One Year Ago!

It’s hard to believe that the best Red Sox game I’ve ever been to was just one year ago!

So much has happened since then, including the Sox falling back to the bottom off the division. In some ways that championship feels so long ago.

But, it so many others, it seems like it was only yesterday. There are so many reminders of that wonderful night all around me. Even though they didn’t perform as well, most of the key players were still in Boston this season. Living proof that the championship actually happened. There are videos of it on youtube all over the place. Ways to see the game over and over.

Of course, my house is packed to the gills with championship memorabilia. Every time I see a piece of it, I’m brought back to that game six. Especially one picture. Like everyone else at the game, I had the camera in heavy use the entire ninth inning. During the final at-bat, it was even more rapid fire trying to catch a memorable image. Every time Koji wound up, the clicks went off. Once the game was over, the clicks went crazy again. I really wanted a pig pile picture for the wall, after all. In all the excitement and bouncing around, I never got one that didn’t look like everyone was underwater. I’m actually glad I didn’t. If I had taken the time and made the effort to get a really good shot, I would have missed out on the celebration of the moment. All that emotion would have been hidden away. That would have been a shame.

Besides, I was able to get a better shot.

As luck would have it, my little camera caught the very final swing of the series. Pedroia is airborne as he completes his pre-pitch hop. Koji is in the follow-though. The bat is a blur just over the blur of the pitch crossing the plate. The exact moment of the strike out. Sure, it’s not a professional pic. It even takes a bit to realize that you can see the ball and the bat. But, it’s the moment. The exact moment it became the best game I’d ever been to.

How can I not look at that every day, and smile?