2004 ALCS Tickets - Missed Opportunity
What do Fred Lynn, Ramiro Mendoza and 9/11/1918 have in common? Well, let me make everyone's day a little brighter.
Earlier this morning, a local radio station, WBRU, was holding a contest to give away two tickets to Game 4 of the ALCS at Fenway Park. Tickets I would have loved to have, either to go to the game or to make a couple grand. So they held a trivia contest at 7:20 AM (not exactly a great time for trivia questions...)
The questions: 1) Before Ichiro in 2001, who was the last player to win the Rookie of the Year and MVP in the same season? (Lynn, obviously). 2) In the 1999 ALCS, which Yankees reliever came into the game in the 8th inning of Game 5 to save the Yankees from a bases-loaded, 1 out jam? (Mendoza, more on this later). 3) What was the date of the last Red Sox World Series clinching win? (9/11/18 - great story attached to this one).
I knew all 3 immediately. They weren't all that hard. 1 & 3 were pretty simple, and 2 would have been tough, had I not watched that game. So I called. And called. And called... I finally got through. They didn't have a winner yet! All I had to do was spit out the answers! And you know what?
I brain-farted on Ramiro Mendoza. My mouth opened, and out came the words "Mariano Rivera". Not only do I now have ANOTHER reason to hate 'ol #42, but I will not let myself live this down for a couple of years. Especially not when I could use the extra cash to pursue a goal of mine that is fast approaching (more details to come later).
So I called back, having realized my mistake the minute the words came out of my mouth. Apparently Fred Lynn was the question everyone had trouble with, which seemed awfully simple to me. But Ramiro Mendoza. Damnit. Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit Damnit! I got through again, but not before the tix were gone. To make it worse, the DJ asked me what I would have answered, and of course I was right. But just too late.
As for the story about the 1918 World Series (I think it's OK to start mentioning this, since the Sox aren't getting anywhere near the Series this year), has anyone ever noticed the retired numbers in Fenway Park (not counting newly added Pudge Fisk's #27, or the MLB-wide #42 for Jackie Robinson)? The numbers were 1-4-8-9, in that order (Bobby Doerr, Joe Cronon, Yaz, Ted Williams).
Well, they used to be attached to the right field roof in the order they were retired, 9-4-1-8. That is, until some know-it-all Red Sox fan (not me) pointed out that the numbers marked the date of the scheduled first game of the 1918 World Series (9/4/18), which was rained out. Now they're attached in numerical order. Hopefully nothing of note happened on January 4, 1989. We'll do anything to help this team win...
I noticed I've been writing a lot recently, which is a function of boredom at home, and of the MLB playoffs and the NFL season being in full swing. But I realized yesterday that I haven't updated y'all on a part of my life that I've been neglecting lately, my stories o' gambling fun.
Well, I haven't had the green to go to Foxwoods and do anything but eat dinner in a month or two, so I've been getting my "fix" by playing poker online or at friends houses. At houses, players who either don’t know the game, or who do know it and still get lucky kill me. The last two poker nights, I was knocked out with pocket nines to someone playing Q-4 offsuit, not in the blind, who made a set of 4's on the river. The second time, I lost because I couldn't get away from a massive pot with nothing but pocket sixes and two board pairs on the table (Kings and Eights). That was my own fault. I thought I was getting bluffed, I wasn't. She (yes, I lost to a chick. Both times) had a K-8 suited in the blind, and I made the mistake of staying in the hand.
But online, well, I've faired a little better. I don't play for real money only because my debit/credit card is restricted and won't allow deposits to online poker sites. But occasionally, some of the sites I play at run "Freeroll" tournaments with cash prizes. I hadn't played online in about a month, so I jumped into a freeroll about a week or so ago. $100 prize pool split between the top 40 finishers. I came in 18th, out of 3000. Probably could have won, but I got tired and I'd already cashed ($0.68, wow). I took my prize, turned it into about $3 in an hour at a couple of different tables, then entered a $2 tourney the next day. I got knocked out in $58th place, when the top 55 cashed. That sucked.
So my best finish in a major tourney online (2000 or more players) is still 6th of 3000. My best finish live is not so good. And since I'm not getting the donations that I'd hoped would pour in for me to compete for a chance to get into the WPT event at Foxwoods next month, I guess I'll have to do it myself.
There are a number of smaller tournaments before the "Big One" in mid-November. I'm hoping to scrounge together enough cash to enter one on Halloween (Again, the Sox won't be in the World Series, so I won't care if Game7 is that night). I'm still a bit short on funds, but I think I'll be able to make it. It'll make a nice birthday present, since my birthday is later that week. And if I do happen to do well (and by "do well", I mean cash with a lot of money), I might just turn around the profit and enter the big one.
Now that would make for a heck of a column.
Until we meet again (and no, I wasn't serious about "Slam-a-lamma Ding Dong)...
Lata
posted by Big D @ 12:00 AM
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