For better or worse, my mom passed on her love of sports to me. In fact, some of my fondest memories as a child are going to Vanderbilt basketball games with her. I've never known a woman who loved sports - all sports, really - more than her. One of the things I missed the most after her memory began to fade before she died was not being able to call her and talk about the Titans, the Predators, etc.
It's only natural, I guess, that my boys have inherited my love of sports. That very same love of sports that I inherited from my mom. It's like an unbroken circle of which my mom, my boys, and I are all a part.
What means the most to me, though, is that JP's and Joe's hearts bleed Dodger blue, just like mine. The boys have been blessed, for sure, to grow up in an era when the Dodgers have been competitive and in the mix every year. 12 division titles and five pennants since 2013. And I've been blessed to be able share my love of the Dodgers with them during a period of sustained success that is almost unprecedented in baseball's modern era.
Of all the Dodgers' baseball games the three of us have watched together, last night's game probably tops them all. Game seven of the World Series in Toronto. A World Series in which the Dodgers were heavily favored and appeared poised to win handily after winning a Game three on Freddie Freeman walkout home run in the 18th inning. a game I finished watching, alone, at 2 a.m. on a night when I had to go to Court the next morning - only to have the Blue Jay win the next two games in Los Angeles to send the Series back to Toronto with the Dodgers down, 3 - 2.
The Dodgers won Game 6 behind another sterling outing from Yoshinobu Yamamoto to force a game seven, the most exciting thing in sports.
As JP watched upstairs with Martha Grey and I sat with Joe on the couch in the den, all appeared to be lost with one out in the ninth inning, the Dodgers down 4 - 3. On a full count, Miguel Rojas hit one of the most unlikely - and timely - home runs in World Series history when Jeff Hoffman hung a slider. Rojas jumped on the pitch and hit it into the left field stands. What I'll always remember is Joe and jumping around the room while JP screamed and yelled upstairs. It was an indelible moment that I'll remember forever.
After throwing 96 pitches last night, Yoshi took the ball, again, with the Dodgers in trouble in the bottom of the ninth and miraculous got out of the inning. Heroically, he stayed on the mound for the next two innings and was the winning pitcher after Will Smith's two out home run in the top of the eleventh inning held up to give the Dodgers a stunning 5 - 4 win and their ninth World Series title.
When Alejandro Kirk grounded into a game-ending doubler play - Mookie Betts stepped on second base on a broken bat ground ball up the middle and threw to Freddie Freeman at first base - it was complete pandemonium at our house. JP and Martha Grey ran downstairs as Joe and I yelled, hugged, and danced around the den. It was sheer ecstasy, the kind that only a true sports fan can understand. Just when all seems lost, your team rallies and give you a moment that you'll never forget.
