Buehrle's "Perfecto" was special to watch

This time of year really is a slow time in the world of sports. College football has yet to even start practice. SEC Media Days does, however, provide those of us that feel football deprived a little something to chat about. NFL players have yet to report to training camp. Though, there's plenty of "hooplah" surrounding Big Ben, OchoCinco, and T.O. to keep NFL junkies busy. The only thing going on is Major League Baseball. So, on this slow Thursday in the sports world I turned all of my attention to the Day Games on TV.

I watched my Atlanta Braves blow a game against Barry Zito and the Giants. A game that could have and should have been won if not for little league mistakes by a certain few players. The Braves had been hot. Heck, they still can be considered hot as it was just their 2nd loss since the All-Star break. Still, every loss hurts when the Phillies are on fire. Not to mention the Phils are on the brink of maybe landing Roy Halladay for the rest of the season.

To get to my point. On what I thought would be a very boring Thursday laying on my couch, watching the Braves, and recovering from meltdown mode after hearing about the recent transfer rumors surrounding our football team, something amazing happened. I keep up with the Rays quite well because they are my 2nd MLB team. While keeping track of them on MLB.com, I noticed that through 5 innings they had no hits, no runs, no walks, and had reached on no errors. The boys from the South Side of Chicago were up 5 to 0 and one Mark Buehrle had a perfect game going. It really isn't that rare to see a guy working perfect to 3 or 4 or maybe 5 innings every now and then. But I kept watching and the Rays went down 1, 2, 3 in the sixth, too. Again in the 7th. Finally, with the Braves seemingly out of the game, I switched the channel over to ESPN who had live coverage of the White Sox/Rays when Buehrle was pitching. With two outs in the top of the eighth Pat Burrell lined a frozen rope that landed just an inch or two foul down the 3rd base line. Causing me and the 30,000 plus watching at U.S. Cellular Field to gasp for air. Burrell then lined out to end the inning, securing the perfect game through 8. After an uneventful bottom of the eighth, Buehrle threw a 2-2 fastball to Gabe Kapler. I thought it was over. That is until ChiSox CF Dewayne Wise went way up over the centerfield wall and brought it back to preserve the shutout, no-no, and perfect game. The catch was miraculous. Everyone in the stadium thought it was gone, including Buehrle himself. Wise bobbled the ball while falling to the warning track before he finally secured it in his left throwing hand. I jumped off the couch cheering for what was, is, and will be one of the greatest catches of all time. The feat wasn't complete yet. Buehrle battled back from a 3-1 count to strike out Michel Hernandez. Then, on the verge of history, got Jason Bartlett to ground into a 6-3 putout that had to be nerve-racking for White Sox shortstop Alexi Ramirez.

Watching Buehrle and his teammates dog pile on the mound provided a aesthetic experience for me. You can't help but cheer for a guy on verge of such an achievement. The last 2 perfect games I witnessed live on television. Both times against one of my teams. Both times I cheered for the opposing pitcher. When Randy Johnson threw his perfecto against the Braves in 2004 I was standing in my living room cheering as he struck out Eddie Perez to secure his place in pitching immortality. Today, I cheered for Mark Buehrle as he set down my Rays in order. 27 up, 27 down. I feel that I more or less cheer for the game of baseball, rather than cheering against my team.

These storybook moments live in baseball history forever. These moments are the reasons that baseball is and forever will be America's Past-time. "Heroes will be remembered. But legends never die." The legends of past generations will never pass. The Cy Youngs, Honus Wagners, Christy Mathewsons, Ty Cobbs, Joe Jacksons, Babe Ruths, Lou Gehrigs. Those names will never be forgotten. Baseball has always been here. Baseball will always be here. On the long days of summer when seemingly nothing else is going on in the world of sports, there's always that day game. One of those day games just provided my generation with a legend that will be remembered decades from now. I mean, think about it. In 130+ years of professional baseball there have been a total of 18 perfect games thrown. Eighteen. The rarity of that accomplishment is what makes baseball America's game.