(SportsRadio 610) - I had to really sleep and think on some of the things that I wanted to write about regarding what I, along with millions of my fellow Houstonians, witnessed Saturday night as the Astros captured their second World Series title in franchise history.
If I was under deadline, I’d have been fired. I just couldn’t do it.
I have so much respect for the writers that are routinely able to paint a picture perfect story and capture the romanticism that we have with our baseball team. The thrills that they bring so much joy throughout a regular season and into an epic postseason.
And do it, in a flash.
There wasn’t one thing I could write and emote to you about, that someone else hadn’t already done and captured better than I could ever attempt.
I wanted so badly, to be able to capture the right words, the raw emotion and paint an eloquent word picture to describe the feelings when Framber Valdez walked off of the mound for the final time this season, when Yordan Alvarez hit his sixth inning three-run homer that sent the stadium into a frenzy.
To describe Kyle Tucker sprinting, when it probably felt like he was running in quick sand, to catch the final out of the ballgame to clinch the city’s fourth major professional sports championship in its 185-year history.
Yet, while I had no deadline, my time had passed. Like many of you, I just wanted to sit back and enjoy what I had just witnessed.
And I did, watching MLB Network's postgame coverage four times before calling it a morning.
I had to force myself to sleep, listening to as much coverage of the World Series aftermath on the radio as I could, as to in the process not wake a sleeping wife, who has just endured a three-hour escapade to secure Astros championship gear at a nearby sporting goods store.
Before 10 a.m. Sunday, my 2 1/2 year-old boy and I had probably rewatched Yordan’s home run, Kyle Tucker's catch, Dusty Baker’s celebrations and Lance McCullers' postgame speech a dozen times.
Just as I, like many of you were in the eighth inning last night, was taken aback by that moment.
Watching the guy that made me more nervous than jumping out of an airplane, show bunt whilst his team was down to their final out in the inning, and his final strike, show bunt.
I was beside myself.
Looking down at my boy this morning, being able to spend time with him to see his reaction to the cheering, the fireworks and his favorite player, Kyle Tucker, celebrate a victory the way he did last night, made me realize that the only thing I wanted more than to do exactly what I was doing, was share that moment with my grandfather.
My grandfather, Frank Mancuso, passed away in 2007. He was born and raised in Houston, spent 18 years as a professional baseball player and served his city for 30 years as a city councilman in District-E.
He and my grandmother, Marian, raised me.
Sitting with my boy this morning, took me back to those many nights we watched ballgames together.
It brought back memories of phone calls we had after countless wins and losses over the years.
The joyous moments we spent together in front of the TV in his bedroom, as we watched Randy Johnson throw a perfect game in 2004, Mark McGwire hit his 62nd home run in 1998, or the Astros clinching the NLCS in 2005 to play in the city’s first ever World Series.
Those moments were special, and I’ll never get them back.
There are many things that moments like the one we experienced together as a city do to us a person.
I suspect for many, like myself, it reminds us of the ones we used to be able to celebrate with, and can no longer.
Whether it be a celebratory hug, or even just a phone call. That’s what I’ll miss.
I’ll miss the stories he’d tell between innings about his playing days. Together, pouring over thousands of pictures, letters, baseballs, cards and scrap books. Every one of them came with a different anecdote.
While I had to literally sit back in my chair this morning and realize what was happening right before my eyes, I could arrive at just one thing.
Cherish these moments.
The Astros clinching a World Series title Saturday night, in front of a home crowd, is something that hasn’t happened in Major League Baseball since 2013.
It was a special moment, a true victory for the city.
Saturday night was a victory that I wish I could’ve spent with my old baseball buddy, my grandfather.
And Sunday morning was an experience of a lifetime on a different level, as I got to spend it with my new baseball buddy. My son.
Enjoy this, Houston. You deserve it.
Shaun Bijani has spent the last 16 years covering the Houston sports scene for SportsRadio 610. Follow him on Twitter @ShaunBijani.
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