Moving Day

I'm in the process of moving to a new apartment. I've only ever moved once in my life, to the apartment I'll only be living in for a few more days. I've always had a roommate, so I'm excited about having my very own place for the first time in my life, but the daunting tasks of actually moving there, changing my address on everything, getting bills transferred, and giving my current apartment a thorough cleaning so I don't look like a complete bum all take some of the starch out of the sensation of acquiring a new home.

As such, my time here is short, and so this blog entry will probably be short, as well (and not well written). I have a lot of sports-related memories from my time here at what has come to be affectionately referred to as "the dupe," due to the fact that it's half of a duplex. I figured it would be fitting to share some of those with you while I say goodbye to the place that's been my home for the last three and a half years.

- Thanks to my close proximity to the La Croix Trail, I was probably at one point in the best shape of my life while living here. (I assure you that my definition of "best shape of my life" probably isn't very impressive to the average humanoid, but I was proud of myself.) Except for the times when I was injured or adjusting to life with a girlfriend, I jogged regularly and had low enough self esteem to feel like I had to keep working at getting in shape to feel better about myself. These days I do it less for necessity and more just because I like it.

- Thanks to my close proximity to Arena Park, I also have a lot of fond memories of wiffle ball and ultimate frisbee games with my friends. I wasn't that great at either of those games, but they were fun and a great excuse to get out of the house during the summer when the Cardinals were losing by 10 or more runs (especially in 2007, when they did that in almost every game).

- Thanks to the strange Bermuda Triangle of radio reception around the dupe, I couldn't get baseball games on the radio, and ended up subscribing to the fantastic MLB Gameday Audio for when I wanted to listen to the Cardinals while I worked on stuff away from the TV. It has become essential for long hours spent at my computer while I waste time researching endless sports statistics that never have anything to do with the current sports blog, but I feel I must look up, anyway. And now if I'm really bored, I can also listen to radio broadcasts for other teams if the Cardinals have an off day or get rained out.

- I watched the worst best Super Bowl ever here. I cannot deny that it was a really exciting game, but I'd have much fonder memories of it if I hadn't spent the entire game laying on my living room floor eating Little Caesar's pizza (before it made me sick) and debating with myself over which team I wanted to lose more.

- I watched some hundreds of Cardinal games here. Some good, some terrible, but it was time well spent.

- I watched three All-Star games here. I thought the National League was finally going to win in 2006, but then Trevor Hoffman of all people blew the save and gave the game to the American League. In 2007 there was the overblown controversy over Tony La Russa not using Albert Pujols in the game. And then in 2008 there was the crazy extra-inning game that I missed half of because I went to my roommate Rick's softball game instead. I stayed up until 12:45 to see the American League pull it off yet again. Someday, National League. Someday.

- I watched the improbable playoff run of the Colorado Rockies in 2007. I wish it could have ended better.

- The most long-lasting memory, however, will no doubt be the Cardinals' World Series victory in 2006. I opted not to attend a couple of Halloween parties going on that night and watched most of the game alone--I had to see this one through in case I never got another chance. My friend Blake stopped by and took a nap here during the first couple of innings before going to work. I got progressively more nervous and more excited as the game progressed, and by the ninth inning I was standing in the middle of the living room, praying that Adam Wainwright would be able to hold on. My friends Josh and Suzanne showed up at my door with one out in the ninth, and we all stood in twitching anticipation while Wainwright closed it out. We jumped up and down and danced around like idiots when they won, and then I called my mom and dad, and then my friend Kyle called me from Texas. Then we went to Huddle House for celebratory cheeseburgers and hash browns. I'll never forget that night--one of my teams finally won it all.

The dupe had a good run, but it's time to move on. I just hope the next place has its own great memories someday.