CB’s House of Porn and Pancakes

So before the post-season rolled around, the Cardinals were about to relive 1964, not the ‘64 Cardinals that went on a run at the end of the season, won the pennant and beat the Yankees to take home the World Series Crown, no they were resembling the 1964 Phillies, way ahead and imploded at the end of the season to lose it all…….. The Cards lost something like 10-12 to blow a huge lead over the thorns in our sides, the Houston Astros. The Reds had bowed out of the running, but the Astros would not go away. In Boston, Southy mentioned how the Red Sox are out of the playoffs, I said “The way the Cardinals are playing, they will be soon enough, the Astros won’t lose, they won 10 games straight.” Plus we had lost 2 8 games in a row and 7 games in a row. Finally the Astros lose and the Cardinals are in the post-season! We draw San Diego for the NLDS. Ah, we own them! Well this time we didn’t sweep them like we have the other 2 times, they won one game and it’s on to the NLCS. The much hated Mets are up next. Ah, visions of the 2000 NLCS fill every Cardinal fan’s head, but this time the memories go back farther, back to the 80’s, the old battle cry is dusted off, “Mets are Pond Scum!!!” That slogan throws us back to the days of John Tutor, Vince Coleman, Bruce Sutter, The Wizard, Tommy Herr, the list goes on and on. Hard fought (and rainy) series. Cardinals split in NY coming to St Louis. That’s what we needed to do. Cosmo Boy scores some tickets and gives me two, I meet the Teach (not to be confused with the teacher) at a Syn event and invite her. Well luck would have it, it’s a rain out…… Game happens the next night and me and teach go. I swear, I’ve been going to baseball games almost all my life, sat all over, but never this close to the field, we were right behind the vistor’s dugout. That night Glavine was on the mound, Pujols took him deep and the Cardinals pounced. Mets win one, the Cards win the other heading back to NY. Game 7 rolls around, I head up to Bar Louie to meet up with AJ, Roth and some others. The game was in the fourth already, pretty much a nail biter, Suppan was pitching a fierce game, Molina was the hero of the day when he hit the 2 run shot. I swear the roof about blew off Bar Louie. We all started jumping up and down, tackling each other, high fiving each other, I lost my beer in the excitement, but it’s all good….. Wainright after making it exciting gets the win by striking out “the Cardinal killer” looking, more celebrations, another lost beer, if this keeps up, the World Series could be expensive replacing all the beers! Next stop, Detroit! At this point I had guarded hope, now I was a full believer, regardless what the media said

Buttcakes calls me and asks “I got an extra ticket to the game, wanna go?” Uh, yes please! Standing room only tickets, but hey, we are at the World Series in the new stadium, you can’t pass that up! Game 3 is the first game in St Louis, chilly night, but clear. Series tied 1-1, Cardinals prevail! Looks like we have a series, unlike 2004…… I had tickets to game 4, going with the teach, it rained most of the day and evening, we camped out at Syberg’s seeing if they were going to call the game or not, they did. Game 4 would be friday, Game 5 would be played Thursday, so I went from seeing a win to potentially seeing them win it all Friday! Thursday rolls around, no real rain, Cardinals win in an exciting one! Cardinals lead the series 3-1, but of course all the a-hole reporters point out 3 teams have blown a 3-1 series lead, two of which were the Cardinals, once in 68 against the Tigers, the other in 85 against the Royals. So Friday rolls around and guess what? Rain. I joke with the teach about she seems to be the rainmaker but last time they won, so if they don’t this time, I’m never talking to her again……. We hang out at Syberg’s to make sure the game is still a go, while there we endure all the verbal abuse from my non-ticket holding friends…..

The nineth inning was so surreal, I can’t even explain it! Up by 2 runs, 2 outs and 2 strikes on the batter, Wainright strikes him out! The stadium roared like I had never heard before. Players charge the field, we were jumping up and down, yelling, clapping, it was out of control! Fireworks, champagne, we stayed for the whole presentation. Me and teach decide to head out and find people in the bars. Have to hit the bathroom first, waiting in line, people walking in, yelling, clapping, I all of sudden hear a familiar voice “Go Cardinals!” Turn around, it’s Stiffy, he runs up and about tackles me saying “We f’n won the World Series!” Walk outside to find Stiffy and Kylicia. The streets are mobbed, total gridlock, people hanging out of their cars, yelling, honking, complete bedlum! We make our way to Dolce, shots and lots of booze follows…… After a few hours, me and teach head down to Hungo’s to meet up with some of her friends, they were on their way out, gave us a full beer we smuggled out, we split it walking back to Syberg’s. (I don’t know why, but I end up walking to Syberg’s a lot after Cardinal games, Mardi Gras, etc) At Syberg’s we get food, hits the spot! Drop the teach off, head home still in awe about the impossible happened, Cardinals got their first title since 1982, 10th overall…….

So it’s been awhile since I’ve written on here, now that the Baseball Season is finally over (I’ll talk about that in another entry) I can look back at the summer that was and take stock…..

- This was a summer of weddings, I had 5 weddings, 2 that were out of town, cool wedding party gifts included Pocket Watches and Baseball Bats

- After all the weddings I’ve been in over the years, this past summer I a) was a best man (well one of 3 best men), got to witness a Hindu ceremony and saw my brother re-marry after being a widow for many years

- Bachelor Parties took me to Vegas, DC, floating, on the float trip we coined the phrase you should live your life by “If you find it in the river, leave it in the river” Thank you Cleetus, you are a true sage.

- Made new friends and was reunited with old friends

- Can mark off West Virginia from my list of states I hadn’t visited yet, not sure if we are welcome back (Check earlier post)

- Made the Pilgrimage to Cooperstown, NY with my dad, brothers and brother-in-law, incredible trip! Cardinals were well represted there

- Made it to Boston to visit Southy, while in Boston:

1)Went to Fenway Park, drank entirely to much, the park is very cool, very much old school baseball. One major draw back, no beer vendors in the stands, that’s about as un-American as the Designated Hitter……… (yeah, I said it) Saw Timlin relief pitch for the Sox, I said “Hey I know that dude, he was a Cardinal”, just then Timlin gave up a home run that lost the lead, I then said “Now I remember why we let him go!” Saw a Home Run over the Green Monster, also saw Big Papi pinch hit. Met some of Southy’s friends, one was a Mets fan, we talked about how the Mets will probably beat whoever they face for the NLCS, how if the Cardinals keep this up, they won’t make the playoffs………. ah, funny looking back on it…… The Mets fan’s cousin was there, he was a Yankees fan that loved pushing Southy’s buttons about how NY was going to beat Boston in everything, I didn’t jump into the debate, I’m on vacation…… Good people though, talked mostly about sports all night. Ended up at Jillian’s/Lucky Strike after the game, though had difficulty finding it, flagged a cab down, the cabbie pointed and said “It’s right over there.” Oh, stupid beer!

2) Got to hit Little Italy, didn’t need my little passport. While there the waiter looked to me for everything, what to order for both of us, what wine we wanted, WHY ARE YOU FOCUSING ON ME?!? Classic was the Sox game was on behind me, Southy was watching that while I was getting the Cardinals score text to me, yeah, yeah, we are geeks……..

3) Took the Duck Boat Tour, awesome time. Ended up at the Science Museum after that, my saying the whole time “Learning is fun!” That’s also when I found out the Cardinals made the playoffs!

4) Slept on an inflatable bed, it kept deflating over the course of the night, I think Southy gives guests that bed just to mess with them. Woke up in the middle of the night almost ended up on the floor/cat, never good a good situation when you’ve been drinking

5) Went to the Sam Adams Brewery Tour, worst 30 minutes of my life, well not really, but ithe tour was only that long, though the free beer was cool! Wasn’t much to it and they should have just said “We aren’t AB and don’t strive to be” The wanna be House of Pain guys made for an interesting time…….

6) Got to have authentic Chow-Dur, good stuff! And saw Trinity Church, which was amazing

Beantown was a good time!