The
baseball season is quickly coming to a close. The Red Sox and The Cardinals are
going to the World Series. It’s exciting. While I've never considered myself to
be a sports fan, I feel like I have always loved baseball. I don’t have fantasy
teams, and I don’t keep track of scores or standings, really, but there is just
something about that game.
I was thinking about why I love baseball, as opposed to other sports, and I think it’s because baseball is very romantic; people cry and go crazy over this game! Why? I think it’s because it’s steeped in heritage and tradition. You go to the park wearing your jersey and hat. You bring your glove with the hopes of catching a ball. You get peanuts or a hot dog. And you scream, and jump up and down and sing as a part of a whole community that is there to experience the same thing.
As a child I always loved the movie FIELD OF DREAMS. Looking at it now, it’s a bit strange—it’s not a kids’ movie. But that movie captured the romantic, almost magical quality of baseball bringing families together and believing in impossible dreams. The most haunting and memorable thing about the film is the repetition of the phrase “If you build it he will come.” Build what? Who will come? What do you think would happen if we committed fully to our dreams, even when it doesn't make sense?
I was thinking about why I love baseball, as opposed to other sports, and I think it’s because baseball is very romantic; people cry and go crazy over this game! Why? I think it’s because it’s steeped in heritage and tradition. You go to the park wearing your jersey and hat. You bring your glove with the hopes of catching a ball. You get peanuts or a hot dog. And you scream, and jump up and down and sing as a part of a whole community that is there to experience the same thing.
As a child I always loved the movie FIELD OF DREAMS. Looking at it now, it’s a bit strange—it’s not a kids’ movie. But that movie captured the romantic, almost magical quality of baseball bringing families together and believing in impossible dreams. The most haunting and memorable thing about the film is the repetition of the phrase “If you build it he will come.” Build what? Who will come? What do you think would happen if we committed fully to our dreams, even when it doesn't make sense?
See, I believe that when we go to a ball game with our parents, friends or our kids, we are building something. It may seem like frivolous entertainment on the surface, but we are sharing something unique—an experience, a memory. And that builds relationships and foundations to something much more important than a ball game. But the game is the bridge that takes you there. The game is what helps complete opposites to meet in the middle. And if that’s not magic, I don’t know what is.
