April 10, 2010: Kate West
(originally published on @the3six5 website)
Monday was Opening Day (Opening Night, April 4) in the baseball world.
That may not mean much to non-sports fans, but it’s a time for
celebration for us die-hards. Or those of us who used to be die-hard at
any rate. I was into the San Francisco Giants for a number of years and
for different reasons (life stuff I won’t get into here), I no longer
follow them. However, whenever I go up to the Bay Area I still enjoy an
outing to AT&T Park. No, I don’t like the name either, but the
stadium is beautiful, old-time, baseball fun and right on the Bay.
Steadfast fans in boats retrieve soaked foul balls for a chance at a
five-second news spot.
Anyway,
I like visiting there with my dad and today, in celebration of his
recently turning 70, we’re going back, just for fun. No stakes. Ever
since seeing “Field of Dreams” for the first time, I partly associate
symbolic fatherly love with playing catch. It didn’t occur to my father
to do that with me, since I am a girl after all, (no offense gal
athletes), but I nagged him into it and eventually we started throwing
the old ball around in local parks and that really started my love of
baseball which I still cherish, whether or not I follow an actual team.
Today
though, my dad will walk with a cane and we’ll just talk about days in
the park, as both of us are considerably older now. We’ll enjoy the
atmosphere, eating as much as we want from vendors (since Mom is staying
home) and looking down on our opponents (the Atlanta Braves). Maybe
I’ll even buy a t-shirt. No matter how many times we’ve been, we both
still marvel at that first glimpse of green field, the blue of the ocean
and the cracks of the bats as the players warm up. That sound will
always remind me of Dad and as we get ready to go, I am so grateful to
have the chance to do this again. For me, nothing starts off springtime
like a good game of baseball. And time with family.
Ready? “Play Ball!”
(...and if the game gets rained out, we'll rent a baseball movie.)
______________________________
About the author: Kate West lives in Los Angeles with an extensive theatre background and has been reviewing on her website since 2003.
No comments:
Post a Comment