October, 2060

Three men and five children sit together in the media room of a comfortable home watching a Major League Baseball playoff game. The three boys range in age from 5 to 10, the two girls are 8 and 11. The two 30-something aged brothers are the fathers of these five, and the oldest gentleman is the patriarch of the entire bunch.

The game is tied through 10 innings when the youngest boy questions no one in particular how long the game will last.

His father answers "until someone is ahead at the end of an inning".

The 10-year-old, a blue-eyed wisp of a boy with an insatiable curiosity, wonders out loud "what's the longest playoff game ever"?

After a brief silence as the two middle-aged men look at each other, the tall, thin, handsome old man speaks: "18 innings - nearly 6 hours."

"Wow Grandpa - that's a long time," says the youngest daughter. Her father, well aware of the old man's tendency to embellish the truth from time to time for the sake of a good yarn, asks "how do you know that, Dad?" To which the old man, a sparkle in his sky blue eyes, responds "because I was there". All heads in the room turn to the old gentleman as he relives that beautiful fall afternoon from so long ago.

"I was your age David" he starts, nodding at the rapt 10 year old. "It looked like the Astros would lose that day for sure, as the Braves hit a grand slam off our starter in the top of the 3rd. Their starter was mowing our guys down - we could only score one run in 7 innings. In the 8th, we got the bases loaded and Lance Berkman hit a grand slam that made an already electrified crowd explode. It was the only time in playoff history 2 grand slams were hit in the same game.

Still behind by one run in the bottom of the 9th, we had two outs when our catcher hit a massive home run over left center field to tie the game and cause your great-grandfather to lift me off my feet and hold me over his head while 43,000 fans screamed and clapped in ecstacy."

"For the next 3 hours, neither team budged. Their pitchers were stingy, and ours were persistent. We used Hall of Famer Roger Clemens to pinch-HIT in the 15th inning, laying down a perfect sacrifice bunt. He then came into the game, on 2 days rest, and pitched 3 innings of inspiring relief. The presenter mentioned that game the day he went into Cooperstown."

"Then suddenly, with 1 out in the bottom of the 18th inning, a rookie, who was called up to the major leagues on my birthday that year, hit a 2-0 fastball over the left field fence and we erupted in one final, exhausted, thrilling celebration. That game clinched the National League division series for the Astros, who went on to play in the World Series that year for the first time."

By now the old man's wife has entered the room, and she sighs "Austin are you telling that story about the Astros game AGAIN?" The kids, (their spell from the story broken by their Grandmother's arrival with Rice Krispie Treats), fall out laughing as Grandpa Austin rolls his eyes at them all.

And once more, the glory of sporting achievement bridges the generations, even if just for a moment on a cool autumn afternoon...