Can't Touch This....

Good morning, Sara Celi here.

We've all heard the talk about the big celebration of the 1990 World Champion Reds at Great American Ballpark tonight, and I wanted to take a moment to share a few reasons why I'll be there.

As I've blogged previously, I love the Reds and I'm happy this season is going to so well for the home team. That alone would get me into the stands. But there's something else---

I'm also happy about tonight's scheduled entertainment.

MC Hammer.

Now to understand why, you have to know a little bit more about me. Back in 1990, I was 8. I remember very well how it felt to live in Cincinnati at that time (at least for me). 1990 was a good year, and it was the tail end of a great time in my childhood. The Bengals were a good team (this was close to the time when they went to the Super Bowl), the Reds won the World Series, my dad's cancer seemed like it was being beaten, I had seen NKOTB in concert at Riverfront Stadium, our family went to Disney World that summer, I had TWO neon Reds baseball caps, and I had an MC Hammer CD.

It was the first CD I ever owned.

On Christmas Day 1990, the big family present was a 6 disk CD changer. It was as wide as a 24 inch TV--made to go right along with the huge home stereo system that my father (a former DJ) loved. This was a big deal because it was before the time when everyone had CD players.

Suddenly, we were ahead of everyone else. No more tapes for us!

My dad gave my mom a Paul McCartney CD--his greatest hits. I got MC Hammer's "Please Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em". When I opened it up, I remember my dad telling me to be careful and not scratch the disk.

I didn't. We still have it at my mom's house.

So tonight, I'll be at Great American Ballpark with all my fond memories. I might even be wearing one of my neon ball caps. My mom found them the other day in the closet.