Baseball

Baseball is a big part of our life. My husband loves baseball, watches it, listens to it, reads about it, talks about it and wears lots of baseball t-shirts. We go to games when we can and have celebrations for most major baseball events. We have baseball tableclothes, decorations and serving dishes that I drag out for the All-Star game, homerun contests, World Series, etc. I never watch the games (ok, rarely), but like going to see what the fans are wearing and eating, observe the antics of the mascots and various entertainment breaks of the game. I also always try to locate player wives and other VIPs, while monitoring action in the corporate boxes. At the Diamondbacks, I particularly like the condiment race and am the proud owner of an "I am relish" shirt, which my husband acquired for me because I LOVE relish. Today the ketchup knocked over the relish and mustard in order to win.
I don't really have any favorite teams, but tend to root for particular players and those with unusual stories. I am mostly rooting for players that have overcome medical problems or hardships or have recognizable personalities. In fact, I wore a Galarraga shirt for all my chemotherapy sessions and know all the players for whom there have been Beanie Babies. I like Barry Bonds because we saw him in the Red Carpet room posing for pictures with fans. I would like to have attended the Dennis Eckersley initiation into the Baseball Hall of Fame. (No, I am not an alcoholic.)
Spring training is a highlight each year, watching the games in an incredible setting and feeling very close to the action. Fall League has become a birthday tradition for my husband because you see many future stars. At Fall League, my main occupation is identification of all the World Series rings on the scouts in the audience, as they time the runners and use their radar guns to measure the speed of the pitches.
So, I guess you could say that I am a baseball fan. But today, as always, I had to look at the scoreboard when we leave to make sure I know who played and what the score was.