You know you're in a pennant race when __________

The Rays are on the verge of making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. How is that intruding in your life?

Back in my elementary-school days, when my favorite team often played afternoon games, my mates and I dodged nuns and risked corporal punishment by bringing a transistor radio to class.

It's so much easier now.

So, here's how I fill in the blank.

At a dinner party Tuesday night, I discreetly (or so I thought) went to my Blackberry to check the Red Sox-Rays score.

1-1 in the 9th inning?!? Oh, man. I set the auto refresh for every 15 seconds.

Rays pitcher J.P. Howell got the first two outs, then the next two Sox reached base.

I wonder what my facial contortions looked like at this point. And when new pitcher Dan Wheeler got two strikes on Jed Lowrie, I became a bad ventriloquist, not-so-silently mouthing "Get 'im. Get 'im."

An agonizing number of auto-refreshes later, Wheeler got his man.

The Rays loaded the bases in the bottom of the 9th while we were in the elevator. As I opened the lobby door to the street for my wife and two friends, the Blackberry said Rays 2, Red Sox 1.

I reached for my wife's hand as we walked to the car and wondered, "How are my Phillies doing?"

So, what's your story?

You know you're in a pennant race when __________

September baseball: Game-winning hits, Mohawk haircuts and shaving-cream pies. [James Borchuck | Times]