Time Out

I warned early on that at some point Life would interfere with real estate and I would want the option of writing about something else. This is such a moment.

Last night we put on our warm clothes and headed to the ballpark. The Doubledays were playing for the championship of the New York-Penn League at Falcon Park in Auburn and it promised to be a great game. It was also the last home game - the championship is a 2/3 series and the next two games (if necessary) would be in New York at the Brooklyn Cyclones home field.

It was an amazing night: packed stands, packed parking, raucous die-hard fans. All the box seats had been sold. We missed the National Anthem but still got seats five rows up on the first base line. Not a bad seat in the house!

And it was a great game! The Doubledays were behind from the start, and looked like they would never catch up - their pitcher crumbled early, and only great defense kept the score at 1-0. Then the rally started in the 6th - men on base, stolen bases, a home run, missed balls at the plate, a diving catch by the 2nd baseman. Wow! The Doubledays won, 8 to 1, and are going to Brooklyn tonight. No TV - 99.3 FM.

The joy of winning! Almost 2,500 fans who stayed until the end, screaming the players' names, pounding their feet, smiling!

And here's the reason for the time out - the juxtaposition of the Doubledays' victory to the disaster that is currently Syracuse University football, which may be aptly demonstrated tomorrow at the Carrier Dome. "Here We Go Again," read the headline after the first loss.

I grew up with SU football, I played pretend cheerleader on Thornden Park's big hill, listening to the sounds from the old stadium, I went to games featuring Jim Brown, Larry Csonka, Floyd Little and yes, Ernie Davis.

Next year "The Express" will premier, a film about Ernie Davis. What will football be like? Will SU be a "Pluto" or once again a powerhouse?

I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed winning. Maybe not the actual winning (well, yes, but...) the desire, the striving, the "we're all in this together...."

It doesn't have to be HUGE as the Doubledays showed. Just fun.