Three years ago, as a sports writer for The Evening Sun in Hanover, I was able to attend my first NFL game, a Baltimore Ravens-San Diego Chargers match-up.
I'll be honest, I was pretty excited to see Ladainian Tomlinson in person. However, sports writers aren't supposed to be fans. We're supposed to be professional and I've got no complaints about that.
I remember walking down to the field, where the media can go for the game's final minutes, and seeing the television reporters openly cheering the Ravens on to victory. One guy went so far as to hop up and down. Even the Ravens cheerleaders smirked.
The wrinkled, snarly reporters, including yours truly, shook their heads.
That's not what your supposed to do. Even if, deep down inside, you're pulling for one team.
That's the balance sports writers have to strike: They need to be professional, but they also need to be the voice of the fan.
And writers are most fun to read when they write like a fan.
If you read Phil Sheridan's story from the Phillies' 2008 World Series victory, you would have had chills. The same goes for Bill Lyon's column from when the Phillies rallied past the Mets in 2007.
That's why Mitch Albom, Bill Plaschke and Tom Boswell are such a joy to find in the morning's paper.
You want tears, look up Dan Shaughnessy's coverage from the Red Sox 2004 run.
Of course, we don't know what those guys looked like, way up in the press box when the team's they covered won.
I doubt they pumped their fists and high-fived.
We do however, know how Ricky Bottalico, Darren Daulton, and Michael Barkann reacted to the Phillies' NLCS Game 4 victory over the Dodgers Monday night.
And it's priceless.
Bottalico isn't someone we expect to react like that.
He spent 12 years in the Major Leagues and pitched in 524 games. He was an All-Star who owns 116 career saves and a 3.99 ERA.
But Ricky Bo looked like a fan.
Not like someone who didn't know what it was like to have to answer questions from the media after blowing a save. Not like someone who went through the dregs of salary arbitration or signed autographs till his hands ached.
Bottalico looked like the guy who could be next to you at the bar or on the school bus in the morning who's so excited to talk about Tim Lincecum's 14 strikeouts the night before.
He looked more like the kid who sat the bench through four years of high school than the kid who made it to The Bigs.
So it was really refreshing to see Ricky Bo's reaction.
excellant