I Love Baseball

I Love Baseball. Not like I love Novelchick or the little one, but I have always loved sports - specifically baseball. One of the reasons I have always loved sports is that they are fair. When you are playing a sport, it generally does not matter if you stutter, where you live, how much money you have, who your parents are, or even if you have any. As a stuttering white kid growing up in a black neighborhood with not the most pleasant homelife in the world, sports gave me a chance to feel equal to everyone else and gave me a chance to find commonalities with others, instead of just seeing the differences.



At times, I am reminded that people obviously must like sports for a variety of reasons. Last Friday, the little one and I were at the TED (as we are for every Friday night home game) for the Braves game against the Washington Nationals. The little one was sporting her new Jeff Franceour jersey and showing everyone her mastery of the tomahawk chop. During the game, we are sitting in our seats (left field, 2 rows up), when this young man staggers down the aisle and sits in the seats right in front of us. He looked like Willie Aames from Eight is Enough and Charles in Charge fame and is wearing a red golf shirt 2 sizes too small, jeans and dress shoes. He is also carrying 4 Budweiser bottles - though 3 are apparently empty. He starts shouting at the Nationals leftfielder Alfonso Soriano, specifically concerning Soriano's defensive lapses in the outfield. It was a rather strange scene and after a few minutes of this, this rather bizarre gentleman was escorted away by the ushers. I wonder what it is about sports and baseball that attracts this guy, and made him want to spend his Friday night getting drunk and shouting at a Dominican baseball player about his defensive liabilities in the outfield?

I wonder why Alfonso Soriano-hater-guy-in a tight red shirt likes baseball.