Oh Wait....its baseball season?

Guess What....we're already almost done with the second month of the baseball season! Oops! How did that sneak past me, really? Im confused.

Those that know me, remember the girl who was obsessed with baseball? Wanted to own a team, or at least be the GM of a team. Oh that aspiration is there. But what happened to my love of baseball? Wanting to watch any game i could get my hands on? Regardless of the team? Where did that love and that passion go?

Hmmmm. I dont know. Was it the fact that i am now a big girl with grown up responsibilities and a job that requires me to work odd hours and weekends and thus give up my attending and viewing so many games? Ah...i wouldnt give my job up for the world. Was it the fact that i fell in love with hockey, and realised that men without their teeth is kind of hot? Hmmm....possibly. Or was it the fact that i ended up working for a baseball team, and it ruined my baseball experience? Ding.

I have to go with that fact. i really think that working in baseball just ruined it for me. I worked for an independent team for a season, and seeing the behind the scenes, focusing on the ticketing, the marketing, the operations....i think it killed the innocence and the virginity of the game for me. I go to a game now, and im looking at the ticket, ripping apart the font and the information. I check out the signage, saying "that shouldnt go there". Laughing at their pathetic excuses for marketing campaigns "This is bird land, are you kidding me?".

I find myself flipping through the channels at night, and going right past Baseball Tonight. Even if John Kruk is on. It doesnt faze me anymore. If i miss the A's score or the Sox score, i dont miss a wink of sleep. What is WRONG WITH ME?

I decided that i needed something to boost me back to my old self. What do i do? I joined a fantasy baseball league. Ive had good luck in the past. Ive started reading two of my favourite baseball books again: Baseball Between the Numbers (BBTN) and Moneyball. Reading about the more indepth aspects of the game, especially with BBTN, has begun to spark my interests yet again....if you are really into SABRmetrics, statistics, the real argument of numbers and players, you will LOVE BBTN. Its a book for the serious baseball lover. They use statistics, special formulas to tear apart some of the most interesting questions and thoughts about players, teams, just baseball operations in general. Very interesting.

So im trying. Trying to enjoy the game that i have loved since i was 9 and my uncle took me to Three River Stadium, to watch the Pirates play the Braves. Watching Van Slyke, Bell, Bonilla, even Bonds at the time....it was the biggest game in the world to me. My world revolved around it for years. I want that innocence, that fun, that youthfulness back.

I want to be 9 again.