Rainy night in Boston

It's raining tonight in Beantown.

Nope, I'm not there. Just watching on the tube thanks to the fine folks at FOX. The Red Sox are beating the Rockies 4-1 in the bottom of the fourth as I type this.

Couldn't help but think about the late, great A. Bartlett Giamatti. If Bart were still alive, he'd no doubt be at Fenway tonight. Or at least watching from Martha's Vineyard, rooting on his beloved Sox.

Thought about his fine little piece, "The Green Fields of the Mind," about the end of a long ago season. It started raining that game, too, as Giamatti made his way out of the park.

"It breaks your heart," Bart said of this great game. And, of course, it does.

Former UT quarterback Todd Helton is the longtime Rockies first baseman. This is his first World Series. Guess that's why I'm rooting for the Mile High boys this fall.

I'll fly up to Boston one of these days, though. Take in a weekend game at Fenway before they shut this grand old park town. Then, I'll rent a car and drive up to Maine, maybe say howdy to Halls High grad Jim Marine and his wife.

I need to get to Maine anyway. That state, along with Minnesota and North Dakota, are the only three in the contiguous 48 I've yet to visit.

I would complain about thoughts of being without the game for the next five months. But we've got basketball to play in Big Orange Country, y'all.

OK, gotta go. Francis is in trouble again. Bases loaded, 2-1 count to Tek.

Gotta enjoy this while it lasts.

Coming of age...

Well, all I can say is getting older -- and growing up -- never felt so good.

Got back from Big Ed's Pizza in Oak Ridge by 7:30 last night to watch the San Diego Padres/Colorado Rockies play-in game (the rare 163rd regular season game) for the NL Wild Card on TBS. Fun stuff. These two teams played like they never wanted the season to end, which is the great thing about this grand old game; it gives you the illusion that a never-ending year might just happen.

The Rockies jumped ahead (you should have seen that towering, 7-iron esque shot by Central High guy Todd Helton early on), then the Padres grabbed the lead on a grand slam. Poor Padre defense allowed the Mile High boys to edge back ahead.

Then poor defense, by Matt Holliday of all people, tied the score up in the 8th. And there it remained for the 9th, 10th and 11th.

Finally, about 11:30, I couldn't take it anymore. Yes, I turned off an exciting, tie-score, extra innings baseball playoff game. Ten years ago (heck, a year ago), this wouldn't have happened. I would have stayed glued to the tube. Just slept late today.

Nah. Can't do that anymore. With age comes responsibility. I have to get up this morning and go run the news department. Plus, I wanted to exercise a bit first too.

So, I left the game behind and went on to bed before midnight. But, you see, it's cool. Today's Rocky Mountain News (online) tells me that Helton, Holliday and crew won that sucker in exciting fashion in the bottom of the 13th, capping (of course) a rally with Holliday's controversial slide home on a fly ball.

Now that the Tigers and Braves are out of the playoff picture, I'll be rootin' for the Rockies the rest of the way. Young, exciting team. Plus, I have to pull for the local boy Helton, right? He's never been to the playoffs before.

So, I'm OK and you're OK, right? Of course we are. I may even run over to the mall after work and grab a Rockies hat, I feel so good.

This being responsible thing isn't so bad after all.