By Bob Socci Thirty-five years ago, in what was widely viewed as an act of defiance, baseball’s commissioner created quite a stir by sitting through a World Series game sans an overcoat. The Big Red Machine was beating the Yankees on a frigid Sunday evening at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Stadium, for the second of four wins…
Pointed Toward A Special Place
By coming to Navy, Ed DeChellis is answering a calling, for both him and his late friend. By Bob Socci Originally posted on http://www.navysports.com on May 25, 2011. Ed DeChellis had been back in Happy Valley for four seasons when sadness struck in the summer of 2007, leaving him to eulogize the man he still…
A Doctor On The Call
By Bob Socci Perhaps it was the veteran goaltender, his helmet dislodged after being barreled over by a teammate tumbling into the crease and his eyebrow bloodied by the puck careening off his head into the net. Or the teenager, lagging in experience and unable to keep up with others in a patented playoff tradition,…
Baseball in This American Life
By Bob Socci Like so many Saturdays in May, far too many to possibly recount, this one included plenty of conversation about the game I’ve loved as long as memory can recall. Only, unlike all those others, I wasn’t doing the talking. Most of adulthood – accepting that I’ve actually grown up – spring and…
‘A Total Team Effort’
Ex-linebacker and former Navy SEAL Clint Bruce reacts to death of Osama bin Laden By Bob Socci Originally posted on http://www.navysports.com on May 4, 2011. This was one of those rare where-were-you-when moments in life, marked as much by the vivid imagery of our space in its time as by its time and date. Most…
‘The Stark Reality of What This Place is About’
By Bob Socci Originally posted on http://www.navysports.com on Friday, September 24, 2010. Last Friday morning, sipping a cup of Starbucks and sitting on a bench near the Delta counter at BWI Airport, I couldn’t help but observe a very private moment in a very public place. A few steps to my left, a young woman,…
What A Difference A Decade Makes
Posted on 1/8/10 at http://www.navysports.com By Bob Socci You know how the decade ended for the Navy Midshipmen. Do you remember how it began? If so, perhaps you’d rather forget. It’s totally understandable, especially considering how the latest of Navy’s last seven seasons – the best yet, I believe – came to…
