[OldFatGuy]

Baseball has been the love of my life since my father introduced me to the game decades ago. It was he who took me to my first baseball game, and it was he who put bat and glove in hand and taught me to play. And it was he who took me to several Washington Senators baseball games over the years where I fell in love with both the game, and the Senators.

But loving the Senators could be difficult, as they always.... well.... sucked. The original Washington Senators left DC for "greener" pastures in Minneapolis, MN and became the Minnesota Twins after the 1960 season. Fortunately, we didn't miss a single season as in 1961 Washington was granted one of the expansion teams of that year and they became the "new" Washington Senators. But throughout the 60's they were always at the bottom or near the bottom of the American League standings, and a saying was made about them. "Washington, first in war, first in peace, last in the American League."

But I didn't care. It was "our" home team, and I loved them. I followed them religiously as my own "career" with the game moved forward. I'll never forget the year 1969 as Ted Williams became manager and the Senators put together a winning season!!! They weren't close to being in first, but it was their first ever winning season. I loved everything about them, the players, their uniforms, everything.

Then, as a teenager, something awful happened and it made me question my "manhood" (something teens do quite often I imagine). The Senators up and moved again to greener pastures, this time to Arlington, TX and became the Texas Rangers. And this time there would be no new team. The tears flowed like I was a child again. Huh? Over a baseball team? Crying over a baseball team moving?

Over 30 years passed in the darkness of my favorite sport not having a home team. I knew in my heart that I would never, EVER experience what it was like for your home team to win a championship in your favorite sport, and it left a bitter spot in me all those years.

Then, in 2005, something amazing happened. After Washington had been passed up in the 1978 expansion, the 1992 expansion, and the 1998 expansion and I was convinced it would never again have a team, Washington was this time the recipient of a team moving to "greener" pastures as the Montreal Expos moved from Montreal to Washington, DC and became the Washington Nationals. I did feel bad for the Expos fans though as I knew first hand the pain they were feeling.

But I had a home team again!!!!

And once again they sucked. Those first few years were lean years indeed, finishing last almost every year for the those first 6 years or so. "Washington, first in war, first in peace, last in the National League East" took root. But who's complaining?

But all of those last place finishes resulted in very high draft picks year after year and they made the best of them, and they began to get better. By 2012 the Nats won their first ever National League East Championship and made the playoffs! Where they were immediately booted in the first round. Over the next several years this became a theme, as they would play well in the regular season but couldn't win in the postseason. In fact, they were the only team of all of the 30 MLB teams to never have won a single post season series. My belief that I would never experience a championship was still firm.

Then 2019 happened. The Nationals came out of the regular season gates AWFUL, going 19-31 in their first 50 games (nearly a third of the season as the season is 162 games). 12 games under .500 and in 4th place. But they somehow turned that all around, going 74-38 the rest of the way, and making the playoffs yet again. And yet again, it looked as if they would be booted immediately as they trailed the Milwaukee Brewers by 2 going into the 8th inning of an elimination game and fought back and won.

This would be a theme for this team, as over the course of the month long post season, the Nats played in 5 elimination games (games that if they had lost would have ended their season). In all 5 of those games they trailed. And yet in all 5 they came back, culminating in Game 7 of the World Series tonight.

I couldn't believe the ups and downs, but when it got to the 9th inning tonight I was already so emotional I could barely contain myself. And when Daniel Hudson struck out the last batter and clinched the Washington Nationals first ever World Series Championship, oh how the tears flowed.

In fact they are still flowing. And I'm not questioning anything about my manhood or anything else. The emotions are so strong, and so raw, that I can't help it. The shock and surprise of this team, underdogs throughout, behind throughout, finally breaking through and winning. The sheer joy of my home team, YES, MY HOME TEAM, winning the ultimate prize in my favorite sport. And the over riding sadness that my father, who passed over 10 years ago, wasn't able to witness this and be a part of this with me. These emotions just aren't stopping, and you know what? I'm okay with that.

The Washington Nationals are World Series Champions.

MY Washington National are World Series Champions.

Let the tears flow.