Viva La Baseball!

I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Football season is over. Now all I have to do is make it through basketball season and March madness. Then it will be BASEBALL SEASON!!!! YES, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is good.

I love baseball. It goes back to when I was a little girl. My mom loved the Mets. She used to like the Dodgers when they were in New York, but then they moved to Los Angeles. She never really forgave them for moving to California and that was in 1958. Anyway, we lived in New York until I was 11 and we would watch the Mets on TV whenever they were on. I grew up on great Mets like Tug McGraw, Tom Seaver, Ron Swoboda, Yogi Bera, Rusty Staub, Daryl Strawberry, Mookie Wilson, etc…

Of course, there was no asking of questions or talking during the game. That was forbidden. The game was on, either you sat and watched or you went to another room and were quiet.

After we left New York and moved to Florida my mom really missed being able to watch the Mets. So I saved up enough money and I bought her a year of cable (we hadn’t had it before) so that she could get WWOR, New York and watch them whenever. That present meant a lot to both her and me.

I was an on and off fan, didn’t really care, but cared. I was really excited in 1993 when Florida got its own team, the Marlins. I could have my own team to root for; I could begin with them and have a history of my own. Unfortunately my mom died before we could actually go to a game together. That would have been great. Especially if the Marlins had played the Mets.

I still like the Mets and follow them, but not as much as I do the Marlins. Baseball is such a great game and has such tradition and history that I really am just a little kid when it comes to watching games. I yell and scream and hoot at the screen whenever I am able to watch a game. You should have seen me when the Marlins won their second World Series!!!!

Of course, you also should have seen me when I realized after I moved to TN that baseball was treated like almost nothing. The news hardly says anything about my team; oh they talk about the Braves once in awhile, but YUCK! I can only watch the Marlins or the Mets if they happen to be playing the Braves or the Cubs because we get those channels on cable. If I want to see my Marlins, then I have to purchase the baseball package from Comcast. Which I find wrong on so many levels. It is a game for the people and yet only people who have money can actually follow it. You can only listen to the games online if you purchase the pack through MLB. How wrong is that!!?? What started out being something for everyone has become a franchise to help people get richer.

My mom would be so sad about that. I wish we could get back to when it was fun. Not merchandise, not a money making sport. I know there are people that are out there that feel the same. They want it to go back to what it used to be, something special that you shared with your friends and family. Something personal, something that you could share, a tradition.

Despite all of that though, I try and continue the baseball legacy with Patrick. So far though, it doesn’t seem to be catching. But then again, it didn’t really catch with me at his age. It’s a wonderful memory that I have about my mom and hopefully he will have that same memory and the cycle will continue.

LONG LIVE BASEBALL! LONG LIVE TRADITION!