[Rooster]

I was watching the wild card game in the Dallas airport and I’m certain I was the only person in terminal D that was into the game. It was an up and down game from the very beginning. I boarded for ICT in the 7th inning with the Royals down by four runs. My stomach hurt because I knew that many runs late in a playoff game would be the end of the season. I thought to myself when I put my phone on airplane mode ‘how cool would it be when I turn on my phone in ICT that we won this thing’.

There was a gal sitting in my row and some dude on the other side of the aisle said something to her negatively about the Royals. They knew each other and it was said in jest but it struck a nerve with her. She said loud enough for the whole back of the plane to hear ‘Hey! This game isn’t over. We’ll see who’s laughing when we get to Wichita.’ At that moment I knew I wanted to have her baby.

Wheels down at ICT and nobody is waiting for the flight attendants to give the green light on turning phones back on. I switch off airplane mode and my phone is searching for a signal. My heart is racing. I still have hope. I’ve seen them win these kinds of games all year but this was the playoffs and my teams suck in the playoffs. Got a signal, hit the app, app buffers for what felt like an eternity and then it came up. I had to look at it twice. I turn to the gal who was doing the same thing and I said ‘They’re tied in the 11th inning. Holy crap!!’. I never wanted to get off a plane more badly in my life.

Finally get off the plane and I’m hoping one of the bars is still open so I at least can watch on TV. But ICT is shut down so I rush to the parking shuttle. Standing in line I check the score again. They are down by one. My heart sinks. How many comebacks do these guys have in them? I feared the worst.

The shuttle pulls up and the driver has a crappy old battery powered radio sitting on the dash with one speaker. The static to game ratio was about 50/50 but it was turned up for the whole shuttle to hear and everyone was listening in complete silence. I make it back to my truck and turn on the radio. Royals are coming up to bat down one in the bottom of the 12th.

I’m getting on Kellogg and Hosmer is up to bat. I hear the crack of the bat through the radio and before the announcers were able to speak I thought to myself ‘he hit that one good’. The announcers are saying ‘struck by Hosmer it’s going back, still going back, off the top of the wall!!’. The crowd is the only thing you can hear on the radio its freaking rocking. I’m screaming in my truck HOSMER!!!!! and honking my horn down Kellogg with my arms full of goose bumps and my heart pumping.

I exit Kellogg onto I135 and I’m debating internally about going home or do I go to Larry Buds. Where is the closest TV? I decide to get home. They tied the game. Colon is on second with Perez at bat. I’m exiting off 96 to Woodlawn and Perez swings and it doesn’t sound like good contact at all. But the crowd gets loud and the announcer said ‘it’s through; it’s through Colon's coming home. The Royals have won the game!!’

I’m screaming and honking my horn all the way down Woodlawn. It was freaking amazing. I was so amped I didn’t get to sleep until 1:30. I’m still amped.