Tonight was a proud night for me as a Reds fan.
One of my uncles was a great baseball advocate for me when I was younger, helping me understand the game while watching AAA baseball with him for over 15 years. He was one of the people in my life that helped me grasp the intricacies of the sport and earn an appreciation of the game considered our National Pastime before the NFL took the reigns as we know it today. Sitting together at our family Christmas party, I was speaking with him about baseball and the upcoming Reds season. Now, he started following baseball when he was young- watching the (Columbus) Jets, then the Clippers, and followed the Yankees in his youth because he was able to watch home grown talent as they came through AAA. Despite the fact a lot of the top talent is plucked from AA these days, he stayed with the Clippers and, in hand, the Yankees.
After some conversation, he communicated to me that since the Clippers were dropped by the Yankees, he no longer felt the loyalty to the Yankee organization he once did. He told me there was no way he could follow the Indians due to some tough experiences in Cleveland as a Yankees fan, so he's "hopping on the Red Bandwagon in 2008." I felt a sense of pride that such a great baseball fan was going to be joining our fan base, and warned him I think we're years away from any success. He acknowledged such and sees it as an opportunity to watch the Reds on TV as well as be able to attend more games more often. He's one of those guys that will sport his colors proudly, and said he will probably now feel more passionate about his MLB team from a "home grown" perspective.
Welcome aboard, Sammy. It'll be a bumpy ride, but I hope one day you too can feel the same joys I did in 1990 watching Chris Sabo, Eric Davis, Barry Larkin, Billy Hatcher and the like bring one home on the old AstroTurf against the mighty A's in a four game sweep.