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The GW Hatchet

AN INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SERVING THE GW COMMUNITY SINCE 1904

The GW Hatchet

Serving the GW Community since 1904

The GW Hatchet

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Officials name senior vice president, chief of staff
By Fiona Riley, Assistant News Editor • March 26, 2024

From the heartland: On the eighth day God created October

The Twins beat the A’s, the Yanks are sittin’ at home and I don’t even care that Barry Bonds is still playing, because it’s October and the Fall Classic is right around the corner. That’s right, baseball fans. The playoffs are in full swing and I’m more excited than a freshman at his first keg party.

Last weekend, I flew home to Minnesota to see the Twins face the Oakland A’s in their playoff showdown. I joined 56,000 crazed Minnesotans in a standing-room-only Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome that was louder than a hoard of 13-year-old girls at an ‘NSync concert. I got to see the Twins’ magical season continue as they destroyed the A’s 11-2. The Twins went on to win the series the following night. Midnight has yet to strike for this Cinderella.

Teams of destiny don’t come along often, but as my nose bled in the 26th row of the upper deck bleachers last Saturday, that’s what I felt – destiny. They refused to lose. The team that went toe-to-toe with the Grim Reaper has yet to flinch. Under his uniform, each player wears a T-shirt that defiantly asks “Who’s next?”

Next is the Anaheim Angels and the Twins are 1-1 in the ALCS. Contract who, Mr. Selig?

This is what life is all about. Every October, baseball makes us stop and smell the roses. Today, when we can’t go five minutes without hearing about snipers or war with Iraq, baseball captures our imagination and reminds us that the impossible is always possible.

Like Mookie Wilson’s dribbler finding its way through Buckner’s five-hole, costing the Red Sox Game Six and, eventually, the 1986 World Series.

October 1988 brought us Kirk Gibson’s dramatic one-legged crawl around the bases after his pinch-hit Game One-winning home run. The homer sparked the Dodgers to their World Series victory.

As a born and raised Twins fan, and therefore a worshipper of Kirby Puckett, Game Six of the 1991 World Series stands alone as the ultimate baseball memory of my life. I remember Puckett’s leaping catch at the wall to rob Ron Gant of extra bases like it was yesterday. Just thinking about Puckett’s fist-pumping, triumphant lap around the bases after an 11th-inning homer still gives me goose bumps.

Last year, October stretched to November and we were treated to one of the greatest World Series ever. Luis Gonzalez added the cherry to the top of the sundae with his blooper that scored Tony Womack as the Diamondbacks dethroned the “unbeatable” Yankees.

And this October has already had its share of magic.

After a tragedy-filled season the St. Louis Cardinals are four wins from the World Series.

The Anaheim Angels put together their own Cinderella season and are playing in the American League Championship Series after finishing with a losing record one year ago.

The Yankees are defeated.

The Braves have been tomahawked.

And the Minnesota Twins are just three wins from the American League Pennant and home-field advantage in the World Series.

It just doesn’t get any better than this.

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