I thoroughly enjoyed watching the National League Championship Series this year.
Matt has been a Mets fan as long as I have known him. The fact that a kid from California would become a fan of a notoriously bad baseball team from New York typically requires explanation.
His step-dad grew up in Jersey and was a Mets fan. Matt followed in his footsteps.
Matt and I went to about 20 Mets games across the East coast, with the Mets as the visiting team, before we finally made it to the Mets' home field in New York, Shea Stadium. The boys were little and had no idea how important the moment was when we stepped into the stadium for the first time. Matt had "an allergic" reaction when the National Anthem came to an end and the most famous words in baseball were uttered "play ball". The Mets lost that day, as they did often when we watched them play, but the losing streaks, the failure to make it to post season never altered Matt's commitment to his team. Matt is a Mets fan through and through.
Just a few weeks after we arrived back in the US from Germany Matt and I headed to the closest ballpark to watch his Mets in action after the three year hiatus from America's pastime.
I never really watched baseball when I was growing up, I had no idea how simply perfect the game is.
So with a growing love for baseball and Matt, I too became a Mets fan.
Now, I do root for the Mariners, and I will cheer on the Giants but if either of those teams faced the Mets', my loyalty is with the Mets.
All that to say, with NLCS was awesome! The Mets sweep the Cubs and head to the World Series for the first time since 2000. I distinctly remember that Series too. The Subway series. The only thing worse than losing the World Series is losing to the Yankees!!
So Wednesday night, game 4, bottom of the 9th.
Two outs.
3-2 count.
Mets' reliever Familia fires a final pitch to Fowler, its a strike the Mets are going to the World Series and Familia drops to his knees at the base of the pitcher's mound.
Familia looks to the sky, the team goes wild, and race to the mound to celebrate.
Familia dropped to his knees. I think anyone who watched that moment would agree it wasn't a well thought out plan to go to the turf, it was a raw emotional reaction.
The same reaction has been witnessed time and again.
Runners win a race, a soldier comes home from deployment, exciting news is shared....the knees hit the ground.
The reaction is the same when bad news is delivered. I got the 3am call that my grandfather died and I was on the ground, on my knees crying out before I could really even process what happened. People in anguish drop from their chairs and their standing position to the ground below them.
Why?
It is seemingly such a natural reaction that our bodies fall to our knees when in great joy and in great pain. When I watched Familia on his knees I wondered if our bodies were created to go first to our knees in our triumphs and our tragedies. God created us to go to him first, could that really be played out in something as physical as our bodies dropping to our knees without intention when our mind knows we have something to cry out for?
Matt has been a Mets fan as long as I have known him. The fact that a kid from California would become a fan of a notoriously bad baseball team from New York typically requires explanation.
His step-dad grew up in Jersey and was a Mets fan. Matt followed in his footsteps.
Matt and I went to about 20 Mets games across the East coast, with the Mets as the visiting team, before we finally made it to the Mets' home field in New York, Shea Stadium. The boys were little and had no idea how important the moment was when we stepped into the stadium for the first time. Matt had "an allergic" reaction when the National Anthem came to an end and the most famous words in baseball were uttered "play ball". The Mets lost that day, as they did often when we watched them play, but the losing streaks, the failure to make it to post season never altered Matt's commitment to his team. Matt is a Mets fan through and through.
Just a few weeks after we arrived back in the US from Germany Matt and I headed to the closest ballpark to watch his Mets in action after the three year hiatus from America's pastime.
I never really watched baseball when I was growing up, I had no idea how simply perfect the game is.
So with a growing love for baseball and Matt, I too became a Mets fan.
Now, I do root for the Mariners, and I will cheer on the Giants but if either of those teams faced the Mets', my loyalty is with the Mets.
All that to say, with NLCS was awesome! The Mets sweep the Cubs and head to the World Series for the first time since 2000. I distinctly remember that Series too. The Subway series. The only thing worse than losing the World Series is losing to the Yankees!!
So Wednesday night, game 4, bottom of the 9th.
Two outs.
3-2 count.
Mets' reliever Familia fires a final pitch to Fowler, its a strike the Mets are going to the World Series and Familia drops to his knees at the base of the pitcher's mound.
Familia looks to the sky, the team goes wild, and race to the mound to celebrate.
Familia dropped to his knees. I think anyone who watched that moment would agree it wasn't a well thought out plan to go to the turf, it was a raw emotional reaction.
The same reaction has been witnessed time and again.
Runners win a race, a soldier comes home from deployment, exciting news is shared....the knees hit the ground.
The reaction is the same when bad news is delivered. I got the 3am call that my grandfather died and I was on the ground, on my knees crying out before I could really even process what happened. People in anguish drop from their chairs and their standing position to the ground below them.
Why?
It is seemingly such a natural reaction that our bodies fall to our knees when in great joy and in great pain. When I watched Familia on his knees I wondered if our bodies were created to go first to our knees in our triumphs and our tragedies. God created us to go to him first, could that really be played out in something as physical as our bodies dropping to our knees without intention when our mind knows we have something to cry out for?
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