphia and the Phils fans.

As I walked through the turnstile into Citizens Bank Park tonight, the guy that swiped my ticket told me to enjoy the game. 

I told him to do the same.

A few steps into the stadium later, it struck me that the fact that he was working the gate at the game didn't necessarily mean he would get to go inside and watch.  In fact, if he was watching the door, maybe he wouldn't get to go in at all.

Yikes.

I was worried for him.  That would be rough to be so close to the action and not quite get to participate.

So I turned around, maneuvered back against the tide of the crowd, tapped in him on the shoulder, and asked him if he had to man the turnstile throughout the game.

Oh no, he said.  I'll be in there with you.  Someone takes over for me after the fourth inning, and I'll be running inside as soon as he arrives.

Made me smile.

As did just about EVERYTHING about the game.

I think the Phils need something both mellow and inspirational to ease the nerves before game 3.

My cousin Zach turned me on to Gang Starr.  I was listening to a lot of Tupac at the time, and I remember complaining the Guru wasn't smooth enough.

I was wrong.

Moment of Truth is track 8 on Moment of Truth.

Click here to download:

08 Moment Of Truth.mp3 (3867 KB)

Loosely quoted from Jonny Gomes of the Tampa Bay Rays, miked up and sitting on the bench during game two of the World Series:

Imagine you're from Europe or something.  You come to Tampa and St. Pete on vacation.  And you see everyone walking around with mohawks and wearing t-shirts that say 9=8.  You've gotta be confused.  And you're probably never coming back.  You'll go back to Europe or wherever and tell your friends how weird it is there in Florida: people all have bad hair, and they've got something wrong with their math.

Unclear if this is (A) an archetypal American knee jerk assumption of the observational deficiency in all European minds, (B) a prediction of what Jonny himself would think and do if he were abroad and saw strange haircuts and new math, or (C) unfiltered goofiness: an observation for which Jonny Gomes is probably making fun of himself right now.

Note: Apparently, 9=8 has been a clubhouse mantra for the Rays all year.  Nine players for nine innings every day will make your team one of the eight that make the playoffs.  Unclear the origins of the mohawk craze, but since lots of Rays players and the Rays manager are rocking it, the fans are getting into it too.  Mohawks look especially ridiculous when all but the party in the back tails are poking out the bottoms of baseball hats.

The World Series is making it very difficult for me to concentrate on anything else.  And that makes me consider wanting to be something other than a half-closeted fanatical Philadelphia sports freak.  But then I remember this night, the extra innings, the fist pumps, and the win, and man am I glad that I have hometown teams like these.

This is my favorite baseball song, if you don't count the song that's only a baseball song in my imagination.

Easy Out is track 13 on Wonderful Beef.

Click here to download:

13 Easy Out.mp3 (3062 KB)

Three possibilities:

A. The Rays are lucky.

2. They really are the best team in the AL right now. 

d. David Price is a baseball geek extraordinaire.  He truly knows how to win.  And he's going to be one of the greatest pitchers of all time.