A Missed Opportunity on a Friday Night

Considering I go to San Diego State as a student, Friday night was amazing. Unfortunately, my reason for it being so amazing, is much different than how I anticipated it just 24 hours earlier.

Thursday evening I planned on going to the baseball game on Friday night. I knew Aztec phenom Steven Strasburg was scheduled to make what will likely be his final home start at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

But when 6 PM on Friday, May 8, 2008 rolled around I was about five miles away at home, waiting to watch the Lakers, a team I utterly despise. I began sucking down cans of beer and arguing with my friends about the effects of steroids on punters and kickers (yeah, we were that drunk).

By 9 PM, the Lakers had easily finished off the Houston Rockets, much to my dismay, and likely Strasburg had thrown his 17th, and final, strikeout of the evening.

By 9:30, my friends and I were sitting up on our roof, with a fire pit lit up and were smoking cigars and drinking beer, while attempting to figure out which actress we would most like to have sex with.

By 10, sirens were going off from fire trucks, as we could hear them coming when they were on the main road behind our house. All of us were scared they were coming for us, but didn't think they were.

Then they turned onto our street. Each and everyone of us, got up, threw our cigars in the fire pit, and tried to hide like cowards. We put the fire out, and tried to hide our beer cans.

We are all 22 or older, yet we all had a sense of guilt. Legally speaking, there was nothing wrong with what we were doing. But in all reality, all of us knew it probably wasn't the best idea ever.

By 10:30 the commotion had died down, save for one neighbor who creaped over from down the street and was still talking to the homeowner. And we couldn't get him to leave.

When all was said and done, nobody got in trouble, nobody was injured, and we all were able to laugh and joke about the situation, and had an experience we can talk about and joke about for years to come.

But that leaves me thinking...I could've had that same scenario play out if I had stayed on campus when I got off of work. I could've gone to the stadium and watched history. I could've seen Stephen Strasburg's final home collegiate start, which was just as memorable as any he made before it.

The Junior fireballer threw nine shutout innings, giving up zero hits. Let that sink in...zero hits. Only two men reached base, and both were via walks, which is not the way runners generally reach base versus this ace.

The young man who is known for once reaching 103 MPH on a radar gun was said to have a killer slurve last night. And of course his fastball was overpowering to Air Force hitters, who Lord willing, will never see bullets coming at them at that speed.

For all the career accomplishments of this young man in his three seasons at "State"—23 strikeouts in one game, a no-hitter, being the only non-professional player on the United States Olympic Baseball team in 2008, and more, perhaps Friday night's start was the most amazing.

You see, when Strasburg took the mound Friday, the stadium was sold out, there were many fans forced to stand. And 99.9 percent of all those in attendance were there to see him pitch. They expected to see greatness. They expected an exclamation mark to be placed on his college career.

The problem is that when sports fans expect greatness, they are rarely rewarded for their faith. Sports generally disappoint us. But for the 3,000-plus, Strasburg's performance Friday night lived up to the billing and then some.

Myself being a former pitcher in high school and college, could only dream of pitching a no-hitter at any level, for one inning. The fact Strasburg did it for nine full innings, when he was expected to, is amazing.

But you know what may be even more amazing than all the great things Strasburg has done as an Aztec? His 3-2 pitch in the seventh missed the strike zone and led to an Air Force Falcon gaining a free pass to first base. Immediately Strasburg yelped out an expletive for all to hear.

The young man was throwing a no-hitter, yet he was so upset about missing the strike zone. For a college pitcher that is impressive. Even more impressive is the fact he recovered as if it never happened. He would not allow another base runner the remainder of the game.

Strasburg recovered and made history which those in attendance will never forget. Heck, I wasn't even at the game, yet Friday will always be a night I remember, 'til the day I die.