Baseball

I am not a baseball fan. I was a military brat growing up and moved (on average) every other year, so I never developed any local affiliations. A lot of that time was overseas, so watching on tv was not really an option. I collected baseball cards (because that's what young boys do), but I only chose the Yankees as my favorite because I probably overheard they were winning at the time and had sharp uniforms. My younger brother got to collect the Blue Jays because, well, I decided he should and he was the younger brother. Sure, I played little league every year and became familiar with the game, but was never much of a hitter ('strike zone reduction' was the on-base strategy suggested by most of my coaches). I still don't know much or particularly care about the leagues or the stats, but know enough to generally keep my mouth shut on the topic when hangin' with the fellas. Guys talk baseball, and I'm astute enough to avoid drawing attention to my apathy.

Nonetheless, I love going to the ballpark. I am lucky enough to live walking distance from Dodger Stadium, and have recently made a habit of of buying seats in a block and going with friends. I buy them at the stadium so I avoid Ticketmaster's outrageous handling fees (monopolies are bad, but that's a different post). I like the mid-priced seats -- outfield Loge or Infield Reserve, usually: $15-20 each -- since I think the views are fine all over and you avoid the craziness of the Pavillion and Upper Deck seats (where they don't serve beer and yet still everyone manages to be piss drunk).

Initially, I put out an e-mail and gathered commitments before buying the tickets. Our first forays to the stadium met with such enthusiastic response, however -- 13 people on a Tuesday night and 20 people on Sunday afternoon -- that yesterday I went ahead and bought 10 tickets for each of three future games. Everyone gathers at my place about an hour before first pitch for some beers and socializing, and we travel over as a group, settle in and enjoy the game. And you know what? I really do enjoy the game. I like to watch and track the team and if I'm seating next to one of my friends who is a big statistics fan, so much the better when he shares the bigger picture. While I will take a break or two from the action to go buy a hot dog or refill my beer, I don't much chatter about work and the weekend and other business: my contribution to the social atmosphere is mostly done until we get home again (unless I've been lucky enough to have a pretty girl accept my invite and I've managed to successfully manipulate the seating assignments: the pitching of woo definitely take precedence over the pitching from the mound).

The Dodgers have had a strong start this year, and it's fun to support a winning team (as little as that means this early in the season). By the next game, I'm going to own a Dodgers t-shirt and possibly even a hat. And if any of the ministers or comely female minions find themselves in LA during a home game, we'll buy us some tickets and make a day of it.

Believe.