This weekend the Blue Jays are honouring Jose Bautista by adding his name to the level of excellence. Videos of his epic bat flip from game 5 of the 2015 ALDS have been in great supply.
I was at that game with my dad, which is a special memory for both of us. I had tickets for every home playoff game that season. I didn't go to all of them but was glad I went to that one. I have such fond memories of that season. The Jays had not made the playoffs since 1993 and had a very good team but were playing mediocre ball heading into the trade deadline that year and trailed the Yankees by 8 games in the division. However, they made a couple huge trades at the deadline adding David Price and Troy Tulowitzki, went on an epic run in the second half and easily won the division. They ended up losing in the ALCS to the Royals but it was still an unbelievable season to be a fan. There are other memorable seasons across different sports etched in memory but I think this one was most memorable because I attended so many games (over 20 that year including the 3 playoff games I attended). Went to some games with close friends, some with my son, and some with my dad. It was a season to remember.
Shill me your season to remember.
Sats for all. More sats for great stories about why it was a season to remember.
Cheers, GR
Here's mine: I grew up in Queens, not far from Shea Stadium. Predictably, I was a huge Mets fan. They were terrible when they came into the league. I started following baseball when I was 8 years old, the 1967 season. My dad was still upset that the Dodgers moved to California. He rooted for the Mets, but only because he hated the Yankees. He started taking me to one game a year around my birthday in June. In 1969, my birthday game (against the Expos) got rained out. They rescheduled the game as a doubleheader in September. The Mets went on their famous run in late summer. It turned out that our game was the first time the Mets had a chance to move into first place this late in the season. It was a crazy pennant race that year with the heavily favored Cubs. The Mets swept the double header, and the Cubs lost. I had never seen my father as excited at a sporting event before or since. The rest is history. The Mets won the World Series that year. I was 10 years old, but I still remember that feeling.
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Awesome. BTW I zapped this post last night as a guest browsing the site from my phone. Cool feature @k00b added.
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Thanks. Yeah, that's a good idea. I have to check it out. I'm hoping Saylor is lurking and gives us all a few hundred million apiece
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Wouldn't that be nice. Don't hold your breath. That's about as likely as the Mets winning 40 of the last 45 games, getting into the playoffs and winning the WS.
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Touche! I'm not even watching. I can't stop my out of town friends from texting me updates, unfortunately.
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All I will say is this. That was a rough day for the Mets yesterday and damn the Braves look unbeatable this year. We will see what happens in the playoffs though. I can remember a couple Dodgers teams recently that looked like locks for the WS and the runaway train got derailed once the playoffs hit.
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I have despised the Braves for many years. They always have the Mets number. Chipper Jones (world class douchebag) named his kid Shea because he hit so well there.
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That's an obscure fact that I was unaware of. I am somewhat fond of the Braves. I was a fan of Anthopolous when he was GM of the Blue Jays. Local Toronto guy that made his way up the ranks in baseball to eventually be GM. I didn't like how Shapiro pretty much ran him out of town when he took over the team from Paul Beeston. Essentially telling him he could stay on as GM but would have no autonomy. Pretty crappy move after the guy puts together the first Jays playoff team in 22 years. So I hope Anthopolous wins another one in Atlanta to shove it in Shapiro's face.
Overall Shapiro has done a good job in Toronto running the business side of things, managing the relationship with a corporate owner and getting the ballpark renovation done but his hand picked GM Ross Atkins has been a disaster. Part of me hopes the Jays don't make the playoffs because it will likely mean Atkins gets fired. I don't like to wish ill on people but the guy has made so many boneheaded moves and pretty much wasted the years the team had Bichette and Vladdy under control. The guy thinks everything in baseball comes down to luck and his analytics department are geniuses while they routinely get outclassed and embarrassed by fellow AL East teams that know exactly how to game plan against them.
Anyways, that's my rant about that and why I don't mind if the Braves win the WS again this year.
@ekzyis added it!
I'm mostly responsible for providing context, adjusting context, nitpicking, and carnival barking on this one.
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The Minneapolis Miracle. I'll never forget sitting in my mates living room with a saints fan. He's giving me shit about the fact we were about to lose the game and we once again weren't going to make a playoff run. Keenum steps into it. Pass is... CAUGHT! DIGGS! SIDELINE! TOUCHDOWN! UNBELIEVABLE! VIKINGS WIN IT!
seeing stupid ass Sean Paytons smug face suddenly turn sour was fantastic and all I could say was "maybe y'all shoulda put a bounty on Diggs eh?"
The euphoria in that moment of that play. Was amazing. Then in standard Vikings fashion we proceeded to get shellacked (technical term) the following game. Possibly some foreshadowing for the 2022 season where every crazy ass game we played the next game we got bought right back down to earth.
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Should have known it was going to be Vikings related. Guessing you aren't a big Sean Payton fan? hahah
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Being the head coach and "knowing nothing" about bounty gate... He's either grossly negligent as a HC or a flat out liar.
But no... I am not a stupid ass Sean Payton fan.
No beef with saints fans, friend of mine is one. But Payton... He can get tae ____.
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