[thenightwriterblog] The Night Writer: We were young

[notify at powerblogs.com]

Posted by The Night Writer:
We were young
http://thenightwriterblog.powerblogs.com/posts/1175027637.shtml


   Last night after I finished my blog post I decided to do a little
   channel surfing -- but I didn't get far. My thumb was barely warmed up
   before I came across FSN re-broadcasting Game 5 of the 1987 American
   League Championship Series between the Twins and the Detroit Tigers.
   By the time I tuned in the game was in the bottom of the 8th inning
   but I settled in to watch the exciting conclusion because I'd never
   seen it before.
   Yes, Twins fan that I am, I had missed one of the seminal moments in
   Twins history; had, in fact, missed all but a few innings of this
   series. "What, where you out of the country or something?" you might
   ask. As a matter of fact, the answer is "yes" and "something." I was
   honeymooning in Puerto Vallarta with the not-yet Reverend Mother,
   having gotten married on the same afternoon that the Twins played game
   three in Detroit (which fortunately caused me to miss the otherwise
   demoralizing Pat Sheridan homerun off of Jeff Reardon in the 9th).
   I knew this team very well, however. I'd been working as a scoreboard
   operator for the Twins since the Dome opened a few years earlier and
   had watched this squad come together, working 40-50 games a year and
   watching most of the others on television (didn't have a blog to take
   up my time then). I was the same age as most of the guys on the team
   and felt a certain identification with them as we came into our own in
   our respective careers. I could sense there was something coming
   together with that group, but never anticipated playoffs in the early
   days of 1987; hence wedding plans were made for October with
   confidence.
   It was spell-binding last night, however, to have those heady days
   brought back to me on the big screen, to see Rat and Herbie and Puck
   and Bruno all young again and mighty. To be reminded again of how
   smooth Gags was in the field and to see Dan Gladden and Steve
   Lombardozzi on the same field -- and to laugh again at the memory of
   how Gladden would eventually punch Lombo out for being such a putz.
   Watching Stevie run home with a clinching run in the ninth last night
   I found myself thinking, "the guy even runs like a jerk."
   I also got a little misty at how natural it seemed to see Kirby at the
   plate, lashing those practice swings, and to see Joe Niekro on the
   bench as the camera did a slow and unintentionally nostalgic pan
   through the dugout: hey, there's Mark "Country" Davidson, Sal Butera,
   and Bushie, Baylor and Gene-O, and there's Al "No-No" Newman (the
   nickname was one I used whenever Newmie had to come to the plate) and
   Bert Blyleven when his hair and beard were still orange, watching
   intensely and, uncharacteristically, not trying to give anyone a hot
   foot or a shaving cream facial. Finally, the crusty old skipper, Tom
   Kelly, not looking old and crusty at all back then.
   Then there were the shots of the Tigers. My God, did the Twins really
   beat Jack Morris, Kirk Gibson, Alan Trammel and Lou Whitaker, while
   Sparky Anderson watched? Did anyone, even Gaetti, look more like a rat
   than Darrell Evans? And yeah, Sheridan, I saw you, too, you stiff prig
   with your ridiculous glasses, acting as if you belonged on the same
   field.
   It was a strange sensation watching those two innings. Even though I
   knew the outcome of the game already there was still a lot of drama --
   probably because I knew of so many other outcomes still ahead. I also
   remembered what that time in my life, watching these guys in those
   seasons leading up to '87, had meant to me, and I thought about how
   one of the greatest things that could happen to them was about to
   happen, just at the time that one of the greatest things that ever
   happened to me happened. And we were all so young!