On September 22, 1995, Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise” was the number one song in the country. Bill Clinton was still in his first term in office. I was beginning my senior year in high school. And the Reds clinched the National League Central Division.
They hadn’t made the playoffs since. Until now.
Jay Bruce is a pimp. If my wife slept with him, I’d give her a high five and buy him a drink.
I realize this is a mainly Cleveland-centric site, but I had to say something. I mean, it’s been 15 freakin’ years. I was there in October of 1999 at Riverfront Stadium when Al Leiter and the Mets made Steve Parris and the Reds their bitches. I was pumped in 2000 when the Reds traded for my all-time favorite player (Ken Griffey Jr.) on my birthday and then proceeded to disappoint year after year. For God’s sake, the Bengals have made the playoffs a few times since the last time the Reds did. And I was there on April 5 of this year right after the Reds lost their opener against the Cardinals, writing a post where I predicted they would win 88 games and win the NL Central, with all three of my readers – and myself, if I’m being honest –  thinking I was sniffing paint fumes while doing so.
And here we are. 88-69 with five games to play and winning the NL Central, with my MVP prediction (Jay Bruce) hitting the walk-off home run that clinched it. It’s beautiful.
Cross-posted at Not Dead Ninja Storage.
The moral is, sometimes rooting for a team that sucks can pay off, big time.
I so wanted to write Reds posts all year long but I was afraid to jinx the team and frankly myself. After years of letdowns and half efforts for a season it is nice to get over the hump. Finally since Marge Schott was canned by MLB we are back on top. Here is one fan who is hoping a large St. Bernard ghost has been taking dumps all over the outfield giving us good luck all year.
Not all of us are Cleveland-folks, BN. 🙂 To this day I wish I had saved my old Red Machine baseball cap.
A few years ago (when I was still writing on monkeyPi) I did some reminiscing about the good old Reds days of the 80s…
http://monkeypi.net/2006/05/26/a-quiet-game/
My favorite Red of all time was Bo Diaz a fat little catcher who was killed in a car crash sadly.
I was a huge fan of Chris Sabo and Eric Davis and Jose Rijo and who doesnt love the Nasty Boys in the bullpen. I met Tom Browning when I was youngster. Always will love my Reds but it has been a long time since I was an everyday game watcher sadly.
I thought Bo Diaz got killed when a satellite dish fell on him or something…
I paid for mlb tv this year and probably watched 3/4 of their games this year. Turned out to be a good investment.
Cleveland has broken my heart so many times recently that I don’t even know if I can root for them again. But I couldn’t love myself if I rooted for a Cincinnati team.
Congrats to the Reds and all you lucky fans.