theEPIC "ELBOWS-to-KNEES" STORY

Richard "HoodRich" Santos the star of theEPIC "ELBOWS-to-KNEES" STORY

Once Upon A Time...

...it was Monday, October 18th, 2004 — a historical Game 4 of the 2004 American League Championship Series. It wasn't just any ordinary game nor any typical series — Game 4 of the 2004 ALCS between long-time heated rivals the Boston Red Sox -vs- New York Yankees changed the course of baseball history, forever.

Up a decisive 3-0 in the series; including a 19 - 8 destruction of the Red Sox in Game 3, the Yankees, their fans and sports bookies nationwide had already seemingly booked-a-trip to the World Series — prolonging Boston's cursed misery.

But the Baseball Gods seemingly flipped-the-script and the Curse Of The Bambino was miraculously lifted — as the BoSox remarkably pushed Game 4 to a grueling 12 innings, giving enough time for David "Big Papi" Ortiz to earn his nickname (and salary)...the feared power-hitter hit a legendary walk-off two-run home-run for the ages!



As legend has it, Red Sox became the first team in MLB history to lose the first three games and win the next four to win a seven-game series.

Although it was a traumatic turn of events for Yankees fans, Game 4 also produced one of the craziest & funniest incidents that I've ever witnessed in my whole entire pathetic lifetime!

Childhood buds and life-long Yankees fans — Pete , Dillon and Kong

You see, my childhood friends and I decided to watch the game at one of our favorite/usual hang-outs — "Time Out" sports bar at the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York.

#42 the local loud-mouth

During the grueling game, there was an atypical local loud-mouth who began arguing about balls and strike calls from the umpire...one thing led to another and a very public dispute ensued between my childhood boy -Rich "Fake Manny" Santos (please believe me when I say he looks like Manny Ramirez's twin — but ironically, that's another story).

HoodRich pointing to his elbow amidst chuckling fans 

Rich professed that the strike zone was from "elbows-to-knees" while the local loud-mouth swore that the location was from "chest-to-knees" — what began as a minor difference of opinions...transformed into a quarrel of epic proportions!

As the argument about strike zone intensified, Rich was hell-bent and possessed on proving he was right...

Vindication: Elbows-to-knees, "Checkmate!"

...and so, to prove his point...he ran down-the-block to Barnes & Nobles and literally ripped-a-page out of the book store's Baseball Almanac...he quickly ran back into the bar to emphasize his point!

~The End~

Photos courtesy of theKONGLIST
Co-written by Peter R. Sayed