Posted by Matt Sisson on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 9:11 pm

Good evening baseball world…Tonight is a happy night.  Tonight marks what could be the end of baseball as we know it for the 2009 season.  Odd that you may be hearing that from a person who loves baseball so much, but it’s true.  Whether the Yankees win another World Series or the Phillies live to fight another day, baseball will end before the week does. After the World Series concludes, the countdown to pitchers and catchers will start and the long winter of watching football, basketball, and maybe even hockey will begin.  A welcome end to a long season if you ask me.

Now someone who knows me may say, you’re just saying that because your Boston Red Sox didn’t make it past the ALDS and although that is true, it is not the reason for me being happy this season is over.  It runs a lot deeper than that.

If you’re reading this baseball blog post, its because of a connection.  A connection shared by millions of people all over the world…that connection is a love of baseball…or maybe your my friend on Facebook and saw the link i just posted.  Anyway..this love of baseball is one that is shared by fathers and sons, mothers and sons, mothers and daughters, brothers and sisters, boyfriends and girlfriends, regular friends, and whatever other combo you can think of.   All of these people know that it will be a long off season, no doubt about it. We’ll hear of who’s signing where and who thinks their team will win it all next season, but nothing will really fill the void until baseball starts to be played again and for that connection to be revamped and renewed.  The person in my life whom I share my biggest baseball connection with is my father.  He took me to my first baseball game when I was just a young kid and we’ve been to hundreds since then.

For me, 2009 was a season to forget. Don’t get me wrong, it started off great… My dad, sister and I attended the annual Christmas at Fenway event in which fans are invited to spend the better part of a morning at the ball park, listening to people within the organization,  players – current and past, speak about the team,  and most importantly… have the first shot of anyone to get their hands on tickets for the upcoming season.   We ended up walking away with a tall stack of tickets that included 4 seats to opening day.  What could be better than that?  Nothing.  Our team was poised to make a run at another championship, I was going to opening day, and I’d get to spend another summer at the ball park with my Dad.  The connection of a father and son and baseball would live on for another season.

Fast forward a few months and we’re at opening day, the Red Sox would win, and despite the 40 degree temperatures,  all who attended had a great time.  Little did I know that my life would soon change in a way that I’d never expected. Shortly after opening day, my dad went to his doctor to have him check on this nagging cough he’d had for a few weeks.  The Dr. took x-rays and found a spot in his lung that would later be diagnosed as lung cancer. For those of you who have experienced cancer in your family, you can imagine what it was like to get this sort of news.

For the first time in a while, baseball didn’t matter to me.   I followed the season, watched the games and wrote about it, but there was an emptiness there…almost as if I didn’t care what happened, if the Red Sox won or lost…the passion was gone, there were more important things going on in my life than baseball.

The connection between my dad and I and baseball was still there but it wasn’t the same.   We’d talk about the games, watch them on tv, and I’d tell him about sitting in the press box when I was fortunate enough to sit there, but the conversations were largely one sided.  The drugs my dad were on left him sick, cloudy, tired and made it hard for him to remembering things.  Our baseball connection was limited to situations like that…We couldn’t go to games anymore  because he was too sick from chemo to go and he needed to be careful going into crowds because his immune system was too weak to fight off a sickness if he were to get one.   Tickets were sold or given away to friends.   The season that started with such great expectations, one in which my dad had bought more tickets than in any season in the past, ended with  him going to the least amount of games than he has in quite some time.  What was supposed to be a summer at the ball park with friends and family for my dad, was quite the opposite.

Shortly after my dad being diagnosed, we met Dr. Sugarbaker.  Dr. Sugarbaker and I have gone back quite a long time in an odd way, but it would actually be the first time we met in person as well.  After graduating from UNH in 2003, a few of us UNH’ers moved to Boston.  One of those UNH’ers happened to be this girl I liked and she worked for this world renowned lung surgeon who’s office just happened to be a short walk from Fenway Park.  That world renowned lung surgeon was Dr. Sugarbaker.   A few years later, Dr. Sugarbaker came back into my life in another somewhat unexpected way.  A friend had just over come cancer in the form of a bone tumor in his knee and would routinely come down to Boston to see his doctor for check ups.  During one of these appointments an x-ray reviled spots that had begun to form in his lungs. Eventually a tumor began to grow and Dr. Sugarbaker  removed his right lung during the summer of 2008.  My friend fought the disease long and hard, but it got the best of him shortly after the new year.

Four months later it was my dad who was sitting in Dr. Sugarbakers office.  It was a pretty scary time, but in the end Dr. Sugarbaker did what he does best and my dad is now cancer free.  He’s still got a long road ahead of him to get back to normal, but he’s come a long way in a very short time.

So there’s my story…my version of the 2009 baseball season and this is the reason that I long for the start of the 2010 baseball season.  My dad is just as excited as I am.