Classic Rant #1,297 (September 25, 2014): Rising Sons

I mean, what can you say about yesterday?

Remarkable.

And I am not just talking about last night in the Bronx, when the baseball gods were in full force.

On the first day of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the High Holy Days in the Jewish religion, this Jewish boy did what he needed to do, and his own boy did what he needed to do.

Then, in the evening, in the proverbial cherry on top of the cake, another boy, another son, did what he had to do--in front of 50,000 people who were standing at the edge of their seats all night.

As that little kid in the Little Rascals said eons ago, "Re-mark-a bowl!"

In the morning, I was finally able to secure SSI for my son, which means that he will get Medicaid.

It was a long process, but this guy who knew absolutely nothing about this subject (me) learned about it from scratch over the past few months, did his homework, did whatever he needed to do, and yesterday, my son was formally approved.

We don't have the official letter yet, but that is a mere formality.

My son can now get the needed programs to help him proceed with his life, including programs related to job training, which was the goal in the first place.

I was just so happy yesterday. It was like a very heavy monkey was removed from my back.

And just coincidentally, my son applied for another job yesterday, too, so we really had a full circle of a day yesterday.

We got home in early afternoon, and I have to tell you, I put on the Mets-Nationals game, and passed out on the bed.

It was just so much my body could take.

I woke up, finished watching that game, and prepared for what turned out to be an instant Yankees Classic (the YES Network does have a Yankees Classic show, and this game will fit right in)--Derek Jeter's final home game in the pinstripes, and what we now know will be his final game at shortstop.

To make a long story even longer, the weatherman predicted a horrible day yesterday, rain on top of more rain, and it was supposed to rain during the game too, supposedly making the prospects to even play the game quite soggy.

But the baseball gods prevailed, and the rain pretty much ended by game time at 7 p.m.

The game started poorly for the Yankees, very, very poorly.

The first two batters for the Baltimore Orioles hit home runs off Hiroki Kuroda, and the Yankees were quickly down 2-0.

He settled down the rest of the game, but Yankees hitters, who have been pretty horrible this season, came to the rescue, right in the bottom of the first inning.

The Yankees tied the game at 2, and the centerpiece was Jeter, who just missed a home run, settled for a long double, knocking in a run, went to third base on a wild pitch, and later scored to tie the game.

With people roaring his name all night, he later made an inconsequential error--I can only liken this to a game I was actually at in 1967, when Mickey Mantle hit his 500th home run on Mother's Day, and proceeded to make, I think, two errors at first base as the crowd chanted his name for several innings after hitting the historic blast--and the Yankees eventually scored three more runs, taking a 5-2 lead into the top of the ninth.

David Robertson, Mariano Rivera's successor as the Yankees' closer, was on the mound in the ninth inning, but with people chanting Jeter's name, he was horrid, allowing two home runs himself, and the game was tied at 5 going into the bottom of the ninth.

What this merely set the stage for was another Derek Jeter moment.

With a runner on second, Jeter--in his final at bat in Yankee Stadium--hit a single to right field and the winning run scored for a walk-off 6-5 victory.

In just a few minutes, the crowd was deflated and then inflated again--and Jeter made the moment real.

Watching this game at home, and recording it from beginning to finish, it will be a game I will always remember.

It is really what sets baseball apart from the other sports, from the depths of despair one moment to the height of ecstasy in the next moment, all encased in a daily grind of 162 games in roughly 180 days.

And tonight, the Jeter caravan will move over to Boston, where he will play out the final games of his career not at shortstop, but as designated hitter.

And then, his career as a baseball player will be over, and his new career--doing pretty much whatever he pleases, and he has said part of that will be marrying and starting a family--will begin.

Yes, yesterday was a finish and a start for Jeter and for my son. I link the two up because both "sons" come from loving parents who believe in their sons greatly.

As any baseball fan know, Jeter's parents and family have been with him every step of the way in his career, often seen at games both at Yankee Stadium and on the road, and my son has myself and his mom backing him in whatever he has done since the moment he was born.

Jeter has done it all, and my son, on a different level, will do it all too.

Other than myself and my wife and a few other family members, nobody will stand up and cheer for my son, but once he fulfills his goals, I am sure he will feel the same way Derek Jeter felt yesterday.

Just another day at the office ... .

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.