Episode 146: In which I redisover baseball

It is no secret to anyone that I am a huge sports fan. I always have been. In my younger years when I had more free time to watch games and follow teams I could name you every player on every team in the 4 major sports, how they were doing in a particular year and their career history. As one grows older and starts working there is less time to pay attention. It doesn't help that my girlfriend is in no way a fan of sports, meaning that it is typically not on the TV like it used to be, unless it is a playoff game or she isn't home. I try to follow my favorite teams and I keep very close tabs on NASCAR and football, mostly because they are once a week sports and it is easy.

Throughout all of this I have had to make sacrifices. The biggest of which is the Boston Red Sox. Basketball is my favorite sport both to play and watch, followed by NASCAR and football. After that there is not a lot of time for baseball. It is on every night, the games are long and the season is even longer. I keep tabs on the Sox and little else. Part of the reason for this is because I have found the Red Sox organization and the majority of their fans have become absolutely insufferable in recent years. The organization does nothing but grandstand, release lame theme songs and cater to casual fans with a lot of money. If I have to hear 'Shipping out to Boston' or 'Sweet Caroline' one more time I am going to spoon out an eye. I know the team didn't write these songs, but they have embraced them and crammed them down our throats. Worse, still, is the ownership group represents everything I hate about American democracy. Billionaires with a billion dollar product selling it to the public for twice as much as it is worth because they can. Slap two socks on a coffee mug or a sweatshirt and it is $30 more expensive. Kind of like how a 6-pack of beer is $16.95 but a 36-pack of water is $4.99. America: screwing everyone but the rich every day- because it is your fault your parents didn't birth you in to money so you could start your own business in your 20's.

Red Sox fans are even worse. The true, hardcore fan has been all but replaced by wealthy, band wagoners known around these parts as 'Pink Hats.' They know little about the sport, but it is trendy to go to the games and think the players are cute. On the male side, it is just as trendy to go, get drunk and post pictures of yourself in front of Pesky Pole on Facebook, not actually having any idea that Johnny Pesky is not just some random old man who hangs out at the games. Worse yet are the yuppie Metro-Boston families who use Fenway Park as a status symbol so their shitty, spoiled kids can go back to school with all of their merch and brag to their friends about how their dad paid for them to get to run out on the field before the game. Meanwhile most of the real fans are left scrounging for any ticket under $50 so they can go to one game a year and pay $8 for a beer. All set.

This season, though, has been different. Maybe it is because the Sox loaded up their team, or maybe it is because there have been a lot of day games, but I have found myself watching them again. Today there was a 3:30 start in Oakland and I put the game on while Av and I were playing. I know she has watched a few games with Monica's father when she is over there, but I didn't really know she understood it. Today she must have sat on the couch with me, or played in the general vicinity of the couch for at least an hour and a half watching the game- with excitement. She understands more of it than a 2-year-old should, and she absolutely loves it. For 15 minutes during about the 6th inning today she ran around the house "like a baseball" after watching Jed Lowrie round the bases after a home run.

While all of this was going on I dug up a few relics from the closet. A Wally the Green Monster doll and a giant, stuffed baseball with arms, legs, a face and a Red Sox hat that for some reason I still have in a box from my youth. She calls the latter "Baseball Man" and is currently spooning him in her crib because she insisted on bringing him to bed.

All of this has made me stop and think about baseball. Yes, it can be boring. Yes the Red Sox are run by evil, money-grubbing robots. But the fact is, at least around here, that it brings people together. Generations of families can share in their love of one thing. Something about Av loving a nice, relaxing game of baseball in the afternoon hit my soft spot. I got to explain things to her and remember the first time I went to Fenway Park with my dad. Now I can't wait to bring her. Maybe I am just longing for those long summer nights drinking beer and watching the game, windows open, grill fired up. We're close, folks. Almost there.

Forgive me for the lameness of today's post. I feel sentimental. Here is a collection of kick-ass music to assure you that I have not completely fallen off the deep end.

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