For love of the game

Time for a deep breath deep in the heart of baseball season.

I have developed what some may consider an unhealthy fondness for baseball.  Odd since I never played the game after the first year after t-ball when the kids pitched. Though the ball had nary enough momentum to make it to the plate, the thought of getting beaned turned me to a four-foot-nothin' molehill of cowardice. I played some softball as an adult; no worries getting hit by a pitch with an eight-foot arc unless it's a Barry Zito curve ball.

I used to play catch with my sons, too. All of them did some pitching, and when they were younger, I would play catcher for them. Until I could hear the pitch coming. A crazy whine that ball makes as the laces cut through the air. Like a mini-buzz saw. We were past our days having kids, but I still thought better of crouching there, all unprotected and such, just waiting for a wild pitch to catch me in the teeth. Or worse.

I love to watch the game. I love to keep score when I attend. I have loved the Twins well, and I now love the Rangers having lived in Texas now for half my adult life. No, don't ask me to be a Cowboys fan. Some lines I will not cross. While on a temporary assignment at Luke AFB on the west side of the Phoenix, Arizona mass of humanity, some friends and I went to a Diamondbacks' game. One of the friends was German, and he had never been. He hated it, much like I expect I would loathe a professional soccer game. I contend, though, that he doesn't understand it.  How can you not love baseball?

So I offer up some just-past-mid-season ballpark fare for your August enjoyment. The first is a video about the science of the most amazing catch of the year. The second is a great article about Mike Trout, the man who made the catch and who will be the Rookie of the Year and may be the AL MVP. The third is an article by Tim Kurkjian, a baseball analyst for ESPN whose insights into the game I could listen to for hours every day of the week and twice on Sunday. His nasal delivery and wide-eyed, little-boy excitement (he does make our Olympic gymnasts look tall) could make cross-stitching captivating. He talks at length, through interviews and anecdotes, about what it's like to get hit by a 90-mile per hour baseball.

Here's the video...




...the Trout article is here...

...and the beanball article is here. By the way, there's an interesting companion video from the sports science guys alongside Kurkjian's article about getting beaned.

Hope your week is richly blessed.