K. Dana Morris

Cool Books

	Calico Joe by John Grisham
	One Pitch Away: The Players’ Stories of the 1986 League Championships and World Series by Mike Sowell

It might be over…

…but this play by play will never get old.

I remember it now. It was Game 4 of the 2012 NLDS. I was at my favorite Mexican joint in Winter Park, PR’s Taco Palace.  Nats jersey is on, beer is cold, and I some how charmed the bartender into putting the Nats vs. Cards game on every TV in the place. I was in heaven!  Mostly because when you are at a bar they don’t stop serving beer after the 7th inning. The game seems to drag on forever with the score tied at 1-1. All I can think of is this might be it. This might be the last Nats game of the season! Ugh. How can this be?  I’m not ready for baseball to be over!! Especially after the spectacular season the Nats have had.

I called my brother who lives in Arlington, VA, and he was listening to this very broadcast.  For this game he decided to mix it up a little bit and listen rather than watch on TV.  You know. He was trying to change up his routine in order to spark a Nats win. Together we usually go to about a dozen Nats games per season, if not more, and I had vowed to fly to DC if we made it to the NLCS. So, in my mind I was never going to make it.

And then.  BOOM!  Werth’s walk-off home run blasted all over the world! I flew out of my chair and squealed inappropriately loud and jumped for joy! The other bar partons were high-fiving me and made me feel as if I’d hit that game winning home run. My phone rings and my brother is on the line feeling the exact same way. Although his house wasn’t full of people, his family was up out of their chairs cheering, and their smiles were as big as the moon.  We did it! We are going to Game 5 of the NLDS!!!  We still have a chance!!

I’d better get home and book my ticket…

Tribute to Veterans

Baseball has everything: hot dogs, beer, fastballs, long balls, and heart. The tribute to our veterans before Game 2 of the 2012 World Series (Thursday October 25) was incredibly memorable and moving. No mistakes in the star spangled banner, the flag unfolded flawlessly, and the fly over brought the crowd to its feet! Then to put the icing on the cake, the video narrated by Tom Brokaw might be one of the most special pieces of baseball history I’ve seen. It really took me inside the heart of the best sport ever.

If you missed it, please take a moment and watch this to get an idea of what this tribute was all about.

If that didn’t get your star-spangled blood moving then check out the first pitch thrown by triple amputee Marine Nicholas Kimmel.  Right down the middle!  Every time I think I’m having a bad day I stop and think about what I’m complaining about.  My “omg-I-broke-a-nail” bad day isn’t even in the same universe as a “our-squadron-just-got-shot-at” bad day experienced by our Soldiers and Marines.  God Bless Our Troops!

Here are some of my favorite pictures of The United States Army Golden Knights.  I got to meet the Gold Team in Cocoa Beach, FL on October 4, 2009.