What a ride! The Arizona Diamondbacks are the World Champions. It still feels like a dream. As every chiropractor that works with a major league baseball team knows it is a long season. Starting in February with spring training, and ending up this year in November it has been an especially long season. Well, after experiencing the taste of champaign and the celebration of a World Championship the players and I can tell you it was all worth it!

I have had the pleasure of working with the Diamondbacks since mid-way through their first season. It really is an outstanding organization. I also have been the San Francisco Giants Chiropractic Consultant in spring training for the past eight years. The fact that both teams are National League Western Division rivals can present some interesting and fun dilemmas. It is fun to go and work on the Giants players when they play at Bank One Ballpark, and then go across to the Diamondbacks Clubhouse and take care of the home team. I have strong feelings for players on both teams. Some of the Giants players feel like close friends after eight years, and I have developed a great and close relationship with many of the Diamondbacks players over the last four years.

This season was especially sweet with the Diamondback’s team that has been built consisting of veteran players and young relatively unknowns. The race down the stretch was with the Giants and the Dodgers. It was nip and tuck at times. The first round of the playoffs we faced the St. Louis Cardinals in a tough series. The next round for the NLCS was against the Atlanta Braves, another very worthy opponent. Then the match up and World Series that everyone is still talking about, the Diamondbacks and the Yankees. What a classic series! Games one and two were won in Arizona by the D-Backs 4-0 and 9-1. The ceremonies and patriotism showed by the fans was amazing. Baseball had galvanized the City, the State and the Nation. When the dust had cleared it looked like we had things well in hand up two games to none. Then I traveled to New York to care for the players for games three, four and five. First of all I have to admit that being at Yankee Stadium, President Bush throwing out the first pitch and all the history that ball park has enjoyed, was magical. The security was incredible. There were 1,000 New York City Police Officers and many members of the Secret Service. Cellular phone transmissions were jammed to disrupt any potential terrorist activities. The display of patriotism and pre-game ceremonies was very emotional. It was history in the making.

Games three, four and five didn’t exactly go as we had planned. It looked as though the Yankees had cast a magic spell to come back in the dramatic fashion that they did, not once, but two nights in a row. Both comebacks were at the expense of our closer Byung-Hyun Kim, B.K. Two games in a row the Yankees came back with home runs with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning. Even the Yankee fans were in disbelief. It will go down as one of the most dramatic conclusions to World Series games. The New York media was eating it up. The mood with the Diamondbacks team was subdued but in no way did any of the players lose heart. They realized that they had outplayed the Yankees but had caught a couple of bad breaks. Everyone felt terrible for B.K. Here is a twenty-two year old kid that had helped the team win big games over and over through the course of the year, shell shocked and devastated. B.K. is a quiet person, but is one of the nicest guys in the clubhouse. He had proven his ability to be a big time closer, but this time the Yankees had pulled out an unbelievable upset.

Games six and seven were back at Bank One Ballpark. Before game six the mood was very loose and upbeat in the clubhouse. Players were going about their normal routines. I fact they were trying to follow the routines that they followed for games one and two. Who says baseball players are superstitious? Game six was another Diamondback blowout 15-2. The crowd was ecstatic and the energy was contagious.

Game seven was everything that a classic game seven should be. The electricity could be felt in the clubhouse. Bob Brenly the Diamondback’s Manager typically would get adjusted about once a week throughout the year. He had been adjusted every home game in the Series, and the Diamondbacks had dominated outscoring the Yankees 28-3 during the first three home games. I really hadn’t put two and two together when Bob walked in the trainer’s office where we work on the players before the game. I looked at him and said “Bob are you feeling OK?”, actually somewhat surprised to see him two nights in a row. He replied “I’m feeling great, it’s just a matter of routine at this point.” So he got on the table and I tuned him up. Nah, baseball players aren’t superstitious. Whatever it takes! The rest is history. The Diamondbacks stole a page out of the Yankee’s playbook to steal game seven in the bottom of the ninth and win the World Championship from Mariano Rivera their star closer who had successfully closed out his last 23 postseason games in a row. It couldn’t have been scripted better.

I have to honestly say that behind my wedding day and the birth of my four beautiful children, the experience and feelings of elation were some of the best of my life. I was able to bring my wife Carol and my two older children down on the field with me for the post game ceremonies and trophy presentation in front of 50,000 screaming fans, as well as into the locker room for the team celebration, the hugs, the high fives, the champagne dumped over my head, and many cherished moments that I will never forget.