The First Saturday Without Baseball
It’s the first Saturday without a baseball game since the season began in early April. Actually, it’s been even one weekend longer for me – my husband and I, impatient and giddy for the season to begin as always, went to the Angels/Dodgers exhibition game on the first Saturday of April, the day before the season officially began. *fond reminiscing sigh* A Kendry Morales grand slam homerun, oh how we missed him for most of this year, but I digress…
This is usually the time, the first weekend I go without, that it finally really hits me – no baseball for the next five months. Oh, intellectually I understood this back on Monday night. When I stood up in my living room and cheered as Nelson Cruz took that last swing and missed, I knew that was it, the last play until Opening Day 2011. But knowing something intellectually and really feeling at are two completely different things.
Nothing really feels over the day after the World Series. There are all the player interviews, the talk show and broadcast news articles, everyone is talking about it work, on FaceBook, the blogs, etc. Baseball still feels very present. Cut to Wednesday and it’s more of the same, plus the added fun of videos from the victory parade. (The company I work for has a school right on the parade route, and they sent us fantastic photos of the students enjoying the parade, an unexpected perk.) By Thursday, baseball was starting to seem a little absent but, hey, Thursday is often a travel, day right? Thursdays without baseball are a little more normal. Come Friday my heart was starting to feel what my head had been telling it all along, but it was still very easy to rationalize things. There was no baseball last Friday either – post season travel day, right?
Which brings us to today. No baseball this morning. No baseball this afternoon. And, here we are with the clock creeping towards 6 p.m., when normally I could at least tune the radio to the pre-game show for the latest possible start to an Angels home game and…no baseball. Yes, I really get it now – no baseball until March 31st. *sigh*
Oh well, this is really all for the best. Players need a chance to rest, heal, or work out issues in the off season leagues. Teams need time to regroup and make some changes…some of our teams with more urgency than others (Arte Moreno, I’m looking at you). Besides, can you imagine trying to schedule the holidays around the baseball schedule? My parents and in laws may look at the frequent peeks I take of the game on my blackberry with a kind of slightly annoyed affection during a Memorial Day barbeque, but I have a feeling that pendulum would swing well away from affection if I repeated this behavior during Thanksgiving dinner or at any of our myriad of Christmas functions. Besides, we have plenty to look forward to: awards announcements, free agent signings, trades and, oh yeah, only 99 days until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training!
This is a very simple game... 
I feel your pain! It’s just not the same without baseball, and I’m walking around aimlessly trying to figure out where everybody went. LOL. But as you point out, spring training is around the corner (or so we need to believe), and in the meantime there will be news of signings, dramas, the usual. Be strong!
– http://janeheller.mlblogs.com
LOL, thanks Jane. While the hot stove is warming up though, I think I may have to turn to baseball movie watching or something to fill the void. Now that I’m all caught up on Castle from the baseball season, it’s wierd having to search for something to watch on TV.