Is this the beginning of a dynasty for Del Porto?
By Don White

The last time I was part of a really jubilant atmosphere was after the Minnesota Twins defeated Atlanta in 1991 to win the world series. I was new to Minnesota, there to lead an insurance company. The company had four tickets and I believe I took two of my kids and my wife, Carolyn. There were fans jumping up and down, running through the town, jumping on parked cars, and just being excited that a lowly-financed team like the Twins could be world champions. But, then, they had done it two years earlier, in '89, so for older die-hard Twin's fans it was expected, wasn't it?

Of course I was there. I had seen only one other world series in my life and that was in St. Louis when the Cardinals defeated Kansas City. The town was so alive, I had never seen anything like this before. Car horns blaring, kids and parents taking over the town, traffic jams, people jammed into the Marriott Hotel where we were staying. I had been seated in an upper right field seat. I could get only that kind of seat from a hawker before the game, but I loved it. As soon as it was over I was one of the first to run down the circular ramp. I almost got trampled on, people were so excited. I loved it.

Since, I've watched TV and seen plenty of excited people. I just love the Kirk Gibson LA Dodger jubilant walk-away homer. It may be the most memorable though I wasn't there.

Gibson is perhaps best known for his single plate appearance in the 1988 World Series against the Oakland Athletics. With a stomach virus and injuries to both legs sustained during the League Championship Series, Gibson was not expected to play at all. In Game 1, on October 15, 1988 at Dodger Stadium,. With the Dodgers trailing by a score of 4–3, Mike Davis on first, and two out in the ninth inning, manager Tommy Lasorda inserted Gibson as a pinch hitter.

Gibson limped up to the plate to face Oakland's future Hall of Fame closer Dennis Eckersley Gibson quickly got behind in the count, 0–2, but received two outside pitches and fouled off a pitch to work to a 2–2 count. On the sixth pitch of his at bat, a ball, Davis stole second. With an awkward, almost casual swing, Gibson used pure upper-body strength to smack a 3–2 backdoor slider over the right-field fence. He hobbled around the bases and pumped his fist as his jubilant teammates stormed the field. The Dodgers won the game, 5–4, and would go on to win the World Series, 4–1.

But here we are in 2009.

Results 1 - 10 of about 234,000 for Photos of Tennis star Del Porto.

Is this the beginning of a dynasty for Del Porto?

I wish my tennis champion son, Marcus White, and I could have been there at the USTA in Flushing Meadows, New York. We did drive from Minnesota one time and viewed it in the old stadium, and that was a total blast. We saw Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker and many more including Jim Courier. Some of the other opponents Sampras had to overcome to get to his many championships were Tommy Haas, Safin from Russia, and Lleyton Hewitt from Australia. Then there was Lendl, Goran Ivanisevic, Derrick Rostagno, and Brad Gilbert and scores more. It was a lot tougher slate for championship tennis players then than now, in my humble opinion.

But I can appreciate the fans of Argentine 6-8 tennis champion, Del Porto pictured in the photograph above. They were watching on television - weren't even there. But look at their emotion. They were partly an American group, too, and yet they let it all out as the young man from Argentina wins the US Tennis Association championship, his first grand slam.

There is nothing like sports to bring together diverse people from different nations. At that one moment of success, we were all Argentines. Good luck to this young man for the future -- for it is all ahead of him and no one knows how really good he can be but himself.

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