Shuless Joe

The best entries will be featured on CBSSports.com Sports Appreciation Day (Aug. 20). Was this ever done? I was on vacation last week and I can't find anything that posts any winners anywhere.

Sports Appreciation Day!

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/blogs

/entry/7129546/9973861

 

This is a fantastic forum. Lots of great stories have been shared, and I have enjoyed reading each of them. Below you will find mine. Hope I made the deadline, Joe!      
;      ;^)

http://kcman11.blogs.sportsline.com

/mcc/blogs/view/9973013

I am a huge sports junkie.  I have never found a better avenue to witness human drama.  The sheer joy of the Miracle on Ice to the utter suicidal deflation of the ball going through Buckner's legs.  The investing of your emotions unconditionally to a team is on par with a marriage or a religious commitment.  My first time was in 1978.  I was an 8 year old Yankee fan.  I had laid out all my Yankee baseball cards on the floor in front of our T.V.  My uncles and my father sat around me with a nervous energy I had never witnessed before.  As the Yankees fell behind I was overcome by the situation and started to cry.  My father sat me on his Knee and explained that when you love a team you love them unconditionally.  That means even when they lose.  I understood .  He told me to remember how many games they had won to catch Boston and set up this playoff game.  He said that the sadness I felt now would be replaced with a tremendous happiness when they would win.  As I tried to come to grips with this,  Bucky Dent strode to the plate.  That Mike Torrez pitch is frozen in my mind.  It was one of those slow-motion moments in your life.  My Dad and uncles jumping around  on sofas screaming and yelling like children. My mom and aunts coming into the room and joining in.  That transition from sorrow to unbridled joy that my Dad had just spoke of , I was feeling for the first time.  It was the greatest feeling I had ever experienced.  I jumped into my Dad's arms and he smiled at me with an understanding that him and his little boy had just shared an amazing experience together.  My Dad taught me to love my teams no matter what.  There have been many forgettable seasons ,many tears.  But for moments like Bucky Dent  it's all been woth it.  It's just like the saying " It's better to have lost and loved than never to have loved at all".

My thoughts on why I grew up loving baseball.

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/blogs

/view/6671715

If anyone else is planning on posting a blog, please try to do so by the end of the weekend.

Thanks!

- Joe

Definitely a great story Pitt. I was a card junkie myself when I was younger. Actually, I still have a stockpile of around 30,000. (Yeah, I was addicted...) Every quarter I had went to candy or cards, and most of the time, I couldn't resist opening a new pack of cards. Besides, I could keep those forever, and I have.

I'd probably still be buying them if they didn't cost $5 a pack now... and you only get like six cards!

It's a pity... In my opinion, baseball is the greatest sport on earth, but unfortunately, it seems bound and determined to drive away the next generation of fans. No kids collect cards now... they can't afford to.  Everybody had cards when I was a kid, and we were able to go to the store and buy them ourselves. We would all get together afterwards with our shoeboxes and albums, trying our best to make trades for the guys we needed. Not only was it fun, but it gave you a greater appreciation for the game, because it was a way to get to know all the players in the league, especially the ones you didn't get to see every day.

I do miss that "opening the pack" feeling, though. It's a good thing my wife usually tosses a one in my stocking at Christmas... just enough of a fix to get me through the year!

Thanks for the blog,

- Joe

http://www.sportsline.com/mcc/blogs

/entry/9917920/9929683

I have enjoyed many of your stories, I hope that you will enjoy mine

I appreciate the affirmation Joe...I do love my huskers and the post was all true. Go Bo!!!