I’ve never been the world’s biggest baseball fans, and having been raised in Kansas City, I’ve certainly never been a Cardinals fan in any way, shape or form. These last few days, however, have changed my mind.

I’ve been in St. Louis since late Wednesday night for the National College Media convention, which was held at the Adam’s Mark hotel, just a few blocks from the stadium. As a result, I ended up standing outside the stadium when the players entered the field on Thursday night. After attempting to visit a couple of the nearby sports bars and being around all the fans, I finally understood what all the fuss was about; I get it. The latent energy in the crowds of people still standing outside the stadium was incredible. I can’t even imagine what it would have been like inside. Everyone in this town was thinking about one thing, and one thing only: the Cardinals becoming the 2006 World Champions.

The blind devotion of those fans last night amazed me. As one would imagine, there were ticket scalpers everywhere outside the stadium, and an exponentially higher number of fans looking for tickets. For some reason, one of those fans’ faces stuck in my mind. As I sat in my hotel room tonight, sitting on the edge of my seat during the 8th inning, there was one moment that tied it all together; they showed that fan, standing in the aisle during one of the crowd shots. While many of the fans were excited, he was standing there stoicly. You could tell that this would probably be one of those moments that defined his life. It was incredible.

Have I become a baseball fan for life? No, probably not. I do, however, promise to never heckle any of you Cardinals fans again. Ya know, I might even buy a hat next season. It was just that darn cool.