Today's Program ... And TMM's Gushing Director

We had some very powerful and important reporting on today's program, from Zimbabwe, from Congo, about Somalia, from India ... We hope you'll not only listen to the piece about AIDS in India but also listen to the excerpts from the book, AIDS SUTRA. It's a collection of essays about the AIDS epidemic and how it is playing out in India. There are names you very likely know, like Salman Rushdie and Amartya Sen and Vikram Seth, as well as names you will be pleased to discover.

Listen to author Sonia Faleiro reading Vikrem Seth's powerful poem.

... And now (why fight it?),

TMM producer/director Rob Sachs is from Philadelphia, and he has something he wants to talk about today.

I think I know where this is going, right? Here's a clue: the red hat he's got on in the control room.

OK, Rob (sigh) go ahead. What did you want to tell us?

Rob, here, the director jumping in today on the TMM blog.

I've been jumping up and down ever since last night, when my Philadelphia Phillies won their first World Series since 1980.

They finished off the Tampa Bay Rays for a 4-1 series win. That's right, MY Phillies. Philadelphia sports fans don't just root for their teams, they take ownership of them. When a team wins a game we strut around with our chests puffed out, when they lose, don't talk to us. I'm actually not even sure how I should feel right now, since the last time any Philadelphia sports team won anything I was just 5 years old. All I've ever known is a quarter century of teams getting close only to have a championship ripped away at the last minute. There's still a part of me that's worried MLB Commissioner Bud Selig will find some way to erase last night's victory.

As Michel noted, I am wearing my vintage Phillies cap with pride and I've received a number of felicitations today from people all over who are aware of my Philly roots. Though I have to admit it feels a little weird to be taking credit for the accomplishments of professional athletes who themselves are transplants to the city (save hometown pitcher Jamie Moyer). But hey, I might not have been on the field but I've spent years, crossing my fingers, staying up late, and wasting gorgeous weekend afternoons in sports bars glued to the TV. Through my elementary school years the first thing I would see when I woke up would be the life size poster of Charles Barkley smiling in his 76ers uniform. He was there in my bedroom hanging up across from a smaller poster of Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham. So that deserves some recognition right?

To be sure there are a lot of other great sports cities out there like Chicago and Boston, but I think on the whole most people don't grasp the depth of civic pride that Philadelphians wrap into their sports teams. Certainly Tampa Bay could be a little better at their devotion. Just look at the TV ratings - during the rain soaked part of Game 5, 60% of the households in Philadelphia were watching the game compared to just 40% in Tampa. I go back to the city frequently and it doesn't take more than a few minutes to feel the omnipresence of Philly teams. They're everywhere from signs, bumper stickers to flags waving from porches. And that's what makes Philly so great; its sports teams are the common dominator that cut across all lines of class and race in the city. You can talk sports with barbers, food vendors, cabbies, doctors, dentists, lawyers, and yes even cops. Everyone is watching and for too long every one of us suffered. But this year, 2008, is different. This World Series was for us the Philly fans.

Yo, Adrian we did it!

Geez, thanks, Rob.