GETTING MISTY AND SENTIMENTAL FOR A GAME OF BALL

I love baseball. Don't get me wrong, like alot of people I'm way too into a number of sports, but there's something different about baseball. I'm not just into the games - I'm enamored with the history, with the sights and sounds and smells, with the ballparks and uniforms and legends. It's on a totally different plain for me than the NFL or March Madness or the Olympic Games.

Funny thing is, when I was younger, I didn't like baseball at all. 'Thought it was too slow, too old-fashioned, and boring. I guess that's before I realized that 80% of the game is going on inside the players and managers heads. You start to play along and you can hardly believe all that's going on at the same time!

Of course, big time baseball has let me down. The player strikes, free agency, multi-million-dollar utility players, steroids - they've taken their toll. Not to mention the clueless marketing moves of Bud Selig, the owner turned "non-partisan" commisioner. Then, when he finally succeeded in getting TBS to drop Braves coverage, I almost dropped out. 'Still watch an inning or two here or there. I'm sure I'll tune in for the Sunday Night Opener this year. But the Major Leagues to me are like an old love that I occasionally find myself flirting with but, for the most part, don't really care about.


Then my kids got a little older and I discovered baseball in it's perfect form. Little League! Kids playing for the love of the game. Talented kids - kids who turn plays, throw nasty pitches, hit a ball a country mile, and want to win - bad! But kids - no contracts, no free agents, no millionaires, no steroids. Yeah, there's always a parent here or a coach there who wants to wreck it with their unfulfilled dreams of their own frustrated youth - but nothing's perfect. Little League Baseball is close!

It's everything I was missing in the game - the smell of fresh cut grass, the crack of the bat, a dugout full of passionate players chatting it up, celebrations after wins, tears after losing - real baseball, with heart and soul. I don't care whether you've got kids or not. If you want a treat, find a Little League park somewhere this summer, buy a hot dog and a coke from the concession stand, and take in a game. You'll finally remember why this game used to be our National pasttime!