Rant #3,558: A Tonic For the Troops

"YES!

Congratulations to my team, the New York Yankees, for winning the American League pennant and going to the World Series for the first time in 15 years.

I had my doubts about this team, but any team with Juan Soto, the soon to be $700 Million Man, is a threat.

Good luck to the Dodgers and Mets. I personally don't care who wins that series.

Let's go Yankees!

(And they did it on the eve of Mickey Mantle's birthday ... the stars seem to be aligned the right way ... .)"

That is what I said on Facebook yesterday morning about the New York Yankees and their drive to the World Series.

After a very difficult week--yes, I did finish the convention review for work, at exactly 5,550 words--this win was a tonic for the troops, so to speak.

And who says baseball isn't exciting?

People who simply don't understand the game, a game with more nuances than any other sport.

I have been a Yankees fan since 1965, seeing my first game in person at the old Yankee Stadium, and falling in love with it right then and there.

My father passed on the love of the game--and the Yankees--to me, and I, in turn, passed these things on to my son.

I have been to many games in person during the past more than 60 years.

The electricity you feel in person at a baseball game ... there is nothing like it.

I was there when Micky Mantle hit his 500th home run ... I was there when Chris Chambliss hit the walk-off homer in the league championship win in 1976 ... and I was there in Game 3 during "the John Rocker World Series" in 1999 against the Braves, when the Yankees won the game I attended in extra innings on a walk-off homer by Chad Curtis.

I was there for lesser games, too, and oh, how I wish I could go to another World Series game this time around!

Baseball is American as apple pie, and the Yankees are probably the most famous professional sports team in the world.

I told you that on my trip to South Korea, seemingly everyone was wearing Yankees gear--

It means America to them.

I wore some Yankee gear there myself, and little kids would come up to me, and in perfect English, ask me where I was from.

When I told them "New York," there was a gleam in their eyes that was truly unforgettable.

The World Series looms, and all of this can be simply a good memory if they don't win the championship.

Baseball makes me feel like a kid again, playing pickup games, stickball games, playing in the neighborhood Little League in Rochdale Village, Queens.

Heck, I stayed up to 1 a.m. on Saturday night watching the recap of the pennant-clinching game, and I could have gone further if I wanted to ... I wasn't the least bit tired, even after a rough week.

The World Series begins Friday night, and I simply cannot wait.

It's the little kid in me, with saucer-sized eyes, dreams of a 28th championship right at the doorstep.

Hopefully, the team can knock down that door and be able to sing "We Are the Champions" and "New York, New York"--the Frank Sinatra version--and bring home the trophy to New York and Yankees fans.

After the year that I had, personally, this will make me as happy as can be.

I might not be able to jump with joy and click my heels, but i will do the next best thing--

Cheer while watching on TV, and party like it's 1999 ... and 2009, the last time the Bronx Bombers won the whole shebang.

Yankees vs. Dodgers ...

GO YANKS!