The Triangle

Issue date: 10/31/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Karl Kuchs

Media Credit: Mike Arrison

The Phillies are the champions of the world. The Phillies won the World Series. The 25-year Philadelphia curse is over.

As much as I have heard those statements in the past day, I don't think I can truly comprehend what just happened. I've thought about it over and over, but just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

I didn't know this was going to occur this season, but I knew some way or another, this was going to happen. Maybe it wasn't going to happen until I was 80 years old, but I promised my friends back in middle school and high school it would occur.

My mom is from New York and I lived in California for 17 years before starting college. One would think that I have a pretty good chance of choosing talented sports teams. I could have chosen the New York Yankees and been the proud fan of 26 World Series titles. Or I could have stuck with the hometown teams and chosen the Lakers, Ducks, Rams (at the time when L.A. still loved the Rams) and Angels, all teams that have won championships in this decade.

Instead, I followed in my dad's footsteps. I had the luxury of choosing Philadelphia as my city of choice, a city that before Oct. 29 had not won a major professional championship in a quarter of a century; or to put it nicely, longer than I've been alive.

I was the outcast in junior high and especially in high school. I remember when kids would talk about the Lakers and try to start fights with me because they played the Sixers in the NBA Finals my freshman year of high school. They told me hell would have to freeze over and then some. People at my school simply hated Philadelphia. When the Eagles lost three NFC Championships in a row, people came by my house at 1 a.m. all three years and screamed certain curses through a megaphone.

Being the stupid high schooler that I was, I often told my friends that a Philly team was going to win the championship and it was inevitable that I was going to be at the stadium the next time it happened. People laughed at the notion that a Philly team would win a title, but even more so because they knew I wasn't going to be at the site of a Philadelphia championship. I was 3,000 miles away and it would be difficult enough just to get a ticket to the game.

My dad surprised me by taking me to Game 2 of the Sixers - Lakers NBA Finals at Staples Center. Unfortunately, the Lakers won the game and eventually the series. If the Eagles beat the Buccaneers in the 2002 NFC Championship, I would have been able to go to the Super Bowl in San Diego. But they lost. The Eagles went to the Super Bowl in 2004, but I couldn't get tickets to the game, and they lost as well.

So there I stood as the Phillies were wrapping up the NLCS against the Dodgers. Before the playoffs started, I realized as a senior at Drexel, if I move outside of Philadelphia after graduation, that means I might only have four more chances (Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and Sixers) to witness a Philadelphia championship.

I applied to get tickets for the lottery for the eighth time in the postseason. I was one for my first eight attempts (I got second chance tickets to Game 5 of the NLDS, but the series only went four games). Considering this was the World Series, I had to come to reality with myself that I wasn't going to get to the game. The odds were obviously heavily against me.

But then, the first of a few miracles happened. I was notified that I got the opportunity to purchase tickets to Game 5 of the World Series. Then, the Phillies officially defeated the Dodgers and the Rays beat the Red Sox. Now I had to hope the game would last five games.

Once the series was tied 1-1 and I knew there would be a Game 5, my dad booked a flight out to Philly from California. He was only scheduled to stay a few days and he would leave Tuesday afternoon, or the day after Game 5 was supposed to be completed. After the Phillies won their first two home games, the stage was set for an incredible finish.

As we sat in the rain with winds feeling like they were 35 miles per hour and my knees turning the colors of purple and red, I realized that my dad wouldn't get to see the end of Game 5 and witness the possibility of a Philadelphia team winning the championship.

As thousands of fans ran to the bathrooms due to the chilly downpour and the official rain delay and huddled around each other to try to stay warm, an announcement was made that the game was postponed to an unannounced date and time.

When Pedro Feliz singled to drive home Eric Bruntlett in the bottom of the seventh, I still thought that the Phillies were going to lose. I knew that some way somehow they were going to blow it.

But after Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske on three straight pitches, I almost threw up on the people in front of me and then I hugged everyone around me. I immediately called my dad who was back in California and we talked about how the impossible became the possible.

It truly was a miracle. Anyone who was at that game (whether is was Game 5 Part 1, Game 5 Part 2 or both) could testify. Looking back on all these years of not being able to mourn with other fellow Philly fans when they lost, it was all worth it to witness the championship at Citizens Bank Park.

I got to witness the Philadelphia Phillies win the 2008 World Series.

In addition to Citizens Bank Park, hell has frozen over.

Like I said in high school, it was inevitable.

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