Thursday, July 10, 2008

For Love of the Game

You love baseball.

You love it or you wouldn't be reading this.


People love baseball for different reasons. Some love it for the monster home runs, the sight of baseballs thrown at 98 miles an hour, the leaping catches over the outfield wall.

Some love it for the history--the players and the teams that become icons of a city, a year, a decade, a century.


Tonight, I realized that I love baseball for all these reasons--but that there's another as well.

There's something magical about playing catch in any circumstance, just with a baseball and a glove, where the game becomes accessible to everyone, regardless of athletic (or, in my case, lack of athletic) skill.

When you go to play catch with your boyfriend, and the two of you end up doing so with three children barely old enough for Kindergarten registration...now, that is something special. That's a game that you can pass on from generation to generation. It becomes something that's not just bigger than any person, but it's bigger than any generation.

You don't need to memorize any plays, learn to skate or find a net to bring baseball to the next generation.

****

I'm headed out to Fanfest tomorrow.

Tonight's loss was not much fun, but given the line up that Joe Girardi had going in the game, I can't say that I am all that surprised. If anything, it illustrates a) why rain outs suck, and b) how much we miss Johnny Damon's bat.

1 comment:

  1. Have fun at Fanfest Rebecca. Can't wait to read all about it.

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