The El Duque…How I remember it

Hi friends, it’s your buddy BeefLoaf.  In the past few hours I have seen various fb posts, tweets, etc of one of the most exhilirating half innings in White Sox history.  Those of you in the know, simply call it the “El Duque inning”, but for those not in the know it was White Sox vs Red Sox, at Fenway, game 3 of the ALDS, bottom of the 6th inning, our White Sox clinging to a 1 run lead and the bases loaded with nobody out when Orlando Hernandez entered the game.  Hernandez was a starting pitcher during the season, but was clearly the 5th starter so his only role on the playoff roster would be coming outta the pen and who knows how much he’d actually get used considering how damn good that pen was during the season.

I was a mere 27 year old when the El Duque inning occurred, and more accurately, I was closing the books on my first job out of college…………literally that day.  I mean, I had a box with my shit in it leaving my old job.  Unlike Chorizy-E, who started off his post college career working for a well known Chicago record label (ask him about it, he has some great stories) before finding his career….and also unlike MySoxSummer who spent a decade or so in Arizona and Cali groovin’, before coming back to Chicago to start up his current life…..I went straight into my trade out of college.  I went right from a lax senior year college schedule to Public Accounting (and studying for the CPA and all that bullshit).   Most of you don’t know anything about Public Accounting and most of you probably don’t care, but Public Accounting is a right of passage for young accountants.  Here’s the deal, the firm will beat the ever loving shit outta you, piling on hours (and in my case weight) and in return, you’ll get to put that and a variety of very helpful skills on your resume.  I bit, for 5 years……..Now, you have two choices, at some point, stay with it and hope to get on the partner track, which will eventually get you paid righteously OR go into industry and trade some hours for some of your life back.  I chose Industry.  So, October 7, 2005 was one of the happiest days of my life already when I was listening to the White Sox on the radio and packing up my shit to move on with my life.  Being who I am, I made a good faith effort to put in a full day, but goddamnit, my White Sox were in the playoffs and there is no reason not to get to a local saloon and catch what’s left of the game.  I reached out to Chorizy and sure enough they were going to get to a bar close to my office (which was in River North) so that I could meet them whenever I got out.  The bottom of the 6th inning was starting, so it was time to bolt.  I walked with all of my personal belongings to Mother Hubbards, there I found Chorizy-E, Ring Toss Mike and RhinoMan.  The game was at commercial, but they quickly filled me in as to the scenario that occurred while I walked down.  What I immediately found weird was that the TV we had in front of our table, appeared to be faster than the other TV’s by like a half second…..that ended up helping as the drama unfolded.  I don’t need to give you the play by play here, if you read this long, you know what happens.  When Johnny Damon fails to check his swing, we are the first in the packed bar to erupt!!

What a great moment, great day, great year!!!