For no reason in particular, I took off from work on Monday, September 26, 2011.  At around 3:30 in the afternoon, I threw on one of my many Orioles give-away t-shirts and headed down to the Inner Harbor for a run.  The Harbor area was relatively void of people, as one might expect at 3:30 on a Monday afternoon.  It seemed that the only people outside and not working were Red Sox fans.  Everywhere I turned on my run, there was another person right in front of me casually passing the late afternoon hours in a Red Sox t-shirt, hat, or jersey.   I tensed up a little more with every Red Sox fan I passed.  In just a few hours I would be in a stadium full of these enemy fans.  I was excited, but I would be lying if I said I wasn’t  a bit nervous of the potential outcome.  The Red Sox held a one-game lead over the Rays in the American League Wild Card race heading into Monday.  For the Rays to win the AL Wild card outright, either the Orioles or the Rays would have to win all three of their final games.  The other team would have to win at least two out of three.  The Rays could tie the Red Sox and force a one game playoff if both the Orioles and Rays each went 2-1 during their respective series.  The odds certainly weren’t in the Rays corner and us O’s fans faced the very real possibility of having to watch the Red Sox players and fans celebrate a playoff berth in Camden Yards.  We dreaded that possibility and knew that getting off on the right foot in the first game of the series was of the upmost importance. 

I have seen the term “Schadenfreude” thrown around to describe the reaction of Orioles’ players and fans upon ending the Red Sox season on the final day of 2011 season.  I won’t deny that Schadenfreude, a German term which describes the joy and pleasure one takes in the misfortunes of others, certainly played a role in the post-game emotions from both players and fans.  However, to dismiss the emotions and significance of that game as nothing more than Schadenfreude, simply misses the point.  The events of September 28th had significant meaning to the Orioles and their supporters for a variety of reasons.  It was about Orioles fans taking back their stadium from the invading Red Sox fans for one night.  It was about the Orioles as a team, standing up to a team that had literally and figuratively bullied them for the better part of a decade.  It was about the players, their season long over, fighting to the very last pitch out of a sense of pride and determination.  Lastly, it was about the have-nots of Major League Baseball taking it to the haves on one special, magical night.