Finally

The timeline of key events in my life goes something like this:

August 30th 1983-born.
October 29th 2008-Phillies win the World Series.

That may be a bit simplistic and dramatic, as I chose to leave a few things in the middle. But mostly, I just cut out the losing. Lots of losing. The Phillies lost. The Eagles lost. The Flyers lost. The Sixers lost. A lot. Villanova lost. Basically, if I supported a sports team, doom was impending. Whether it was Ronde Barber or Craig Biggio or Petey Sessoms or Marty Brodeur or Ricky Manning or Joe Carter or...well you get the point. No matter who it was, someone dashed my dreams.

This was all worsened by the fact that the last Philadelphia professional sports season before my birth ended in the Sixers winning an NBA title. Since my birth, Philly went 0-98 over 25 seasons.

Then October 29th 2008 occurred, and it was over. We Won, and I was there. It only took the latest ending World Series game ever combined with the longest rain delay in baseball history, but we won. I walked from Citizens Bank Park to City Hall, watching thousands of people pour into streets in jubilation. It was, in a word, awesome.

Being unemployed throughout the baseball season resulted in me being more invested in this team than probably any other pro team in my lifetime. Most days were a wait until first pitch at 7 PM. I probably witnessed in person or on TV at least 90% of the games.

It led to the Phillies being the backdrop of the summer. You give me a Phillies game, I can tell you where I watched it, whether it be section 310, my living room in Manayunk, or the Borgata. My two strecthes down the shore were the backdrop for the 20 runs massacre in St. Louis and the Phillies inability to score runs against the Pirates. When you combine time spent reading about this year's Phillies, the time I invested in this team was monumental.

Having connected with this team like I did, I had all these fresh memories in my mind. It has occurred to me that I might forget some of these. Blessed with almost nothing but free time currently, I started collecting each player's signature 2008 moment, in my opinion, as well as random assorted thoughts about everyone who wore red pinstripes this season. It started as something just for me, but thought others may enjoy my ramblings.

From Hamels to Harman, Chase to Carpenter, what follows is roughly six thousand words on those thoughts and remembrances of our 2008 World Series Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Damn that's fun to say.