Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Take me out to the ballgame....


Last night I went with Josh to the first Angels game of the season. I have to admit; while I am no baseball geek I was pretty excited to go. My memories of Angels games stem all the way back when I was a young girl who had no clue what the game was about but rather went to have fun and get cotton candy. I know a little more now, not much mind you, but at least I know how the game is played. I can actually follow a game where as before it was a fun social event. So last night we went, my first opening game and my first game in about a year. Tamara Gray sang the national anthem that was capped off by two fighter planes flying overhead. Nothing could be cooler than that. The game was fun and, besides tennis, one of the only non-boring games out there. Now, in no way am I a sports freak but I have to give some sports some credit. Baseball is truly “America’s pastime.” It has been around and stuck around through everything. Tennis is the ultimate singles sport in my opinion. It is pure “Zen” meaning that to be great you have to have exceptional mental AND physical focus at the same time. With tennis everything has to be in sync. Hockey is another sport I can respect. Hockey is the sport where with no talent you just get killed, simple as that. Football and other napoleon complex sports are just something I can’t watch. It is like watching a bunch of animals see who can hit the other the hardest. It just seems too Neanderthal to me…but that’s just me.
Now last night, Josh explained to me the system behind batting averages. Now to me if someone averages at anything as less than half, they suck in my book. This was until I learned that anything above a 300 batting average was considered good and the actual record was somewhere around .406, which is still less than half! However, compared to everyone else, that average is exceptional. He explained that hitting a ball coming at you at 100mph with a stick is one of the hardest things to do in sports. While this is probably true, to prove my point, which I always need to do, I explained how hard it was to grab your leg up to your hear while making a 360 degree turn on the tip toe of the other foot, and doing that 360 rotation a total of three times without bringing your leg or your heel down. Of course, I was then told dancing is not a sport. Well, dear friends, dancing is a sport. However, I won’t get into that now. Bottom line is, parts of baseball impress me, and it is not just the cool hot dogs and ice cream in helmets. I guess I can appreciate the art surrounding the game. This does not mean I will follow the game; I am more of a spectator’s spectator. But, it does mean I get the passion that goes with it. Plus, the planes are just too cool.


P.S. No one has guessed any of my favorite songs. Either you are all stumped or just damn lazy!!

1 comment:

Steve said...

Baseball is great to experience live, but I don't watch it on TV much, just isn't the same. Hockey is the same for me, fun to see live, couldn't care less on TV. Football, now there's a sport I can watch anywhere anyhow.

Oh, and seeing how badly Ethan did, not even attempting to guss the songs