Spartanburg, Part Deux

Sunset in Spartanburg

We timed our stay at Spartanburg to coincide with our son's days off from work.  The day after the shrimp fest, Frank and Matt went to the driving range to hit a couple of buckets of balls.  We had sent Matt a new set of clubs for his birthday, and now we were able to see them in person.  They were a hit, to say the least.

Meanwhile, Linda went to see the Cowpens National Battlefield.
Google it.  Very interesting, really.

A man and his clubs

Battle of Cowpens ... short but mighty

Then we all went to Matt's softball game.  His team split a double header, and he had a long home run in one of the games.  After the games, we went out for a later dinner with Matt and some of his teammates.  Great day, so far.

Just before lift-off

As we were dining on sliders and chicken salad at Applebees, we watched the final MLB games of the 2011 season.  It was down to the wire for our Rays, and the prospects of them making it to the post season were grim.  Those darned Yankees were beating the Rays to a pulp;  worse yet, the Red Sox were leading the Orioles in the top of the 8th inning.  Any hope of a one-game playoff between the Red Sox and the Rays seemed to be gone as we drove away from the restaurant.  Goodbye, Rays until 2012.

We pulled into the campsite 20 minutes later, and turned on the TV to see just how badly the games had turned out, and to see the Red Sox gloat over their victory.  It was going to be sad.  Whoa...what happened?  To our amazement, the Rays had rallied to a 7-7 tie, and the Orioles were tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 9th.  How could this be?

The rest, as they say, is history.  One of the best sports days in history was nearing a close ... the stuff of legends.  The next day the internet would be full of videos and blogs and analysis of What Happened on September 28, 2011.