I’m Sorry, Houston…

I’m so sorry, Houston. It is all Mike’s fault that the Astros lost last night.

I love baseball, but I don’t watch it as much as I used to. How could I not tune in last night to see the Astros finally make it to the World Series? All the karma of the universe pointed to last night being our night. It was a home game. 45 years ago yesterday the Colt 45 became the Houston Astros. The White Sox finally made it to the World Series after not going for 40+ years. It was going to be our night.

So I tuned in while Mike & Jason were at the Scout meeting. We had already scored our first run before they got home. I paused the game for a little bit while I talked to Jason before he went to bed. We watched a few minutes of the game together, no longer in “real time” but about 20 minutes back. Yeah! We’re winning! Mike sits down to watch the game with me, and the Cardinals score two runs. Gah! But then they showed a commercial for whatis-it.com and Mike went into the study to look it up. While he was gone, the Astros scored again thanks to Berkman. It was awesome! We were in the lead! Our fabulous closer was coming in to take care of business – his record is great – and it was going to be all over. After 45 years, the Astros would be heading to the big game.

Thanks to being able to skip commercials, I was about 8 minutes behind “real time” on the game. The ninth inning was starting, and I called Mike out into the living room.

Me: You have to see this!
Mike: What?
Me: We’re about to WIN THE GAME! We’re going to go to the World Series!
Mike: Oh, I had better leave the room. I can’t watch; I always jinx my team.
Me: GAH!!! GET OUT! Get out of here! Quick! NOW!!! (Yes, I do actually say “gah!” in real life.)

Two outs, two strikes … we were just ONE STRIKE away from going to the World Series. But then we hit that 8 minute mark. We were at the point in the game that was taking place when Mike & I had that little exchange. And wouldn’t you know it?

The freakin’ Cardinals won the game. They came up from behind and snatched that victory out of nowhere.

And really, its all Mike’s fault. I’m so sorry, Houston.

(Wednesday is game 6, and he is banned from being anywhere near the television. He can’t listen to it on the radio. He can’t check the score on the internet. He will not stop them from going to the World Series. Damn it, this year is our year. Well, our year and White Sox’s year. But it is our year, damn it!)