This poor child thought the Pittsburgh Pirates had a win. They were one strike away from a 1-0 victory against the Washington Nationals on Sunday when Daniel Murphy hit a 2-2 pitch over the right-field wall to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Over the next nine innings of this 18-inning affair, the boy went through a range of emotions perhaps never before seen at a baseball game.
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There were tears, joy, what appears to be a hot dog in there at one point, shock, sleep and after Starling Marte’s homer in the top of the 18th that gave the Pirates a 2-1 lead they would not relinquish, ecstasy.
It was the sort of sweet relief only a young sports fan untainted by years of heartbreak can experience. This was happiness on a level we as adults can no longer feel for a regular-season game, and it was all because his favorite team won.
Or was it?
Everyone is making assumptions that the child was a Pirates fan who just wanted to see his team win. Here’s another plausible theory: He had just watched baseball for three hours and all he wanted to do was go home when Murphy tied the game. He wasn’t so much rooting for the Pirates over the rest of the game — he simply wanted the game to end so he could go home and sleep in his bed. Do you know what it’s like to spend six hours sitting outside in the D.C. heat?
Or maybe I’m just projecting. My other theory is the kid is mad because they cut off beer sales after the seventh inning, but that’s probably not it either.
(Via MLB)
