Sports

I have been a sports-nut since I was a kid.

Grew up with a father who was Yankee fan as he had grown up near the Stadium in the Bronx. My friends rooted for the Brooklyn Dodgers as their parents were from Brooklyn. In retrospect I don’t recall anyone rooting for the NY Giants –also a Bronx team.

So I was Yankee fan – especially in the Dodgers-Yankees World Series days. The radio was on for all games that were available. [It was the old AM only days you know.]

By the time I got to college, I was tired of the Yankees winning all the time and so I stopped paying attention to baseball.

I was a Boston Celtics fan as long as I can remember. Bob Cousey had lived in my neighborhood and gone to my high school - so that’s the team we heard about.

After I moved to Boston, I still did not pay attention to baseball but instead got hooked on football. [Hard to imagine but I have seen every Super Bowl!]

In the late 60’s I got back to baseball and became the Red Sox fan I am today and - ditto the Patriots.

Some say I have addled my brain on all this sports stuff f- first on the radio then on TV...but every year that a team I like is in the World Series – I watch every playoff and series game. Other years I sort of watch to see if the game is a good one....but will turn off the TV if it gets lop sided. [I know it’s hypocritical to love lop sided when you are the winning lop.....but I never said I was not a hypocrite ☺ ]

In the “real” world I have seen the Orioles “live” the most of any team - since a friend and I took our kids to the old Memorial Stadium a lot – couldn’t beat 2 buck Mondays. And at one of those I caught a home run ball hit by the visiting team!

After the O’s moved to Camden Yards it got too “tony.” Kids seemed to annoy those D.C. lobbyists in their fancy seats and we were no longer welcomed. It really was no longer fun to be at a game so we stopped our regular outings to see the O’s. At least when I watch on TV - I can scream and cheer without “the look” coming my way!

This has been a nerve wracking week with the Sox having to win 3 games in a row. But my friends, son and I managed to keep watching by calling each other to say how worried we were that the Sox would blow it. And then came last night’s outcome!!! The Sox will play in the World Series!