I promise one day to write about things I’m actually interested in. But tonight I went to see a baseball game out in Coney Island, between the Brooklyn Cyclones and the something-or-other Spinners. Coney Island is awesome so I thought it was worth a shot to try something new.
The first time my life brushed with baseball was when I was a young girl and my friend Mary was a huge baseball fan. She loved the Dodgers. One day her dad took us out to a ball game at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. I was pretty excited. But then when we got there, there was a torrential downpour and the game was canceled. All that time spent in the car getting there, for nothing.
The second time I encountered baseball, I was volunteering at an Oakland As game. I sold beer, hot dogs and pretzels in order to raise money for a women’s softball team, members of which I had never met. Needless to say, I did not have a good time (okay, it wasn’t horrible, but I didn’t even get to watch the game!).
This is now the third time baseball has directly affected me, other than the numerous times I’ve seen it on the TV, shuddered, and quickly changed the channel. And you know what? It was actually pretty enjoyable. The stands weren’t crowded, but the people there were clearly excited. The Brooklyn Cyclones are a small team under the shadow of the Mets and Yankees. (Those are both New York baseball teams right? That’s how little I know.) But they had fans. In between innings there was always some little interesting sideshow to watch, or free prizes being thrown at the audience. Of course, there were the hot dogs and beer, plus the fact that the old Parachute Jump from the old Coney Island days was prominently present off of right field warmed my heart. In the end, the Cyclones won 2-1, because of a lucky homerun hit at the very last possible moment in the very last inning. And then they all huddled and hugged, wearing pink jerseys because they were sponsored by Sweet ‘N Low.
