Written by Dave Homsher on Monday, 20 October 2008 Category:Sports Hits:2730

I HAVE A DREAM!!!

I'm in a weird place.  I've never been here before.  Where am I?  I look
around and see nothing but people everywhere, people jam-packed so tight
that the person next to you is closer to you than any human has ever
been other than your spouse.  Everyone is decked-out head to toe in a
sea of red.  However, amidst the people is an aisle way.  It's the
parting of the Red Sea. 

Something is coming towards us.  It's big.  NO, IT'S GIGANTIC.  It's the
STAY PUFFED MARSHMALLOW MAN!!  Wait, it's green.  It can't be Stay
Puffed.  It's a good thing I just turned off my proton pack because we
might have crossed the streams.  It's a 50 foot tall Phillie Phanatic
FLOAT!!!! 

Behind it, a line of convertibles has formed.  The noise starts to rise.
As the convertibles finally pass my location, and Cole Hamels holds up
his WS MVP trophy, I make the realization - I'm on Broad Street, and the
Phillies just won the World Series.  "Wait just a second", my brain
wonders.  "This can't be real.  I'm from Philadelphia.  We don't win
championships."  The sound reaches a crescendo as I awake from my
daydream.  The Philadelphia crowd is so loud that 90 miles north in New
York City, the brand new Mets stadium collapses.      

The Phillies players drive slowly, so that all of us can savor the
moment.  One car after another passes us on the way to the front steps
of City Hall.  I look to my right and see my brother with a smile so
wide Jack Nicholson's Joker would be proud.  I look to my left and see
my good friend Jim Sarruda furiously waving a cheesesteak, this time not
as a taunt, but as homage to all that is good in Philadelphia.  Behind
me stands my father, beamingly proudly, thankful that he could finally
enjoy this fantastic moment with his two sons. 

Our city's favorite bobblehead, Charlie Manual takes the mic first.
"Well, y'all know no one thought we could do it, but then we done did
it!!"  The approving crowd erupts like Old Faithful in acknowledgement.
All of our heroes take turns on the mic.  Each one is rocked by the
sheer power of the crowd.  Pat Burrell steps up.  He's in tears.  So am
I.  Pat, one of the few guys who always wanted to play here, shouts
"These are the best fans in the entire world!"  Damn right they are.
Brad Lidge arrives, and he can't even speak because the chants of
"LIGHTS OUT LIDGE!  LIGHTS OUT LIDGE!" are so loud that even the massive
speakers can not overcome them.  He simply waves his perfect record
right arm at us in approval.  Jimmy Rollins steps to the podium.  "Now
the whole world knows we are the TEAM TO BEAT!!"  One by one they
approach, and one by one they receive their prize - cheers so loud that
they will never be duplicated in the history of sports.  28 years of
frustration disappears in an instant.  100+ seasons without a
championship vanishes like a fart in the wind.  Philadelphia, for
perhaps the first and only day in its existence, lives up to its
namesake - "The City of Brotherly Love".  Then, just when we all thought
it was impossible for us to be more deliriously happy, our final speaker
approaches.  Harry the K.  The voice of the Phillies for all of these
years takes his turn.  "It gives me great pleasure to stand in front of
all of you, all ONE MILLION of you wonderful fans that turned out for
this momentous occasion, and state as a matter of fact that The
Philadelphia Phillies, YOUR Philadelphia Phillies are WORLD CHAMPIONS."
The crowd EXPLODES like a nuclear bomb had just landed.  Queen’s classic anthem “We are the Champions” blares in the background.  Nearby, a
secret government agent conducts a test on the effects that this
otherworldy decibel level can have on the human eardrum.  The ovation
goes on and on, for 15 straight minutes.  No one says anything.  All I
can do is stand and cheer.  For a short time, nothing else exists.  The
Phillies are world champions.  The Phillies are world champions.  We did
it.  We did it. 

BEEP.  BEEP.  BEEP. BEEP.

I smash my hand on the snooze and awake in a cold sweat.  Could this
dream possibly be real?  "Not yet, anyway" I think as I stumble to the
shower.  "But it's not impossible either."     

Were this any other year, a dream such as this would be so far fetched
that Keith Richards couldn't conjure it on his highest high.  However,
this year is different.  This year, it is within our grasp. 

The Rays will falter, the Phillies will stand triumphant, and the city
of Philadelphia will bask in championship glory. 

Phillies in 6.

WWWOOOO!!!!

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