"...And I Was THERE!" - Derek Estep

Apparently I have many friends who were lucky enough to snag tickets to the best Rangers game to date.

My high school buddy, Derek Estep sent this to me tonight and gave me the permission to share it with all of you.  Derek is an assistant district attorney in Eastland, Texas.  Enjoy!

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I had the privilege of being there, too. While I don't think I can wax as poetic as Joel, I thought you'd enjoy my story.

We got last minute standing room only seats, and the plan was to run up to the concourse at the top of the first section behind first base. There are tv's up there so if the view was bad we'd still catch the whole game. Over the course of the game we made small talk with those standing around us and the guys who had the seats on the very back row, right in front of us.

One of those guys was a former prosecutor so he and I swapped a few stories between innings. After the 8th when Colby Lewis went back in the dugout and received more than a good-game-kid hug from Ron Washington, my new friend, John made a statement that will stick with me as long as the images of the game. He said "I don't know you, and you don't know me. We've never met and we'll probably never see each other again. But, in 10 years when I'm telling the story of how I WAS THERE when the Rangers clinched their first World Series appearance, I'll remember you. Tonight we're all old friends." After that there was a lot of jumping, yelling, chest bumping, and beer spillage.

It was one heck of an experience, and just like he said, I'll remember those guys forever.