Ok, I have to admit. I'm a Cardinals fan...and I have been as long as I can remember. But hey, my dad was a native of E. St. Louis, and an excellent baseball player, coach, and Cards fan. I remember the old Busch Stadium, with the screened in pavillion in right field. I saw Stan Musial break what I recall as the national league RBI record by hitting a home run on top of that pavillion. Curt Flood was and is one of my favorite all time Cards players. I saw him play a number of times.

But I think the most outstanding Cards game that I saw live was the first game of the 1968 World Series. The world series tickets were advertised as "lottery" and my dad sent in for tickets immediately. Lo and behold, here they came in the mail. Well, my Dad was a teacher in the small town school district. He could get out of a day or two, but he couldn't just take off every game. And, I do think he liked the idea of his sons getting a chance to experience a world series game. It's not something that everyone has gotten to experience.

So he wrote an excuse for us, drove me and my little brother to Belleville, where we got on a bus to St. Louis. I was 15, my kid brother was 13. But I was almost 16. I knew the ropes, and nothing untoward happened. In fact, it was a wonderful day. It was Bob Gibson vs. Denny McClain. That was the last year that a major league pitcher won 30 games, and that was McClain. Years later McClain would go to jail for corruption. What a letdown!

But this game 1, Cards vs. Tigers, was a real pitchers duel. Bob Gibson struck out like 18 or something like that, and broke a world series record. The Cards won 2-1. In fact, they had a 3-1 lead in the series and blew it. But it was an experience to be there for that game.

I'm sure that the folks in St. Louis are really happy to be there tonight, even though it is chilly. These are the hard core baseball fans that don't care about what it costs or how it feels. But for me, it's listening to it on the radio. When it gets to the playoffs, and then the World Series, I really enjoy it - it reminds me of my childhood. I spent a lot of time listening to the Cards on the radio growing up.

At the moment, it is the bottom of the 8th, the Cards are ahead 1 - 0. It's been a real pitcher's duel. If the Cards win tonight, it will be hard, but not impossible, for the Rangers to come back. Of course, we don't want that. We want a sweep. The Rangers are the team of "W" and I don't mean win - I mean George W. Bush. Yuck. We just have to win! And I think the Cards probably will.

Oh darn, I was wrong! As I was typing this, I got a phone call, and as I talked, I listened to the Cards blow it in the top of the 9th. Well, it's a whole new series now - best of 5. The Cards have come back to get to this position by consistently winning 2 of 3. They have shown that they win on the road, and now they have to. But even if they don't win, it still is fun having "your" team in the world series, especially when it seemed just about impossible that it might happen.