And So It Begins...

If you ask me, I would have to say that this is the most wonderful time of the year. No doubt, it's definitely the best time of the year to be a Boston sports fan. The city is abuzz with all our teams, but none more than our beloved Red Sox. Forever the Fenway Faithful, young and old in this city proudly wear their Red Sox gear as they go through daily life these days. Conversations in the supermarket checkout lines about Grand Slams and walk off home runs take place between the most unlikely and everyone knows what a ground rule double looks like. The biggest question asked is did you fall asleep or did you stay awake to see them win?Baseball in October doesn't get any better when our boys are playing and you can feel the fever the moment you step foot anywhere in this city.

Then there's My Tommy and the Patriots. Take for example Sunday night on my Jet Blue flight home to Boston. Our 5pm departure set up the perfect viewing for the 4pm game against New Orleans. Alone in my headphones, I was quietly wincing and cheering throughout the game and even switching channels when it got too frustrating to watch. But everywhere around me had the game on too; every other seat or even every seat was watching the events play out on their TV's and I was never more than a glance away from the action. It's how I figured out that the Pats got the ball back with a minute to play, one touchdown away from winning the game. And one should never count My Tommy out in that situation.

We were squirming, and praying and then the amazing pass into the end zone to win the game happened and the ENTIRE PLANE erupted in cheers. It caught me off guard because I had been so engrossed in my own headphone and monitor that I had forgotten that a few hundred other people were watching it too. There we were together, cheering our team's exciting victory, united if only for a moment hundreds of miles up in the sky above the clouds.

And that's what it feels like.

The camaraderie and connection we feel to these few players who we can call our own make us proud to wear the colors. Together we can feel good about the events of the game and if only for a moment we are one. United in sport and our love of the game and united in the place we call home.

And so it begins....and so far, it's been one hell of a ride!