Rant #2,005: Love Is Like a Baseball Game

Congratulations to the New York Yankees, who moved one step closer to returning to the World Series after knocking off the pesky Houston Astros to take a 3-2 lead in the best of seven American League Championship Series.

The series moves to Houston on Friday, and you just know that Minute Maid Park is going to be as crazy as Yankee Stadium was in cheering on the hometown heroes to overtake the Bronx Bombers in this exciting series.

Last night, I did something that I have never done before, and what I did is mix old school and new school in watching the game, which the Yankees won 5-0.

The work program that my son is in has intermittent business meetings, and none of them are very close to home. One was scheduled for last night, and I had to drive him to this meeting and pick him up.

The meeting was several miles away, and I left work early to pick him up and drive him there. With the Yankees game beginning slightly after 5 p.m., and with the anticipation that we would not be home until about 9 p.m., there were few options for me to watch the game, and I used those options to be fully engaged in what was happening in the Bronx.

First, I listened to a good part of the game on radio. Local announcers John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman, who have been doing this for years, brought the game in loud and clear to listeners, providing a local feel to the game that national announcers simply cannot even approach.

The game in New York is simulcast on WFAN's AM and FM outlets, and I chose to listen on FM, where the tone is crisper than it is on old fashioned AM, so I guess I was old school lite when I chose FM over AM to listen to the game.

I listened to the game this way while driving, but when I was idle--and after I bought a pizza to eat for dinner, which I shared with my son when he was done with this meeting--I watched a good portion of the game through the Fox Sports app on my phone.

Although the picture was clear, the app constantly froze up, but popped right back to action as quickly as it froze up.

No, it was not the most ideal way to actually watch the game, but it was certainly a different way to watch the action.

I watched the game this way for about 90 minutes, and when my son was done with his meeting, we made the long drive home, with the radio on loud and clear.

We arrived home about a minute or two after the game ended, so it marked for me the first time I have ever watched and listened to a Yankees playoff game without a television.

And it was a nice mix of old school and new school, too.

The two teams have the day off today, with the next game on Friday in Houston.

Once again, this will pose some logistical challenges for me as far as watching the game is concerned.

Many weeks ago, I purchased tickets for myself and my on to see the Brooklyn Nets' opening game at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, so we have seats there for the game on Friday.

The Yankees-Astros game will start later than the previous two games did, at 8 p.m., so the baseball game and the basketball game will be played pretty much concurrently.

We will be at the game, so what am I going to do to keep tabs on the baseball game?

Well, I will still have my phone, so while I won't technically watch the game, I will certainly keep tabs on it.

And I am sure there will be updates on the big screen at Barclays Center, too.

So while I won't technically be watching the game, I will certainly know what is going on.

And being that it could potentially become the clinching game for the Yankees to move into the World Series, I might just record the game at home--using an old school VCR/DVD combo machine.

I guess I am an old school guy, but also using new technology, I can be new school too.

Whatever the case, let's go Yankees!--no matter how I actually watch the game.