“Yeah, the boy can play.” – Dire Straits

It’s no secret. I love live sporting events. There’s no better reality entertainment than sports. It’s why millions of us attend, tune into, and/or play them. Sure the lines are sometimes too long, the logistics stink, the weather is unpredictable, the parking, the crowds, the claustrophobia. But oh how sports can make us feel connected. They can make us feel alive. One can run the gamut of emotions – joy, sorrow, laughter, tears, and everything in between… sometimes in a matter of hours or minutes or even seconds.

A little over a week ago at America Family Field in Milwaukee, chalk another one up to the “this is why we love sports” column. It was my second trip to the ballpark for a Brewers’ game. The previous one ending in a loss to the Reds last summer. It seemed this time as if the baseball gods were going to send us home without a Brewers’ win once again after the Washington Nationals rallied for two runs in the 8th and one in the top of the ninth to take a 5-3 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

As a lifelong Cubs fan, I have no emotional currency invested in the Brewers, but I also care very little for the Washington Nationals. If at all possible when I visit a stadium, I try to always side with the home team. So, there I sat with my navy-blue Brewers cap on my head, my wife to my right, and my sister and brother-in-law, my 10-year-old nephew, and my 8-year-old niece in seats directly behind us.

Sending in their closer, Kyle Finnegan, to the mound my sister and brother-in-law debated slightly in between frames whether or not they should leave a little early to “beat the traffic.” Repeat after me: Never. Leave. Early. To my nephew’s credit, he was not on board with this plan at all, and he was holding steady. I would not have been surprised if his 10-year-old self would have melted down in front of hundreds just to remain in his seat for three more outs. I turned around and told him “get your rally hat on.” A quizzical look came across his face as he asked “what’s a rally hat?” I informed him of this long-standing ritual and the importance of the rally hat in dire circumstances like this. I told him there is no set way to do it – you can turn your hat inside out, backwards, sideways, sit it on top of your head like a shark – they all can work. So, we both decided upon the backwards Brewers’ cap as the home team came to bat in the bottom of the ninth.

Brewers’ stars Jackson Chourio and Christian Yelich pumped life into the stadium beginning the bottom of the ninth with an infield single and a walk respectively. The buzz level was growing. The lone Nationals’ fan sitting in the row in front of us was beginning to take heat from his family and friends after having spent the top of the 8th and top of the 9th in an over-the-top wild frenzy cheering on the Nationals mostly to annoy said friends and family.

Newly acquired first baseman Andrew Vaughn roped the first pitch he saw, a 97mph four-seam fastball, into the gap for a two-run double. The game was tied 5-5 and the crowd was the loudest it had been all day. The lone exception – yes, the aforementioned Nationals fan in the row in front of us.

Andruw Monasterio pinch ran for Vaughn and Jake Bauers pinch hit for Isaac Collins. Bauers grounded out, but Monasterio aggressively took third base on the throw to first base to get Bauers. The Nationals intentionally walked left-handed hitting Brice Turang to set up what they hoped would be an inning-ending double play and chose to pitch to the hot hitting right-handed hitting Caleb Durbin. Durbin watched a called strike, but then promptly laced the second pitch down the right field line for the game winning hit.

As the announcers like to say when the home team wins in their last at-bat, Durbin “walked it off,” And in unison, we all walked it off that day. We walked up the stadium stairs and through the stadium and out to our vehicles all the while slapping high-fives and fist-bumping random strangers on our way out. The only one not fist-bumping or high-fiving – the Nationals’ fan in the row in front of us who had scurried out of the stadium as quickly as possible much to the delight of his Brewers’ friends and family.

Ahh, the beauty of sports. The beauty of the rally cap. The beauty of a common cause culminating in a walk-off win together.

I’ll quote the late, great Jack Buck and say, “Go crazy, folks. Go crazy!” Here is Caleb Durbin doing the walk, doing the walk-off of life. Oh yeah, the boy can play.

And after all the violence and double talk
There’s just a song in all the trouble and the strife
You do the walk, yeah, you do the walk of life
Hmm, they do the walk of life

Whether 2025 or the release date of this song and video 40 years ago in 1985, there’s always going to be a song in all the trouble and the strife. There was trouble and strife in Milwaukee a few weeks ago, but the Brewers persevered. May you take heed from a simple game with a stick and a ball, may you persevere through your troubles and your strife, and may you do the walk of life.

Today’s classic choice hit #7 on the U.S. charts and #2 in the UK. With apologies to those of you who prefer “Money for Nothing,” this lively and upbeat song remains my favorite Dire Straits song. The video below with all of the vintage 80’s sports highlights (and lowlights) is also a reminder of some of our sports stars of the past. I always loved the video too, because it features one Larry Legend running onto the parquet floor of the 80’s Boston Garden.

Written by the red head-banded one, Straits’ frontman Mark Knopfler, let’s all do the “Walk of Life…”

Thanks for reading and may you have a walk-off win this week in whatever it is you are doing!

sincerely,

the80s