I noticed this at Wrigley one time when I stood up and screamed for a long Aramis Ramirez fly ball.
And don't tell me it hasn't happened to you.
Say some Cub is up, he makes good contact, the ball sails up into the blue and you...can't...help it...
You jump up.
You hold that "I'm about to clap" pose for a second, mouth hanging open.
Is it gone?
You think it's GONE.
You look at the outfielder and he's still running back.
You want to be part of what's about to happen, the magical home run.
So you let it out - that special-ecstasy home run noise you make.
aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH
The ball reaches it's apex and...falls limply into the left fielder's glove.
It didn't even reach the warning track, did it?
What you've just experienced is called "Premature Jack-Elation".
I don't know why this is embarrassing, but it is.
It's like when you hail a cab, but there's somebody in back, and then for some reason you scratch your head like you were never hailing anything in the first place?
Only there's no scratching your head here, my friend.
Because now you have to sit back down and not make eye contact with anyone for a minute, maybe pretend there's something interesting floating on the surface of your beer.
The people around you - the ones with...better control - they stood up maybe, but they didn't go full monty with the moan and everything.
They didn't get naked like you just did.
One more thing.
Premature Jack-Elation isn't relegated to just fans.
If you're a professional baseball player, and you hit a long fly ball but instead of running to first you stand there and admire it, or worse... celebrate a little?
Hey if you get a chance, the guys who ran Thunder Matt's Saloon have teamed up with the guys from Wasting Away In Wrigleyville and Ginger Russ from College of Idiots to form a new blog I'm sure is going to reward you with laughs when you go visit. Click on "Exile on Clark Street" on the sidebar there and go have some fun.
I'm on an extended business trip, so I'm putting up some of my fav older posts while I'm gone. Please keep comments coming as I'm gonna depend on you for what's REALLY going on, and I'll do my best to answer.
