As thoughts turn to the fall (classic)

At the beginning of the season, I raged against the machine. The prices charged were absurd. The treatment given those who were only well to do, was disgraceful. Yet spring turned to summer, and with fall soon here, different thoughts now control. It is all about getting tickets for the baseball playoffs.

After the hiatus last year, following a 12 year run, the postseason is all but assured for my Yankees. Absence makes the heart grow fonder, and the return of October baseball brings both relief and joy. Last year was a blow to the sternum. This season, to date, has been a time of chest pounding. We are once again who we are.

So, the scramble to buy those few seats that seem available to the public for the post season, will begin in earnest in the coming weeks. Richie and I have positioned ourselves as well as we could, given the limitations that the state of the economy, and the escalating charges at the Stadium, placed upon us. With our smallest of partial season ticket plan in the nose bleed seats, we are on the bottom of the list of those that have priority to tickets. If past practices hold, we may be eligible to buy 2 tickets for one game in each playoff series, in the hours just before the masses swarm. It takes quick hands on the computer at the precise moment the imaginary gates open on the screen. Choose quickly and choose wisely or go home empty handed.

It is small recompense for a half century of unfettered love, but it will have to do. Richie has (knock on wood) seemed to have the magic touch in years past, always able to push the right buttons. Sometimes it is tickets for game 7 and the series ends in 6 games. In the worst of times it has been tickets for the worst of games (was there anything worse than the loss in game 7 to the Red Sox in 2004?). But we have witnessed magic more than once.

I have always had a strong dislike for opening my wallet. This has become a core belief in these days where less is not so bad as the alternative. But, I will brush this sentiment aside and will relish the opportunity to become a little poorer if it allows me to spend another few hours in the presence of both the team and the child (either son or daughter) so close to my heart. There are a lot of things that money can't buy these days, but there is one thing it can. I count down the days for the chance to soak it up and take it in. Fall and the classic are around the bend, and life, at least in that very small corner of the world, is once more full of excitement and hope.