THE BUZZ in PHILLY 

It was 1980……..the USA hockey team won the gold, the Eagles were in the Super Bowl, the Sixers played in the NBA Championship and the Flyers skated in the Stanley Cup. It was a great year to be a sports fan in Philadelphia. There has never been as great a time since.

I was in 8th grade and remember laying in bed listening to the Phillies on the radio on a school night (up later than I should have been). Back then, only some of the away games were on TV, so it was baseball at its purest ~ on the radio (and it wasn’t satellite, so the crackle of static was part of the broadcast).I remember Bake McBride hitting a walk-off homerun at about this time of the season and thinking to myself, “This is our year!” And sure enough it was, as the Phils won perhaps the greatest-ever NLCS over the Astros, and then beat the Royals in six games to bring a long-awaited World Series championship to the City of Brotherly Love.

As the Phillies busted out to a 4-0 first-inning lead tonight against the Braves, I had a flashback to Shakin’ Bake’s home run (and Mike Schmidt’s homer in Montreal to win that crucial game). It sent a chill up my spine. Could this be our year?And I don’t mean winning the World Series. I mean just making the playoffs. It’s not often that Phillies fans get to watch baseball during the last week of the season with any sort of rooting interest.

Since 1993 this last week of the season has only been a chance to watch the Phils play the role of spoiler, and often not even do that well.Typically at this time of year we’re focused on next year. Who will manage? Who will be traded? Who will be brought in via free agency?And those questions will all come up ~ probably within 24 hours of the final out of the season, playoffs or not.Will Charlie Manuel be back to manage? Some say even if he does make the playoffs there are no guarantees. I, for one, don’t want another April like last year. Maybe Joe Girardi loves cheesesteaks, Tastykakes and soft pretzels.Will Pat Burrell still be a Phillie? Unless some team is foolish enough to pickup the remaining years of his fat contract, yes. And after tonight’s big home run, maybe we should keep him (did I actually say that?).Will they re-sign Ryan Howard? If they don’t, I’ll become a Mets fan.

And there are many other questions to answer. But for now, it’s all about this pennant race. Right now. This weekend coming up. Tonight, and tomorrow night and the next.There is no better thing for a baseball fan than your team in a pennant race.The Phillies are in one! In fact, they’re in first place.Whether you believe in miracles or not, believe me when I say, it doesn’t get any better than this.

Jon Buzby is a nationally-syndicated columnist who can be reached at www.jonbuzby.com.