Gosh, the layers are just peeling away, aren't they? Yes I have layers, like a onion, or a parfait. And I just revealed one - I am a fan of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Another is that I just got my computer back up, so thank you to Guy for holding down the fort! Anyway, on the eve the Dodgers' nemesis, the Phillies, play (and dominate) game one of the World Series against the Yanks, I'd like to celebrate my favorite baseball day of the year - the day the Dodgers lost game five and were tossed out of the playoffs. Yes, just last week!
Yes, the self-loathing by this blogger continues, but no I am not batshit bananas like those crazy-dumb 2012ers. I merely had my favorite baseball day when the Dodgers lost. "How is that possible?" you might ask? Or maybe "Who gives a crap"? Really, both are fair questions. Maybe the answer to the first will also provide an answer to the second.
My eight year old son played in a Fall baseball league. He was not the best player on the team, to be kind. He was one of the younger ones, playing with boys up to three years older, but he was still relegated to right field and hit in last in the batting order. He developed a habit of not swinging, learning that he was as likely to walk as to strike out. And that's all he did for most of the season. Encouraging him to swing appeared to be futile - he's not exactly a "pleaser" and sort of marches to the beat of his own drummer. He would swing if he wanted, and for most of the season he didn't care to.
The previous game he had swung hard for the first time in at least six games, putting the ball into play in two at-bats, but being thrown out at first both times. Hitless going into the penultimate game of the season.
He came to bat in the bottom of the third inning with runners on first and second. The other team had made a pitching change that inning and the new guy threw harder than the first. The first pitch my son bailed out, as the pitch flew up and in with some velocity. The very next pitch he hammered the other way, driving a legit double to right (it might have been a triple, but Rickey Henderson he's not). The entire team and all the parents started cheering madly, knowing the significance of that hit.
I am a huge baseball fan, and my favorite team had its best season in twenty years in 2009. My favorite baseball moment of the year was the huge smile on my son's face as he rounded first base in a Fall little league baseball game. The coach gave him the game ball.
I really don't care how good my kids are at sports, unless it's something they care about and want to excel. I hope the hit will lead to greater confidence going forward in my eldest's baseball career, but if it doesn't that's fine with me. I know he'll remember the feeling of smacking that double, giving him a confidence boost in the great game of life.
And isn't that really why we watch the World Series? To see the joy of grown men when accomplishing the hardest thing in sports, with a huge smile on their face rounding the bases, playing this beautiful game. That's why I watch. Thanks son.
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