can you guess what i did last night?

although i'm certainly a sports fan, i'm not normally one to bask in the glow of the accomplishments of professional athletes. i don't live and die by the games, i follow the games and teams for the entertainment value. there's something about a game - a broncos game on a crisp fall sunday afternoon takes me back to the days as a teenager when i'd listen to the game on am radio with my brothers while tossing the football around, and an matinee baseball game turns my mind to the days i worked on my grandparents farm in north dakota... driving the tractor on the hot prairie and listening to twins games. there's a romance to the games that brings back the joy of the boy i used to be - and still am inside...

last night was another magical moment in what has been a run that has invigorated a city. if you're a baseball fan, you've heard about the numbers and the streak by now - and if you're not, you could probably care less. and while the exploits of professional athletes probably shouldn't bear so much on our collective psyche, there's something about this team, this run, that creates new romance. it doesn't just drum up memories of days gone by, but invokes real joy in the moment. it actually feels like we're living in a movie script, and in the next moment robert redford's going to bust out the floodlights with an impossible hit...

i was lucky enough to go to the game last night with my brother and experience a moment that i knew i'd never experience again. the sheer joy of that place, the improbability of this team's run, knowing that this is the only time we'll be able to experience the first time - it made all those other things that i worry about melt away in the moment. and while we hear a lot about sports' ills and cheating and unruly fans, it's moments like these (and this moment has lasted an entire month) that make you realize why sports capture us. to believe in the impossible, and to watch it unfold in front of your eyes, is something you can't describe. you just have to ride the ride until it ends...

my only regret is that ian isn't old enough to understand what this is all about. because i'd like nothing more than for him to look back when he's my age and remember that romantic and magical run, this epitome of a team - and believe in the unbridled joy of youth...

go rockies. no matter what happens next, you've reignited that belief in a whole lot of souls...