baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and....

Baseball. I have a love/hate relationship with baseball. I like watching the game, but it sometimes leaves me shaking my head. I haven't followed one specific team since the strike in '94. At that time, the wife and I used to follow the Braves...all through the '80s, when they sucked. Leave it to us to quit on them when they finally got good, but that's another story. Just watching Tommy Glavine try to justify the strike on TV, while we were planning a trip to Atlanta that September, holding tickets to a few games in a series between the Braves and the Giants that never happened...and would have been the first time we actually went to see them in person instead of watching them on TBS, pissed me off big time. Add insult to injury when we only got about 70% of our money back in a refund, and that just made it all the worse. I'm still getting over that, and its been over a decade. I never did get to a Braves game. I know, I know. Time to let go. I wish I could. That and the designated hitter rule in the American League. How can a guy call himself a baseball player if he never comes to the plate with a bat in his hands, but I digress....

Still, I love watching the game. We go to minor league games in J'ville, where the double A Suns play, and root for them. This year, I've been drawn into the playoffs more than in the past. I like watching the Rays, maybe partially because they're from Tampa, down the road, but mostly because they've sucked for so long, it's nice to see them rise from the gutter. Nothing against the Red Sox, but I'm smiling watching the upstarts hand it to them. I'm not exactly a huge Rays fan though. If the Red Sox come roaring back and make it to the World Series, I won't lose any sleep over it. I'm also watching the Dodgers with some interest, because they are the major league team affiliated with the J'ville Suns, so I get to see some of the guys who played here on TV. Granted they're losing, but it's just cool to see Billingsley, Kershaw and Loney in the playoffs.

So little by little the game is getting me back. I don't know if I'll find sufficient reason to follow any specific team again...but at least I'm enjoying baseball.