And Then It Was As It Should Be

How long is seven years?

Not quite two Olympics but enough time to earn a bachelor’s degree and finish law school if I were so inclined and motivated.

It’s enough time to teach a kid how to play tee-ball then watch him blossom into a unanimous all-star selection in the league’s highest division.

It’s enough time for my luck to return if I had broken a mirror.

It’s enough time for Britney Spears to go from “the hottest piece of ass in the world” to “knocked-up trailer trash” back to “hot piece of trailer trash that I’d bang because she’s still rich as hell.”

It’s a long time to reflect upon.

Seven Junes ago at the tender age of 21, I effused effervescent optimism as I braved a sweltering downtown summer day to cheer on my heroes — Shaq, Kobe, Big Shot Bob Horry, Rick Fox, Fish, Mad Dog Mark Madsen, B-Knuckle Brian Shaw, Samaki Walker, Devean George, Slava Medvedenko — as they paraded down Figueroa Blvd. from City Hall to the Staples Center where Chick Hearn was waiting to get the celebration started.  I turned to my friends, Mars and Big Pete, and made them promise to come back with me the next year to celebrate a FOURTH consecutive championship.

A lot happens in seven years.

2003 – I paced the floor of my room in front of my TV yelling, screaming, pleading the Lakers to mount the typical comeback and rally against the Spurs.  The clock began to dwindle down while the Spurs’ lead continue to grow.  The game was essentially over before the clock reached zeroes.  Not In Our House banners strewn all over Staples Center rang hollow as the din of the crowd was reduced to the disgruntled murmur of shock.  Tears welled in my eyes.  Kobe was sitting on the bench in tears as well.  I forced myself to watch those waning moments to ingrain the feeling of disappointment and dejection to make the following year’s triumph all the better.

2004 – Coming off the “Colorado Incident” the Lakers reloaded their roster adding future hall of famers Gary Payton and Karl Malone to the mix to form what many called the greatest starting line-up ever assembled.  The Lakers breezed to the league’s best record and were the prohibitive favorites going into the Finals until Malone injured his knee setting up an epic fail as the Lakers got bounced by the Pistons in 5 games.  Thus began the the precipitous fall of the once-great Lakers dynasty as Kobe opted out of his contract and Shaq demanded to be traded.  Forced to choose between its aging superstar center and the young superstar guard coming into his prime, Jerry Buss chose Kobe and traded Shaq to Miami for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler, and Brian Grant.  Phil Jackson isn’t offered a new contract and Rudy Tomjanovich is brought in to oversee a new era of Lakers basketball.

2005 – Enter the anti-Renaissance… the Lakers missed the playoffs for the second time in my lifetime.  Tomjanovich didn’t make it to midseason and Frank Hamblen was elevated from his assistant position to finish off the season.

2006 – Phil Jackson returned and Kobe almost single-handedly leads the Lakers past the high-octane Phoenix Suns in the first-round.  The Lakers were up 3-1 and came within a close-out on a Tim Thomas prayer 3-pointer in Game 6 of winning the series.

2007 – The Lakers get bounced in the first round of the playoffs by the Suns again, but this time they went meekly in 5 games.  Kobe was all up in a tizzy about his alleged lack of support and made a very public trade demand.

2008 – After a summer of apprehension that teetered on the news of whether or not the Lakers will deal Kobe, the team got off to a surprisingly good start with the emergence of Andrew Bynum as an interior force.  Then Bynum went down with a knee injury and all seemed lost.  Then Mitch Kupchak, who’d been killed in the press and by the fans, performed highway larceny and traded perennial stiff Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, a couple draft picks, and the rights to Marc Gasol to the Memphis Grizzlies for Pau Gasol.  The Lakers made an improbable run to capture the #1 seed in the West on the season’s last day that propelled them to the NBA Finals against the HATED Boston Celtics.  After dropping the first two games of the Finals in  Boston, the Lakers won game 3 at Staples and were ahead by 24 points in game 4 coasting to tie the series.  Then it happened.  The Lakers came from ahead to blow the game, the series, and the psyches of Lakers fans all over the world.  I can’t say that loss didn’t affect me as a fan.  I’ve seen some bad losses in my lifetime — getting swept by the Spurs in 1999, the end of the 3-peat, eliminated by the Suns after leading the series 3-1 — but this one cut particularly deep.  Losing a 24-point lead at home on the biggest stage goes lengths in decimating the innate confidence a fan must have in their team.

And now, seven years later, we’re back on top of the mountain.  The cliches about needing to experience the deepest valleys of the lows to appreciate the splendid heights of the highs ring true.

As the final minutes of the fourth quarter of last night’s monumental win whittled away, the glimmer was back in our eyes.  “It’s been a LONG time,” I kept repeating to my friends while trying to soak in the moment and savor every second knowing that championships are not to be taken for granted.  We counted down the seconds and when it clock zeroed out Mars, Drew, Big Pete, Hayashi, and I formed a huddle in the middle of Drew’s unfurnished living room and started hopping around like the Lakers pre-game ritual.

Seven years ago I got a sunglass tanline as a reminder of that sweltering downtown day.  I’ll be back Wednesday to cheer my team again.  It’s been a sweet rollercoaster ride of a season that culminated in the ultimate goal.

Savor the moment, LA.  It’s been a LONG time.

Baseball… It’s a Funny Game.

The game’s prospects were bleak at best.  Marc’s Rays had come into the Winner’s Bracket Finals hoping for a berth in Saturday’s TABB Bronco Championship game, but one team stood in its way: the resurgent Angels who upset the #1-seeded Pirates in the quarterfinals.  The gray skies  opened up with a slight sprinkle during pre-games warm-ups and began dumping raindrops the size of dimes by the first-pitch.  Wanting to get the game played due to scheduling restraints for the ensuing days, the game started beneath a steady shower.

The Angels were able to get two runners on base with one out before Mother Nature intervened with a 15-minute rain delay.  The boys scrambled to get their gear underneath the protection of the cramped dugout while coaches tried their best to keep the team focused.

When play was resumed, a costly  error turned an inning-ending double play into a bases-loaded situation that would cost the Rays when the next Angels batter launched a bases-clearing double off the left-field fence.   Down 3-0 in the first inning, the Rays seemed to press as they attempted to surmount the modest deficit.  A series of bad at-bats by the top half of the Rays line-up made the Angels’ pitcher appear untouchable.  Through 4 full innings the Rays only managed to get 2 hits while allowing one more run on defense.

The Rays rallied  in the bottom of the 6th inning putting two runners on base with two outs and the Rays’ best player, Blake, on-deck.  The games only go 7 innings in the Bronco division, so this seemed like the last gasp for the Rays to pull off a comeback.  The last time the Rays and Angels played a couple weeks ago, the Rays made a furious comeback down 6 in the last inning that was ignited by a 3-run home run by Blake only to come up 1-run short.  This similar situation weighed on the minds of the Angels coaches as well as the pitcher who also happened to give up that 3-run bomb to Blake two weeks prior.  Should Ryan find a way on base, Blake would represent the tying run, but Ryan could only muster a weak grounder to second base to kill the threat.

The Angels tacked on another insurance run in the top-half of the final inning putting the Rays in a deeper hole.  Down 5-0 with nothing but a meager offense, the Rays coaches looked distraught.  The Rays were preseason favorites to win it all based on the incredible work the manager did in the draft.  The Rays featured the league’s best talent, Blake; 3 travel-ball players who were all-stars last year, Marc, Ryan, and Connor; and another travel-ball player, Nacio; not to mention three coaches with travel-ball/all-stars experience.  Games aren’t won on paper, though, and the Rays weren’t just losing this game, they were getting spanked.

Blake led off the inning with a sharp double to the left-field gap, and scored on a single by Connor.

5-1 Angels

Then it started getting away from the Angels as their pitcher lost command of his pitches and walked the bases loaded.  A fielder’s choice by the third baseman allowed another run to score.

5-2 Angels

The Angels brought in another pitcher for relief, but he walked in another run.

5-3 Angels

Kyle, who had been injured more than half the season after breaking his ankle the first practice, came up to bat with the bases-loaded and the season on the brink.  He swung badly and missed the first pitch, then fouled the next one off before taking two balls to even the count.  Then the unthinkable, the unfathomable… he hit a sharp grounder down the line past the third baseman who was inexplicably playing shallow allowing the tying run to score from 2nd base.

5-5 tie

With one out and the winning run only 70 feet away at third base, the Rays now found themselves in the driver’s seat.  The next batter struck out, which brought Marc up to the plate with a chance to be the hero except the Angels’ manager had other ideas and walked him intentionally to load the bases and set up the force outs.  Ryan came up to bat again with the weight of the team on his shoulders and could only muster a groundball to the shortstop to retire the side.

The Rays pulled off a 5-run inning in their last at-bat to push the game into extra innings.  Neither team was able to score in the 8th inning, and the game was suspended due to darkness…

… and that’s where we are today.  Today at 4:30 the game will continue in the top of the 9th inning with the score tied 5-5.  The winner of the game advances to the Finals tomorrow, and the loser stays and plays for their playoff lives against the Pirates in an elimination game.

It’s really hard not to get caught up in the emotion of youth sports.  I’ve been coaching baseball now for almost 7 years, and times like these where the unadulterated emotions of the game overwhelm remind me about how special this time is for the kids.  Some of these kids maybe  never play the game again within a couple years.  They’ll discover girls, music, or just get sick of their parents making them play baseball.  Some of these kids have never played on a team as good as the one they’re on right now, while others are patiently waiting for all-stars and travel-ball season to start.  They don’t know it yet because they’re living in the moment, but these are moments they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.  In their haste to grow up, they’ll come to cherish these memories.  Hopefully, they can pull out a victory today because happy memories are a lot more fun to recollect.