My blog about knitting, teaching, and being a mother to two energetic young boys.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Take Me Out To the Ball Game...


We've arrived at Wade's brother's house in San Diego. Okay - technically he lives in Carlsbad, which is north of S.D. But - when you've driven almost 5000 miles, it's close enough.

Today we went to Petco Park to watch the San Diego Padres take on the Florida Marlins. Let's cut to the chase - the Padres lost. Not much of an exciting game - 3 up, 3 down. Great pitching by the Pads, but horrible hitting. Apparently they forgot that in order to score - you have to get on base. In order to get on base, it's usually easier to hit the ball really far & run. Relying on the opposing pitcher to throw balls or hit you with a pitch is really a poor strategy. See - I don't even play baseball & I can figure that out!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had the opportunity to go to Germany last summer & attend a World Cup Soccer match. My friend Lisa & I went to the U.S. vs. Ghana game. The U.S. lost, but that didn't matter - it was the atmosphere & experience which made for an unforgettable time. During the excitement - I had time to ponder the striking differences between watching a soccer game vs. watching a baseball game.

Going to a game is a fun outing for the family. We sat on the third base line in row 11. A few foul balls were hit our way - that certainly gets your attention. I'm not a great baseball player by any stretch of the imagination & I was a bit worried about a ball bouncing off the tops of our heads. Fortunately we didn't have to worry this time. The fact that complete strangers can get together & celebrate a double play and commiserate a missed opportunity is fascinating. It's a great time to forget about the horrible things happening in the world. It's an opportunity for hope. Perhaps the World's leaders need to forget this war thing & agree to duke it out on the futbol pitch or baseball field. Again - just a thought.

Of course - another fun thing about a baseball game, is it provides great opportunities for knitting! :0)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Baseball is America's Pasttime because the game was invented in the U.S. by Col. Abner Doubleday.

While I agree with you that baseball is not as exciting as soccer, there are definitely LOTS of lulls during the game, I think that the baseball crowds are calmer. When people gather together to watch a soccer match there is a greater possibility of mass hysteria and mob rule!

Watching baseball at the park is the way to go... TV is horribly dull!

tiennieknits said...

You know, regarding the previous comment, the Yarn Harlot says baseball was invented in Canada. I wonder who it was?! I love it either way!