The Introvert's Party

This morning when I woke up, I imagined the sleepy smiles on the players' faces:  Tired Romo still pointing to the heavens.  Pagan with his arms outstretched, intense in his grin even at first light.  Smiling Scutaro, eyes puffy, knee and hip screaming for some aspirin, lying in joy until someone helps him out of bed.  Theriot, on his side, still sliding home with that serene joy.  Pence, tucked warmly in his pod, calling each limb by name as they stiffly unfold.  Timmy clutching his wig, Posey a baby in each mitt; exhausted, achy, perhaps still in a state of disbelief, but with history behind them.

What made the win, and more acutely the sweep, in the World Series by the Giants so mind-altering was the shock and confusion in the eyes of sportscasters and baseball fans everywhere.  Me included.

Luck, most claimed.  Those darn lucky Giants, had the baseball gods behind them all the way.  Sure, things came together at the right time.  Tom Verducci wrote an excellent article on the "why" after Bummy's game 2 win.  Sports radio will have their switchboards flashing like Christmas trees all week with fans calling in to share their two cents.  Everybody wants to know how and why and now that it's all history, we look back with a knowing eye and share the little known secret to the Giants' success.  Suuure, everyone said the Tigers in 5, or 6, or maybe 7, but come close and I'll share the real reason with you, Sonny Boy!

 I deplore you to stop looking for answers.  Or at least seek with caution:  You'll be sitting at your computer consuming dumb folks like me all day until you're left with nothing but the skeleton whole.

I don't know where this is from, someone claim it!

There are a million answers, all right, all wrong.  Defense, offense, pitching, fans, gods, underdogs.  The point is that it happened. 

Did you stop the examination in your own life, the get rich quick scheme, the ways in or out of a relationship, the professional obstacles, the illnesses, the slipping away of this or that?  Did you stop looking for a way and just revel in the victory?  It was in many ways miraculous, don't let pundits dissect this post season so much that all you have are a million tiny facts.  The formula is something like number of enchiladas consumed plus average weight of pandas divided by length of Timmy's hair minus Bruce Bochy's cap size rounded to the nearest whole number of gum wrappers lost in Brian Wilson's beard. Math or logic will not solve this pleasant conundrum. 

It happened, not just to reward the faithful or stick it to the faithless.  It's not proof of anyone being better than anyone else or the period at the end of a storied rivalry.  Okay, maybe just a little but baseball goes ever onward, proving us infinitely wrong.

The fact is, it happened and we need the unexplainable in life just as much as we need life to be explained.  If you need to ask anyone, ask the Tootsie Roll owl.  How many licks again, oh wise one?  That may be the best answer anyone can give you. 

For all of our East Coast brothers and sisters who face an impending hurricane:  my thoughts and prayers are with you.  Please excuse what seems like such a flippant celebration in light of your troubles. Stay safe, friends. 

Otherwise, here's some parade info.  Also, baseball is over... When did it get so cold outside?