…that Shannen Coffin is off napping somewhere on this Friday afternoon: I took a little vacation last week and did some light reading, including Roger Kahn’s October Men: Reggie Jackson, George Steinbrenner, Bill Martin, and the Yankees’ Miraculous Finish in 1978. After last October’s unfortunate events, its nice re-living a season that ends with the Yankees not blowing the big game. 1978 is one the of the best “pennant races” of all time, not just featuring the big Yankee come-back, but a gutsy Red Sox comeback at the end–that tends to be forgotten–after the Yanks had built a pretty comfortable lead. It will always be my favorite year because there’s nothing like being 10-years old and having your team win in such a dramatic fashion, which is why part of me was happy for all the 10-12 year old Red Sox fans out there last year. In the end, the difference in the Yankee 1978 season came down to the difference between a nasty drunk and a benign one. Billy Martin (fired mid-year) would get drunk and engage in lunatic and self-destructive behavior that un-nerved everyone around him. Lemon (hired to replace him) was a more amiable sort, who put his team at ease: “After my team wins, I drink to celebrate. After my team loses, I drink to cheer up. Aside from that, to break up the boredom, I drink after rain-outs.” If you have fond memories of that year, you should pick up October Men (if you don’t, you should wait until the histories of 2004 are written).