I Don't Care If I Never Get Back

by guest writer, former short stop, Chris Doyle

Last night was an everyday ordinary special kind of night.  For the first time in over a month, the Doyle family did NOT have swim practice, Spanish class, a mothers' meeting, a school function, a book club...  It was a cool 80 degrees, low humidity, just beautiful outside.  So, what did we do with our night off from our busy lives?

My favorite sport is baseball.  Football is fantastic, basketball is thrilling, but America's slow easy flowing pastime is TOPS for me.  But why, you ask?  Baseball is too slow, too long, too boring, you say?  That's why I love it!  It's like sitting in an ambush...you settle in, watch, wait, then BOOM!  a flurry of activity and back to watching, waiting, basking in the scene.  

Baseball is ok on TV, much better on the radio, but very best live and in person. The smells of the ballpark:  popcorn, peanuts; the sounds: the snap of the leather, the crack of the bat, the tide of the crowd; and the sights: I love the moment when I walk into a baseball stadium, crossing the threshold of a modern day colliseum, the long green outfield, the brown arc of the infield, the signs and scoreboards and flags and nooks and crannies that make each ballpark unique.

And so back to our story... last night, with nothing better to do on a beautiful cool summer evening, Frodo Seven piled into the van and headed out to the ballpark to watch our hometown heroes, the Houston Astros, at Minute Maid Park.  We are so lucky to have good major league baseball right at our fingertips.  A 30-minute drive, $5 parking, $18 for 6 outfield bleacher seats (just $1 for kids!), and we were ready for baseball.  The retractable roof was open, the cotton candy was sticky, the beer was cold, and the fans were friendly to our bevy of girls who impressed the Astros faithful nearby by knowing who the main players were.  At one point, Grace asked me the score, and when she heard the Astros were trailing, she yelled out, "That's Not Fair!"  Chuckles all around.  

Did the Astros win?  On this night, it didn't matter.  We were there as a family under a tall Texas sky enjoying one of my favorite traditions of summer.