{"id":293,"date":"2009-04-14T10:44:36","date_gmt":"2009-04-14T15:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=293"},"modified":"2011-01-25T14:02:52","modified_gmt":"2011-01-25T18:02:52","slug":"through-tear-stained-eyes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/?p=293","title":{"rendered":"Through Tear-Stained Eyes…"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"There is just something about a baseball announcer that is unlike anyone else\u00a0in the life of a\u00a0sports fan.\u00a0 It is different than a favorite player or coach.\u00a0 It is even\u00a0different than announcers of other sports because, well, there is just something about baseball.\u00a0 Something with which you live your life<\/em>.\u00a0 I think it has to do with its omnipotence, its daily presence in our lives.\u00a0 Football is, arguably, a more popular sport in America these days, and, the big college\u00a0sports may have more die-hard followings, but there is nothing like a baseball season and its\u00a0162 games.\u00a0 You live your life with a baseball team.\u00a0 Every night there is another game; a game\u00a0much like the game last night and almost blurrily similar to\u00a0the game tomorrow night, but, in many ways, so unique, so totally different, so independent.\u00a0There is a game\u00a0played whether you have had a tough day at work, a relaxing day on the beach, or just another day doing whatever it is you do with your life.\u00a0 Each game is a paradox in that it is rendered almost meaningless by the grueling, interminable 162-game schedule, yet so timelessly meaningful for everyone invested in those 25 men who just happen to wear the colors of your city.\u00a0\u00a0 For the sports fan, baseball is the background music to all of life’s events that take place from April to October.<\/p>\n

And, if the game itself is the background music of your life,\u00a0your home team’s announcer is your narrator.\u00a0 Well, I lost the narrator of the first 30 years of my life on Monday afternoon, and though I have never met or even been in the same room as Harry Kalas, my life will never be the same.<\/p>\n

When Michael Jack Schmidt hit his 500th home run off Don Robinson\u00a0of the Pittsburgh Pirates,\u00a0I was eight years old and waiting in a car for my mom, outside of a hardware store in Phoenixville, listening on the radio.\u00a0 Harry was right there with me.<\/p>\n

When Mitch Williams struck out Bill Pecota to clinch the 1993 National League Championship Series, I was 14 years old in the living room of the Havertown house in which I grew up, watching the television with my mom, my dad, and my brother.\u00a0 Harry was right there with me.<\/p>\n

When Chase Utley made his major league debut, I was 22 years old at Veteran’s Stadium, listening on a walkman and\u00a0cracking peanuts\u00a0with a couple of my long-time childhood friends.\u00a0 Harry was right there with me.<\/p>\n

When Brett Myers froze Wily Mo Pena with a curveball to clinch the 2007 NL East title, I was 28 years old in the upscale New York City apartment of one of my college\u00a0fraternity brothers, watching the game on a desktop computer with my future wife, my cousin, and one of my best friends.\u00a0 Harry was right there with me.<\/p>\n

When Brad Lidge struck out Eric Hinske to win the 2008 World Series, I was\u00a0five months shy of 30 years old, in the garage of my brother’s apartment in Media (100 miles from my Baltimore home on a Wednesday night) with the TV muted, listening to the radio with my wife of\u00a0three weeks, my parents, my brother, and my cousin.\u00a0 Harry was right there with me.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, when Ryan Howard\u00a0spoiled the home opener for the\u00a0Washington Nationals, I was three days into my 30’s and\u00a0sitting at my office desk\u00a0in Washington, DC, listening to the game’s radio broadcast on the internet, as I did my work by myself in my little cubicle.\u00a0\u00a0For the first time in my life, the Phillies were playing, but Harry was not there with me.<\/p>\n

It is hard to come to grips with the grief I am feeling for the passing of a man whom I have never met, yet has colored my life with his subtle paintbrush for all of my 30 years.\u00a0 I am dressed in black today, as Harry Kalas, the narrator of my world, has passed on.\u00a0\u00a0He has left an indelible imprint on my soul, always in the background of the events that have shaped the man I am today.<\/p>\n

Thank you, Harry, and may you rest in peace knowing that your life’s work has been worth even more than the joy with which you approached each and every one of your living days.\u00a0 So, with a heavy heart, but vivid and loving memories, I say goodbye to the voice of my life; goodbye to\u00a0My Narrator.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is just something about a baseball announcer that is unlike anyone else\u00a0in the life of a\u00a0sports fan.\u00a0 It is different than a favorite player or coach.\u00a0 It is even\u00a0different than announcers of other sports because, well, there is just … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[570],"class_list":["post-293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb","tag-harry-kalas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1442,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions\/1442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/broadstreetbelievers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}