Over at Sports on Earth I have a piece about my college girlfriend, New York pizza and Joe Carter’s memorable home run:
It had been a long day but once we got home from the wedding and changed our clothes we were still hungry so we walked a few blocks to Little Italy to grab a slice. The only people in the joint were the guys working behind the counter. It was nearly midnight and the heat from the oven cut through the cool air from the outside. It smelled like tomatoes, garlic and charred dough, an aroma New Yorkers immediately recognize as something unalterably good.
My girlfriend told me to order for myself as she went to the rest room, so I did, then sat at a table away from the front door. I looked up at the TV hanging from the corner of the room and there was Rickey Henderson, the guy I’d patterned my swing after in high school. He was a Blue Jay now, playing against the Phillies in the 1993 World Series. It had been four years since he had been on the Yankees, but it felt like longer.
It took a moment to figure out the situation but when I did — bottom of the ninth, Jays down by a run in the sixth game of the Series — I was alert.
[Image Credit: Luis Andrei Munoz; Jorge Columbo]
real nice alex. i really relate to everything you write. i think it's that sorta emotional sensitivity. we're similar in that regard. though you may be more comfortable with yourself in all honesty. it's not that i'm not. anyhow, thanks for sharing!
Off-topic but: Ruh-roh.
http://bats.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/sabathia-has-surgery-to-remove-bone-spur-in-elbow/#more-65456
The note about Mo at the end sounds like some significant backpedaling from this spring's "I guarantee I'm not going out this way."
[2] I can't blame Mo if he decides to hang it up. What else is there for him except the thrill of playing; he's got a historic All-Everything career and championships galore, but family is everything, period. Unless... he's maybe hedging his bets on what the Yanks do during the off-season (including what they do for him). It's not what we like to think about, but he said and knows that it's a business. At any rate, I'll be happy for Mo whatever he decides to do.
[1] Couldn't agree more. When I clicked the link, I fully expected being able to relate to the piece and sure enough wasn't disappointed.
[2] From everything I've read, Sabathia's surgery is "minor". As for Mo, I think he'll pitch if he feels like he can dominate. Otherwise, he'll retire. I think that's a good thing. As much as we all want to see Mariano back on the mound, no one wants to bear witness to his mortality .
Dude, you're churning out work like biggie would spit out rhymes free-styling. Word!!!