A shot to the gut

Have you seen the Wheaties ad with Vin Scully's voiceover put to a softball game?

Great idea, but did they have to use Kirk Gibson's homer for the Dodgers in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series? I was a big A's fan at the time (I prefer the Giants these days, my baseball palate has been refined to prefer NL to AL ball) but I hated the Dodgers like any good Bay Area baseball fan. This was the first "stomach punch" moment of my sports-rooting life.

As a kid of the 80's whose family had 49er tickets, I was pretty spoiled when it came to championships. In 1988, the 49ers had won 2 Super Bowls and were about to win the next 2 in a row. The A's were rounding into form and looked like they'd be a force to be reckoned with. After attending Game 3 of the ALCS vs. Boston (A's won 10-6, coming back from a 5-0 deficit with some big homers) I was psyched to see my favorite team finally win it all.

Back to Game 1. Eck is in. 1 run lead. Game over. Right? Wrong. Since that moment I've been able to understand sports-agony tales from Red Sox, Cubs, and Bills fans & writers. Gibby hobbles to the plate. How can a guy who can't even move briskly from the dugout to the batter's box even make contact against the dominant closer of the era? This would be over quickly, just not in the way I imagined.

I remember the gimpy swing, ass hanging out, almost a lunge. I remember seeing the ball fly through the air and thought, "No way, that's not getting out of here." Then I remember thinking that it can't be easy to recover from a moment like this. I was right. The A's managed only 1 win, Game 3, and lost in 5.

I was lucky again to be able to attend game 5 of the World Series that year. I figured I'd be seeing my guys taking a 3-2 series lead at the very worst. Instead I was treated to watching the Dodgers win their sixth championship. I still haven't gotten the taste out of my mouth.

So please, Wheaties, while I applaud your efforts and recognize you've made a clever ad, couldn't you pick some other heroic baseball moment? It doesn't need to be Bobby Thompson in 1951 ("The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!" - beating the Dodgers I might add), I'd settle for Mazeroski's homer in 1960. At least that one beat the Yankees. Who doesn’t like a moment like that?