I will not bore you with the details or engage in melodrama, but my life has taken some hits in recent years. Overall, I have had a great life and still do. I have been generally successful in my endeavors, I have two great kids who love and look after me. Elizabeth, after the serious trouble you know about, has a happy marriage, a beautiful daughter, and a boy on the way. I cannot be more pleased with my relationship with Mark. He is a great guy who makes me proud every day, and we shared this championship sitting side by side. I have loyal friends. I tell myself these are the things which matter.
A couple of years ago I lost The Relationship, and, for once, the end was none of my doing. I was blindsided by what happened, and even today, some two years later, I cannot understand the why of it. Later the same year, my main client’s new General Counsel targeted me and my firm and made me instantly unproductive, which led to my voluntary decision to retire a year later before I was intellectually or physically ready. Finally, at the end of the same year I lost Her and my law practice, Dan, my best friend of nearly 40 years, dropped dead a few hours after we texted about exchanging Christmas gifts. This sudden and unexpected loss unhinged me for awhile, and I miss him every day. Baseball was a foundation of our friendship; he was a Giants fan but rooted for the Astros too because of me. He travelled with my ‘97 McCallum team to support Mark and me. We went to spring training for many years, we got together often to watch games, and we texted often about games in progresss, hot stove issues, and other weighty baseball matters. How I would have loved for him to experience the 2017 Astros.
Through these personal and professional losses, the Astros were a constant, and the games were something to look forward to each night. The TZ and the GZ also were my constant companions each day and night, and I consider many of you my close friends. All of you are my baseball family. Like many of you, I sensed very early this 2017 Team was special, and I wrote in early May my favorable comparison of this team to other great Astros teams. The postseason run is the pinnacle of my fandom, and thanks to the generosity of my friend Gordon Lakey, I attended all nine games in Houston. OMG, what fun! I shared this experience with you. Although you were not with me, we were linked by the TZ and the GZ.
The first thing I did after each postseason game was read the GZ start to finish. You guys and gals outdid yourselves each night. I am glad these classics will be a permanent archive of this site. We share this championship, all of us, and I do not have the words to express my gratitude and my love to each of you and to Kev and Scott and to those who followed them in making this the best Astros site anywhere. You are the best and most loyal fans anywhere.
Baseball, the Astros, this site, and you helped me stay afloat when Life was doing its best to remind me I am not in charge. Thank you.
Go Astros! 2017 World Series Champions! Damn, that sounds good.
