The most wonderful time of the year

Oh my friends, it is baseball season again, and all is right with the world. I'm not exactly sure how I became such a big baseball fan. Years ago I was a football fan. This was mostly because my grandfather was a football fan. Poppa was a Chicago Bears fan and I remember watching many a Bears game with him. Due to this I know entirely too much about the sport and I can actually watch a football game and know what is going on. Years ago I hated watching baseball, especially on TV. I thought it was God awful boring. Now I spend most of my spring and summer evenings parked on the couch watching a Yankees game (and hopefully some National games this year). How did this happen?

I think it began when I worked in a high school on Long Island. I was the social worker but spent a lot of time with guidance counselors and administration. On Long Island there are two kinds of people: Yankees fans and Mets fans. I was never a Mets fan. I don't have anything against them, I just was never a fan. And I think I hung around too many Yankees fan. The other social worker in the building, a man, was a HUGE Yankees fan. It was hard not to have some of it rub off on me. Then one day I attended a real live baseball game with my sister. She had company tickets to a Mets game. We were really close to the field and it was actually fun. I started thinking maybe there was something to this sport.

When we moved to DC from NY, DH and I kind of joked that now we had to become Yankees fans. I don't even remember how we started watching games. But suddenly we were, together, and it was interesting and fun and we wanted to watch more. I think to some extent that 9/11 had something to do with it. Here in DC, of course, 9/11 had a deep and lasting impact but in NY the cuts were deeper, the psyche more scarred. Who wasn't rooting for the Yankees to win the World Series that year, if just to give NY something to smile about. After that, we were hooked.

For the past three years DH and I have ordered the digital cable baseball package that allows us to watch virtually any baseball game we want. Mostly we watch Yankee games but we have watched whoever is playing if we need a baseball fix. DH is more into it than I am, memorizing stats, playing fantasy league, and reading books about strategy. But we talk about the best players, who we think ought to win, and of course we cheer when the Yanks triumph. It has become an important part of our relationship, something we enjoying doing together. Q loves baseball too and C is learning that this is our family sport. We have tickets to at least 4 live games this year and we'll probably spend a few nights at the minor league stadium nearby as well.

Why is baseball such a great sport? It's a mind game. To play it right you really have to think. What kind of pitches does the pitcher have and how many can the batter hit? A simple mistake can blow it out of the park. An incredible pitch can blow by the best slugger. Move fast enough and you can outwit the fielder trying to throw you out, but make sure you know where the ball is or you'll run right into it. A pitching duel is a wonder to watch and a high scoring game has you screaming every time someone scores.

One day I'm sure that C and Q will remember that they watched baseball games with their Daddy (and their Mommy). They'll know all the rules and hopefully they'll be Yankees or Nationals fans. I imagine that for many years to come we'll all spend the best time of the year singing take me out to the ballgame. Hopefully we'll teach them well and neither one will marry a Red Sox fan.

For a great perspective on opening day check out The Trickster. And yes, he's a Yankee fan too.