Finding a Pulse

Yes, the blog is barely clinging to life. Still alive, nonetheless.

Another baseball season has come and gone. The playoffs will be significantly less interesting to this baseball fan without the Red Sox. Heh... I wasn't even able to make it to a game at Fenway this year.

It's been very different this year. Unable to even watch half the games on TV due to my 2010 night work schedule, I feel a bit disassociated with the team I love so much; only able to catch a few games here or there in the half-week I have my off-nights.

Luckily I was able to follow some of the highlights of the season: Darnell McDonald's homer and walk-off in his first game as a Red Sox, Daniel Nava's first-pitch grand salami.

However, trailing the Rays and Yankees this year has a somewhat sobering effect. That's not to say I should feel entitled to a Division Title or even a Wild Card spot in the playoffs - I don't and I shouldn't. Plenty of teams languish for years without as much as a winning record, what makes our team so special? For years that's how it was with the Red Sox, then with one taste of glory, some have come to expect it all the time. Of course this is a natural reaction, once one gets a taste of the rich life, it is very difficult to come down from that high. It's not easy to be humbled, but one must have the virtue of grace to accept things as they come and roll with the punches, however staggering they may be.

In the playoffs, I believe I will be supporting Minnesota (they have a player from my hometown, Brendan Harris). Texas should be interesting, they have had very few playoff appearances and with all their posturing this season with some of the greatest talent that organization they have ever employed, they stand a real chance in knocking off the Rays or Yankees. On the NL side, I still favor the Giants, they have a great fun-loving chemistry in their clubhouse and a tenacious, never say die attitude akin to our Sox.

On the homefront, it's been a busy summer, many days at the town pool, our annual camping trip, a few days at the lake beaches, even one visit to the ocean this year early on in June. Fall is showing just as much promise. Here we are on the first of October... September passes ever so swiftly, as always, possibly my favorite month of the year, what with school back in session, lingering warmth from the summer but cooling trends coming into play, and the change in the colors in the foliage at the end of the month... it really is the perfect month. We took Sierra to her first live stage show, the Nickelodeon kids' show Yo Gabba Gabba at the Flynn (my first time in this downtown historic theater). She had a blast, she couldn't believe her eyes! My bro Tom and I also enjoyed a concert of a different kind - LCD Soundsystem - just incredible - although I had thrown my back out the day before so I couldn't enjoy it as completely as I could have with a healthy body. I really shouldn't wait for over a year to pass between musical gigs - being such a music lover as myself I should be getting out there enjoying as much live music as possible.

Keep on truckin...