Oct 31, 2008 | 4:04 PM | Now writing from Titletown, USA

by: Paul Miles

By way of confession, I have to tell you that baseball has always been my first sport. I grew up playing baseball and watching baseball. It wasn't until high school that I became a basketball fan, and not until even more recently that I became more than a casual hoops fan.

My childhood memories are dominated with summer evenings sitting in the living room watching Phillies baseball on Prism with my grandfather. I learned to love baseball and Philadelphia sports with him. I took my cues as a fan from my grandfather.

And as baseball is a generational sport, a sport that bonds fathers and sons, grandfathers and grandson, this day which is being dominated by the Phillies Championship parade has me turning my thoughts to the boys of summer and the man that tought me to love the game.

It's not an uncommon story in Philadelphia for people my age to long to share in the experience our parents and grandparents had in 1980 when Tug McGraw struck out Willie Wilson. We have all begged and prayed for a championship in this town.

In 2007 I lost my grandfather to cancer. A particularly nasty kind that robbed him of his memories. And as I dealt with losing someone that close to me, the Phillies made an unforgettable run to win the division. The only game I went to last season was the game before they clinched the title.

And now in 2008, on year to the week of the funeral, I was forced to deal with an apartment fire. And for the second consecutive year, the Phillies make another unforgettable run into the playoffs. This one concluding with the one thing I've been dreaming of for 25 years. And as the players come parading in to the stadium, I can't help but...I can't help but think what an unforgettable feeling this is.

So with the NBA and Euroleague and the NBL and everything else that's going on in the basketball world. I know some of the less hardcore readers are abandoning me, and that's fine, when I get back into the swing of things they'll come back. And I know some of the daily readers are wondering what's going on.

But I need to experience this. I need to revel for a few days in the feeling of being part of a championship because there will never be another moment like this. I will never have another chance to feel this, my first championship.

Now, please excuse me while I share this afternoon with The Big Guy.

Labels: baseball, phillies, philly, titletown

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