WSET.com - ABC13Justin Case for September 29, 2010

Don't tell me there's a better game than baseball.

On Tuesday night the Cincinnati Reds clinched a playoff spot for the first time in 15 years. When the Reds clinched in 1995 I was 12 years old. Do I remember it? Yes. Do I cherish it? No. I was too young and the Reds had just won the World Series five years before in 1990. Ask that same question today and the answer is an absolute - yes.

15 years of regular season ineptness will do that to a fan.

Tuesday was different. I had a plan before I went to work. I had assignments 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 to accomplish. Done. Done. Done. Done. And Done. Now it was time for Reds baseball.

First pitch: 7:10 p.m. The chicken was on the grill and a cold one was in hand.

As I watched the early innings of the game on my laptop mlb.tv subscription, my aunt's facebook post said, "Letting Drew stay up for the entire game tonight. Go Reds!!!" Drew is my little cousin. He's only lived through seven years of Reds futility. On Tuesday futility went out the window and playoff baseball was back in Cincinnati.

Earlier in the day I texted my younger brother and sisters and told them, ‘If you're in Cincinnati, you should be at the ball park tonight.' My brother had a recreational softball game so he couldn't go but after a 10-run rule win he and his friends then went to a bar, stood amongst silent patrons focused on every pitch, until Jay Bruce's walk-off home run allowed them to erupt with joy.

My sisters did take my advice and made their way down to Great American Ball Park. Three hours later one sent me a text because if she had called I wouldn't have been able to hear her amongst the pandemonium that was Downtown Cincinnati. The text read: Woo it's awesome here! Insanity. My other sister's text read: Awesome game…Fountain Square is crazy. That was the understatement of the night. Thousands of Reds fans, desperate to celebrate something, packed the park and emptied into the streets oozing with delight.

One woman couldn't be there but she was watching at home. With the game in the first inning, I called my grandma. In some respects, she's one of the main reasons I'm a Reds fan and a baseball fan. She just turned 88 years old and is in the middle stages of dementia. She struggles to get through each day but on Tuesday night it was as if she turned back the clock. She knew what was going on. The Reds were on TV and they had a chance to clinch a playoff spot. She watched and I watched and after it was over I called my dad, who had been with my grandma when I called her earlier and he said, "She was as good as she's been in a month and a half. She was up and alert." Maybe that's what a chance at playoff baseball does to someone, to a family, to a city. It uplifts them to something better, something they haven't seen in 15 years.

That's what baseball can do. That's what the Reds can do for their fans.

If the Reds don't advance in the playoffs, so what. I had this moment, I'll remember forever.