Without Question

My brother looked at me like I was crazy. "Seriously, I'd like to leave now," I told him again. "I need to go to work tomorrow."

It was October 21, 2009. The Phillies were just beginning to celebrate their second straight National League Championship. Preparations were being made on the infield for postgame interviews and presentations. And there we were, in a standing room only area right behind home plate, facing each other in silence as Citizen's Bank Park rocked around us.

After a moment, he relented. But even as we made our way to the exit, he kept one eye on the field, desperately trying to drink in every last drop of the event as best he could. Would that I had decided to do the same. I suppose I could blame it on the fact that I was physically and emotionally exhausted from Game Four (which I was fortunate enough to attend).  I could even blame my brother for not putting up more of a fight to stay. But if I'm being honest, in the end, I blame myself.

Yes, we Phillies fans are a strange breed and our eccentricities manifest in different ways. For me, that one world championship after more than a quarter century of futility somehow made me numb to what I was witnessing.  It was as if - gasp! - I expected them to win. So what if I didn't stay and watch the NLCS celebration. There was a World Series parade still to come and I was saving my energy for that.

Only it didn't come this time.  Or the next.

And all the while I stood idly by offering neither intelligent commentary nor unbridled snark. Clearly the passionate ridicule I provided in 2008 was vital to the team's success. Plus, with FJM gone, those poorly written articles weren't going to make fun of themselves (although some come close, albeit unintentionally). So last week, as autumn and winter battled it out for control of the final week of November, I finally decided it was time I started contributing again - both to this blog and the success of the Phillies.

I was certain my brother would agree, which is why I explained all this to him when we saw each other over the Thanksgiving holiday. Instead, he simply looked at me like I was crazy.

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