Two Words: Derek Jeter

If you been reading my blog for awhile, you might recall a certain blog post in which I asked you to travel back in time with me to 2007. Today I'd like to go a little further back down memory lane. However, I still haven't gotten my time machine fixed (times are tough), so I will once more require your help here. If you're new to time travel via my blog, this is how it works:

Wiggle your fingers in front of your computer screen. You travel faster if you make the proper noises, but if you are in a cubicle and don't want anyone to know what you are doing, only using the fingers works just fine.

Ready? Oh yeah, our destination is 1996. And GO!!!

Don't stop now, or you'll end up in 2000 watching Budweiser commercials of men calling their friends and saying "Whaaatsssup!"

Stop! Whew, we almost ended up back in the 80's, and no one wants to revisit the banana clip. OK, well, maybe a little, but another day.

Back in 1996, Punk, Birdie and I went to a Yankees game with my Dad and Grandfather, John. On the way into the game, John said to my sister and me, "So you girls like the Yankees?" And we were all "Yeah!" And then he said, "Derek Jeter, huh?" This illicited the proper response out of Punk, but rather than blush and giggle like my sister, I looked at him totally confused and said, "What do you mean, Derek Jeter?" And he was all, "Derek Jeter plays for the Yankees." And I was all, "Yeah, I know." And then he was all, "...And he's cute."

I get it now. Girls only like sports for the hot guys. This is not true (even though I'm certain that the current football uniform was designed by a woman especially for me to enjoy). I know this is might be shocking, but some girls like the actual sport/ team.

Every few years since then, I'll tell some guy I'm a Yankees fan, and he'll say, "Ah, Derek Jeter, huh?" It happened again last week, actually. My response was, "I hate Derek Jeter." I knew as soon as I said it, it was a lie. I love him. He's a Yankee through and through, and I love my Yankees.

I love them so much that a few years after this, my Dad, Birdie and I went to another game and sat at the stadium through an hour delay while we waited for the rain to start, another hour for the rain and then 45 minutes for the grounds crew to make the field playable before our boys took the field. By the time the game actually started, the stadium was mostly empty and all of the seats in front of us were free for the picking. We worked our way all the way down to the field. Seriously, we could have high-fived the players. The Yankees scored a run in the ninth inning to win 2-1 at like 1:45 am.

In an interview after the game, Yankees player Paul O'Neill said that he really wanted to get the win for the fans because when you have fans that will sit through an almost three hour delay to watch you play, you know they really want to see you play, and you play just a little harder for the win. You want to win for them.

I'm sure he didn't mean that he didn't play hard in other games or that other wins didn't mean as much to him, just that he appreciated the fans on that particular day. We, the fans, appreciated the win and the time spent in the car with our Dads on the way home, and we love to hear our Dads tell the story all these years later about how we moved all the way down the front row of the stadium for the game. Thanks, Paul, we appreciated the whole experience.

So Wednesday night as the 2009 Yankees (including Derek Jeter) take the field for Game One of the World Series, some kid will be making a memory with their Dad. I hope theirs is as precious as mine.

And if the Yankees squeak out a win, that'd be cool too.