Nationals 5, Diamondbacks 3
I’ve been cooking (black bean and sweet potato burritos, from Moosewood Low-Fat Favorites) and listening to the National’s home opener on the radio.
I actually prefer radio to TV for baseball, unless I’ve got someone to watch with and chat with during the slow bits. By myself, I’ll turn on the TV, then pick up a book between innings, and forget about the game. But listening to the ballgame on the radio is perfect for cooking, or gardening, anything that keeps the hands busy but leaves the mind free.
I’m excited to have a team in town. Oh, I’ll always have a soft spot for the Mets, the team I grew up with. (I was a fan when they were awful during the early 80s, and was rewarded with that marvelous couldn’t be believed 1986 postseason.) But it’s hard to be a baseball fan without listening to or watching the games on a regular basis; you don’t know the players, their strengths, weaknesses and quirks, whether they’re hot lately, if they’ve choked in the clutch… And a good bit of the joy of being a fan is being part of a community, being able to say "did you see that hit last night?" and expecting the answer to be yes.
My husband isn’t interested in baseball at all, and the boys are too young to really follow the game. But I’m working on them. I figure they should be ready for their first major league game right around when the new stadium is built.
April 14th, 2005 at 10:53 pm
I always liked having baseball on TV while studying in college. We’d pile into my car with all of our books, head to my apartment, turn on TBS and the Braves (sometimes WGN and the Cubbies) in the afternoon, pop open some beers and crack open the books. Perfect background noise for studying.
April 15th, 2005 at 12:31 am
Ha! I knew there was some reason that I just instinctively knew you were cool when I started reading your blog – you’re a Mets fan!
I, too, was a Mets fan throughout the bleak late 70’s and early 80’s, to be rewarded by the dream season in ’86. I actually remember vividly watching Darryl Strawberry walk up to bat for the first time as a rookie – my dad (a long suffering Mets fan) turned to me and said, “That young guy is gonna go hit a homer – just watch.” And he did. And it was all magic for the next couple of years.
So what’re we gonna do when the Nats play the Mets? With the odious “W” on the caps of the Nats, it’ll be easier to stick with my old favorites.
April 15th, 2005 at 8:52 am
Sigh. They used to be *our* team, those new Nationals of yours. Sigh.
Danigirl, just down the road from Montreal
April 15th, 2005 at 10:48 am
For the longest time, I thought I was some kind of freak for being fixated on Game 6 of the ’86 series. Then a year or so ago, all these other semi-oldies start coming out of the woodwork talking about it too. I feel…oddly not reassured.
Man, they were fine, though, weren’t they? Even when they played like ass, they were fine. And won anyway. Cocky bastards. I loved ’em. Didn’t they just suit the time.
April 15th, 2005 at 11:04 am
Sorry, Dani.
It’s actually Game 6 of the NLCS from 1986 that haunts me. Against the Astros. Down 3-0 by the time I got out of school, tied it in the 8th or 9th, and then sticking in there for another 7 innings…. oh man.
Weren’t Darryl and Dwight just sweet then?
April 15th, 2005 at 11:15 am
Yeah…I always felt kind of funny about Darryl, even though I had to sit still for the playing. Dwight, sure. I liked watching Keith/Mookie/Dykstra, though. And when Derek Jeter showed up, it was like going back in time. Can’t you see him on that team?
My, my, my. I feel like I ought to start the next sentence “Years ago,” and pop in me dentures.
(The Astros? Pflrgh. Mmfrgh. Just a cough, sorry. Mflrgh.)
April 15th, 2005 at 3:20 pm
You may not need this if you’re throwing in with the Nats, but you can follow the Mets by radio through mlb.com for like $15/year. It’s the only way to get every Yankees game out here on the prairie.
April 15th, 2005 at 6:53 pm
I can still perfectly picture the radio my dad carried outside all season long, Twins announcers playing on ‘CCO. We even took the radio out in the boat with us when we were fishing.
It’s isn’t really summer without baseball on the radio, I don’t think.
April 18th, 2005 at 6:53 am
That’s funny, I was just thinking this post was completely foreign to me (as an Australian) and then Jody’s comment totally resonated with me (with the substitution of the word cricket for baseball, of course…)