When Baseball Comes Back

It was hard to believe that February morning. I had never seen -26 degrees in my 41 years of life in Michigan. Because neither my husband nor I did believe the number we saw on our smart phones initially, we both went to the NOAA website, and to our dismay, we found that the smart phone was correct in this case, it was indeed 26 degrees below zero.

Both this past winter and the previous winter were aberrantly tough with record low temperatures and record long periods of the absurd cold and even some record snow fall, especially for our friends in the east.

As a person who cannot drive due to my visual impairment, I am a bit more sensitive to the weather forecasts than most people I think. Whether I am or not, that kind of cold and snow are tough on nearly everyone.

The long periods of darkness and ever present cold make it tough to get out of bed as a new day begins with the same old forecast. The intensely icy air makes it tough, and painful, to deal with the snow that needs to be removed from the driveways and sidewalks and cars so people can move about during the winter months. The wind makes it even more difficult to be outside for any length of time; it gets frustrating when one literally puts on four top layers in the hopes of keeping the torso warm and when two bottom layers just don’t keep the legs from feeling numb.

Gone were some of the things that those of us who live in northern states can enjoy about winter: the peacefulness of walking in softly falling snow, taking the sled out to the local hill – no matter the size of that hill, or making a snowman with that moist snow that warmer winter temperatures give us.

With the exception of getting into the car or getting into that place that we needed to be, as quickly as possible, many of us felt like we were basically trapped inside.

So when, near the end of February, news started coming north from Florida that pitchers and catchers were reporting for spring training, I started to feel just a bit of thawing of the hope that had seemed to be buried and frozen after several weeks of the worst that winters have had to offer in the recent past.

The day that I turned on my radio and heard the first words from Dan Dickerson and Jim Price, our broadcasters for the Detroit Tigers baseball broadcast team, I literally had tears form in my eyes as I folded laundry in our bedroom upstairs. Though I was looking out on a frozen, white world that day, dreams of what lie ahead were beginning to seem like they could become reality again.

With the return of baseball the snow would be replaced by the green grass, the long dark nights by sunny afternoons and evenings, and the layers and layers of clothing by shorts and bare feet. While all of those still seemed untouchable at the moment that I heard the first innings of that first game, those words brought some hope; with baseball comes all of the good things that would some how give us the energy to carry on through those next few harsh weeks of winter that remained.

And so it has come to pass. With the return of baseball has indeed come some green to the grass, sunny afternoons and evenings, and even bare feet for me and shorts for some people.

This past weekend my husband and I took one of those wonderful drives; we head out to the closest Sonic, about 45 minutes away, to get happy hour shakes. Though the shakes are a fun treat, it’s about more than dessert. It’s watching the golden glow of the evening sun; it’s listening to baseball on the radio; it’s walking along the river or the shore of Lake Erie; it’s about being able to enjoy longer, warmer, brighter days.

Does one really need baseball for all of those things to return? I know people who are not the sports fan that I am, and for those friends of mine, all of those good things come back too, but for them, I suppose there are different signs of hope. For me, it has become baseball once again.

Play ball! Because we are so ready.

The “Minor” Sports

On an autumn Saturday in Ann Arbor Michigan, nearly 110,000 people will fill “The Big House” to watch college guys play football.

On a February Saturday, about 3,000 people will be scattered throughout the arena next-door to watch college women compete in the four events that comprise a women’s gymnastics meet.

I have been among those 110,000 plus people who have been crammed into “The Big House,” Michigan Stadium, a few times in my life. I have been a fan of the Michigan Wolverine’s football team since I was introduced to the sport by mom as a young girl.

As my regular readers know, I have an exercise science degree. You may or may not know that I love sports. I pursued the degree, at least in part, so that I could become even more involved with sports. I would make sports the focal point of my career, the majority of my hobbies, the theme of our vacations – you get the picture; I’m into sports.

When I moved to the area in which I had access to the sports of the local universities, I began to take advantage of the opportunity to watch the local teams compete. As I mentioned, I’ve been to a few Michigan football games; I’ve been to at least one Michigan women’s basketball game. I’ve seen the local Mid-American Conference (MAC) school compete on the football field a few times as well. And I’ve watched that school’s men’s basketball team compete. I have seen their women’s gymnastics team compete several times too. In recent years, I have been attending women’s gymnastics meets at the University of Michigan and have become quite a fan of the team.

While University of Michigan football games and men’s basketball games are priced out of the range of many people, the minor sports at the university, and all sports at the MAC school, are incredibly reasonably priced. Women’s gymnastics meets at the MAC school are often free, and tickets for meets at the University of Michigan generally cost less than $10, even for the special events when a drink and hot dog are included in the ticket price (though I’d pay $10 and not eat a hot dog).

For me though, my commitment to take advantage of the area offerings and to attend the minor sports events when I can reaches beyond the great entertainment value for the cost, especially as it relates to gymnastics.

Gymnastics seems to transcend the realm of sport, in part because of the artistry – the combination of both power and elegance. The mixing of strength, focus, and intensity with grace, artistry, and poise never ceases to amaze me.

Very recently my husband and I had the opportunity to attend the afternoon session of the Big Ten Women’s Gymnastics Championships at Crisler Center at the University of Michigan. Though we arrived just prior the start of the event, we found great seats about 20 rows from the competition floor.

We chose seats in the corner with a view straight down the balance beam because my husband had asked me what I wanted to watch most. When we were settled in our seats and waiting for the first round of touch warm-ups, a three-minute period during which the athletes can warm up on the apparatus, to conclude, I asked my husband what his favorite apparatus was.

He started to list the apparatus and what he liked about each, the power of the tumbling on the floor, the explosiveness of the vault, the precision of the bars, and the grace and control on the beam. When he was done he conclude that they each held there own special magic.

The first time he joined me at a collegiate women’s gymnastics meet, he was a bit skeptical I think, but he has since willingly joined me for almost all of the handful of meets that I am able to attend each season. He found to be true what was confirmed for me when I ventured out to my first collegiate gymnastics meet: the talent level of these young athletes is breath-taking.

I could write on and on about what I enjoy about seeing gymnastics live, but instead I would like to point out that the awe I experience at such events reveals the dedication and work being put in by each of these young athletes, in spite of the fact that they know that they will be competing before just a few thousand fans and that, especially for the MAC schools, they may never be seen on TV or mentioned by even local media outlets. Having said that though, I must give credit to one local sports talk radio station whose morning show host has followed the journey of U of M’s women’s gymnastics team, as he has the men’s team, and as he will the women’s softball team, and the baseball team, and likely even the lacrosse team as their seasons progress.

Still it made me a little sad on Saturday that so much local media focus was on the University of Michigan spring game, the inter squad football team’s match which is an exhibition, when the women’s gymnastics team was competing in their regional meet that same day with hopes of advancing to the NCAA National Championships

While I realize the football and basketball teams at major universities bring in the money that helps to some extent to sustain the minor sports, I would like to see more support for those young women and men who work just as hard to be champions, often without being seen on TV or interviewed for the newspapers or without the hope of being drafted into the big leagues where they plan to become rich and even more famous.

Though I am a college football fan, and though I’ve always followed the NCAA men’s basketball tourney a bit, I see in the minor sports the major attributes that make sports truly memorable and enjoyable for me.