Following up on the earlier post about last night's World Series game, it has been reported that people began leaving in the 7th inning of the game. Some Cardinals fans even congratulated the Rangers fans on the way out. The Card fans didn't want to see the visiting team celebrate on "their" home field. Normally fans leave when a game appears to be decided just to beat the traffic. The Cardinals went on to become the first team in MLB history to score in the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th innings of a game (I have no idea why someone keeps track of that or why I know it). Some of the talk I heard this morning centered on those fans that left. The funniest one was Mike Golic who said that not only would he not admit he left if he was one of those fair weather fans, but he would claim to have been there, stormed the field and the scrape on his arm was from one of the players.
The game isn't over until the final pitch. If you leave the stadium early you run the risk not only of seeing the greatest victory but also of participating in the final celebration. Yes, it's yet another sports analogy, but read it deeper because I don't mean stay in your seats until the clock reads 0:00. Which would you rather do, be there and participate or claim to have been there? Their team won, but instead of seeing one of the best walk off home runs (still doesn't beat Joe Carter's, Carlton Fisk's or Kirby Puckett's) in Game 6 history, they heard it on the radio in the car. On their way home, victory in hand, but celebration in check.
It's been said that when a fan talks about the team winning a game it is "we won" but talking about the team loosing it is "they lost." They lost the chance to celebrate because they won. Don't check out and miss your chance to celebrate with us.
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