Why I like sports...(con't)

12. Bonds (or anyone over 40) stealing second. This past Friday night, I was up at PacBell (the T for short) with a couple of my buddies and my lady. It's the bottom of the eighth, we're tied at 2. Bonds comes up to the plate. The A's fans behind me start screaming "STEROIDS!!" Instinctively I scream back, "GIAMBIIIII." Then they screamed, "BALCO!!" I wasn't too creative, so all I had was "GIAMBIIII."
Anyhoo, Bonds draws a walk with Feliz in the batter's box. At that moment, two people in the entire ball park noticed Bonds inching off first with a little too much of a lean towards second -- those two people being Ken Macha (A's manager) and Mr. Anderson (loud mouth Giants fan). "He's gonna steal!! He's gonna steal!!" The pitcher winds up...Bonds takes off for second...pitcher throws to first...Bonds is picked off...but he keeps running, he slides....he's SAFE!!!!!

PANDAMONIUM!!!

I turn around to the row of A's fan who's been heckling all game long and say, "You can't help but cheer for that. You got your money's worth!" They couldn't help but break a smile. Next pitch, Feliz bloops a single to centerfield, Bonds was running on contact and he limps home for the go-ahead run. That may have been the last time we ever see the HomeRun King steal a bag. The only member of the 500/500 club defying the laws of physics yet again. That is what the National League is all about - Small Ball. Course, Bonds is now hurt from stealing second and dashing home. He probably ends up hurting the team more than he helped them. But who can blame him?? He was auditioning for Billy Beane.

13. Costing your team the title. Bryan Steed just cemented his place in North Carolina history next to Michael Jordan. Okay...maybe not that dramatic. In the bottom of the 8th, with the College World Series tied at 2-2, Oregon State had men on 1st and 2nd with 2 outs. UNC induces a ground ball to second, a routine ground ball that slowly trickles pass the grass onto the dirt. Bryan Steed gloves the ball, digs it out of his cowhide and flips it to......the fans along the first base line!!!! Oregon State capitalizes and takes the lead 3-2! For the next few minutes when the new UNC pitcher came to warm up, Steed was the loneliest man in the universe. He singlehandedly threw away the hearts of thousands of Tarheel fans.

But that's just the reality of the game. Nothing is ever routine. You start with the fundamentals and get every piece of your game down. And at that particular moment in time, Bryan Steed must've been thinking back to Little League when his coach said, "Steed!!! Always square up and point to where you throw. Don't hurry it. You hurry it, you'll miss your target." Nobody can possibly try to fit in Steed's shoes. No one can empathize his pain and embarrassment. "It's only a game," some may say. But we can all collectively say, "No it's not..." And that's yet another reason of why I like sports.

(to be continued...)