This column appears in the Monday October 25, 2010 edition of the Business Mirror. Photo by Uli Seit of the New York Times.
The morning after
by rick olivares
You mean it’s morning already? I never realized it. I was up all night. Unlike others, I resisted the demon in the bottle. Never was one for too much drinking anyways. Maybe I should have had a couple or two because sleep comes easier for me when I’ve had a drink. But then again, I don’t drink after a break up so what more after your favorite team crashes out?
I tried to write but I hit the Texas Rangers-induced wall. I plunked in a DVD to watch but my mind was wandering in a Texas desert. The food at the dinner table seemed unpalatable until I realized that we were having steak. Some things are just non-negotiable. Besides, it’s the best revenge a depressed Yankee fan can have on a distant relative of some Texas bum steer.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not mad at Texas. It was just a good ole fashioned butt kicking they put on New York and they deserve to move on to the World Series. I’m just being ornery after a loss. Alternating between being cranky and sad with some sentimental reminiscing. You see, it is as the late Liverpool manager Bill Shankly said, “Some people believe that football is a matter of life and death. I can assure you that it is much much more than that.”
Oh, Liverpool. Mired in the midst of a nightmarish season as they are – gasp – in the relegation zone of the Premier League while in the second tier Europa League they are incredibly undefeated. Nothing like a trip abroad to steer clear of domestic troubles. So there is hope for a turnaround in England and as much as it pains my pinstriped heart, it’s from the owners of the Boston Red Sox.
I still tip my cap – that one with the interlocking “NY” in front – to John Henry and Tom Werner.
Let’s hope that it’s a start to something better because the nightmare of the last two years is dragging Reds fans down. I can only watch Istanbul 2005 and the old video documentaries when Liverpool was the king so much before everything begins to look dated. So dated that there are only two players left from the Champions League title in the current team.
When I see my friends, they greet me with “your Liverpool just lost again” (snickers included) rather a “what up, dude?”
So I explained the Reds’ poor form, took their friendly ribbing, and congratulated them on their teams’ good fortune. Gotta be gracious you know? Besides, the worm will eventually turn.
While inside the pressroom during the last UAAP tournament, one scribe said aloud that she hoped Ateneo would lose. She said it to no one in particular and she seemed surprised that I heard her say it. Embarrassed, she reasoned out that the Blue Eagles had won enough and maybe it was time to see a different one.
And that calls to mind what Ateneo head coach Norman Black says about those ever-present crabs. “What do they want us to do – stop winning?”
Obviously, one cannot win all the time. That’s just the way it is. And just as there are the highest of highs there are the lowest of the lows.
In 2001, weeks after 9/11, the Yankees came back from the grave with two outs in the final inning to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks. New York did it twice in succession only to lose the final two games of the World Series. I remember when it was all over and a stunned Bronx Bombers team sat in the dugout and couldn’t believe that they had lost. I was absolutely crushed.
A couple of years later, I saw that Tim Wakefield knuckleball sent into the left field stands on a cold fall night by the Yankees’ Aaron Boone that beat Boston in the ALCS. I cheered, threw my popcorn in the air and basked in the beer being tossed my way (it was Budweiser in case you want to know). I hugged total strangers and made sure I hugged that pretty blonde girl three rows down. In our happiness (I was with my friends), we almost walked all the way back from the Bronx to midtown until we realized that we might not get back home until tomorrow and that we might get jumped somewhere along the way. The happiness was fleeting because New York lost to Florida in the World Series. Then one year later, they spotted Boston a healthy lead only for the Red Sox to end the curse and go all the way to win the World Series.
The morning after, the sun came albeit under a more somber fall sky. There was an even more biting fall chill so I pulled my coat higher, made sure my scarf was fit snuggly around my throat and neck, and wore my Yankees beanie to keep my head warm. Inside the subway, it was quiet. Well, it always is as people normally mind their own business. But when my eyes met the others of the pinstriped allegiance, we nodded at one another, coughed, and shuffled along our way.
The Fall Classic. Yes, I will be watching it even if New York isn’t in it. It should be a good one I’m sure. I’m a baseball fan too, remember?
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