When the losers are winners too

Some people might see it as a little bit cheesy, especially as it was all orchestrated in advance, but "cheesy" is my middle name (as even the briefest glance at my, erm, eclectic CD collection will reveal), so I enjoyed seeing the Dodgers and the Cardinals out on the field shaking hands after the Cardinals' 6-2 win sealed their spot in the NLCS.

We're about to head into a crazy couple of weeks of baseball, so this is a timely reminder that, although baseball thrills and frustrates us, provides us with moments of inexplicable joy and horrible sleepless nights, gives our lives a steady rhythm year in, year out, when all's said and done, it's still just a game - a beautiful one, but a game nonetheless. You go out, you play hard, you even leave something of your heart and soul out there on the field, but when it's done and you realise that you didn't quite have what it took to go the distance, you shake the other guys' hands, congratulate them and hope that you come back bigger and better next year.