Why I Love Sports: Random, Fleeting, Unexpected Moments of Jump Around Excitement

Yesterday featured one incredibly exciting 30 second interval for any fans of both the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Browns. I realize that my brother and I may be the only two people in the world who fit this category, but I still want to share it with you anyway.

Allow me to set the stage.

The NFL Draft was in its second round and the Browns had already made three trades and their first two selections (Alex Mack and Brian Robiskie). As their third pick (#50 overall) approached, the Browns still had an opportunity to get another solid WR in Mohamed Massaquoi.

Simultaneously, on WGN, the Chicago White Sox were taking on the Toronto Blue Jays, looking to avenge a 14-0 home pasting on Friday night. With the game hanging in the balance, Sox up 4-2 in the bottom of the 5th, Alexei Ramirez stepped up to the plate with Corky Miller, Paul Konerko, and Brian Anderson loaded up on the basepaths.

After a ridiculous conversation in which my brother said he was contemplating picking up Corky Miller for his fantasy team (look at those career stats!), our full and undivided attention went to the Cuban Missile at the plate with the bases juiced.

Back in the day, the White Sox were able to lay claim to having one of the greatest bases loaded hitters in the history of baseball when Robin Ventura was manning the hot corner and cranking grand slams seemingly every time he stepped up to the plate with the bases juiced.. Last season, after cranking four grand slams as a rookie, Alexei Ramirez put White Sox fans and the rest of the MLB on notice that the most clutch bases loaded hitter in baseball may again play his home games on the south side of Chicago.

As my brother and I flipped back and forth between the NFL Draft (where the Browns were now on the clock) and Alexei Ramirez’s bases loaded at-bat (where he was trying to battle back from a 1-2 count) I made a bold statement:

“Alexei is jacking one. I’m calling it right now. Grand slam.”

My brother looked at me like I had just said something completely ridiculous and/or ignorant and/or nonsensical – almost as if I had said something like, “I’m thinking of picking up Corky Miller, a catcher a who plays once or twice a week, to be my starting fantasy catcher.” I can, though, somewhat understand my brother’s reluctance to jump on board with my prediction that Alexei would go deep. He entered the game still mired in his April slump, hitting below .200 and still without a home run. I have maintained that Alexei is just a slow starter and will be fine in 2009, but even I wasn’t so sure that my prediction was anything more than just a throwaway comment that would ultimately prove insignificant and erroneous.

As the time wound down on the Browns’ selection at #50, and as Alexei battled back to force a full 3-2 count, the anticipation began to build. Would the Browns pull the trigger on Massaquoi? Would Alexei Ramirez put the game out of reach with his fifth career grand slam? Was it incredibly lame that my brother and I had nothing more significant to do on a Saturday night than to be completely enthralled by a 2nd round draft pick and a virtually meaningless April baseball game?

Over the next 30 seconds, the exciting answers to all three questions were revealed with a resounding “You can put it on the board….YES!”

The Browns pick of Mohamed Massaquoi came through, Alexei Ramirez jacked a game-clinching jonron con bases llenas to left field, and my brother and I began jumping up and down and celebrating as if the Browns and White Sox had simultaneously won a Super Bowl and a World Series title all in that one moment.

And once again, not that I needed it, I was reminded why I love sports.

You never know when something will happen that makes you leap out of your chair and act like a kid on Christmas. For 30 seconds last night, it felt like Christmas in April. Am I exaggerating? In hindsight, yes. But in the moment, it was great. And the value of being a sports fan is the sum of all the exciting moments, in all of their varying degrees, that you are privileged enough to experience. And when they come totally unexpectedly, totally out of the blue, well that’s even better.

Last night’s moment was fleeting. I won’t be telling my kids someday about the night the Browns drafted Mohamed Massaquoi and Alexei Ramirez fulfilled my prediction by hitting an April grand slam, but I will tell them, for instance, about the night I was at Assembly Hall when Calbert Cheaney broke the Big Ten career scoring record. However, despite its relative unimportance, last night provided a legitimate thrill in the midst of an otherwise uneventful Saturday night.

And that is what makes the sports fans’ daily labor or love such a rewarding and worthwhile commitment.

Tags: 2009 nfl draft, alexei ramirez, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Browns, MLB, Mohamed Massaquoi, NFL

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