Friday, March 26, 2010

Baseball Season is Almost Upon Us

I love the smell of a baseball game. Dirt, sweat, leather gloves, popcorn, hot dogs, beer, cotton candy, peanuts, the list goes on. Nothing is better than a good baseball game. I come from a family of ball players, and at any given moment you can find us throwing a ball around in our front yard.

We all started playing in organized baseball/softball in grade school. My parents coached my siblings and me over the years, and I thank them for that. I thank them for showing me how great the game really is. With Opening Day only 10 days away, I just had to blog about baseball.

One of my favorite memories involves baseball. Last semester I was sitting in the library trying to read for my British Literature class when I decided to get off topic (of course) and write a poem. If you know me at all, I'm not a big poetry person. I don't do emo poems, or romance, or death stuff. It's very conversational, like I'm talking with a friend. Anyway, this is what I wrote.




To My Dad

The floor lamp glows over him
on the couch. It's the only light in the room.
I walk past with my hair loosely dangling
in a ponytail and softball socks unevenly pulled up
on my twiggy twelve year old legs.

The newspaper crinkles and there he is, my dad - my
coach, in shorts and no shirt. Perched halfway down his
nose are his glasses. He bends down the paper to view the television.
The game is on - Milwaukee Brewers versus
some other team, it doesn't matter.

An announcer's voice and the crack of the bat
mumble quietly from the speakers of our television. Someone
hit a double, or a triple, someone popped out, someone
slid into home plate. We invite "Mr. Baseball's" smooth calls
from our garage radio into our home, because he is baseball.

The summer breeze sneaks through the front
screen door trying to cool us as night begins to take
hold. My mother's voice sings from the kitchen as she
talks with a friend or a relative over the phone.

I find the chair and sit with my sweaty shirt
sticking to my skin. My black ball cap lined with mocha
colored field dirt rests over my cold forehead
and damp hairline. The game is still on me. It lives on me.
We won. We lost. But that doesn't matter.

There we sit. Without words. This is my summer.
This is what matters. Just a father and his daughter
sharing a night of ballgames.


22 comments:

  1. Hello, I'm a new follower! I love your blog and your writing it's very unique- congrats on being so close to graduation! I hope you have a fabulous weekend and would love for you to come and check out my blog http://coocoocourtney.blogspot.com!

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  2. Great looking blog. Happy Friday!


    Kel
    http://betweenthelines-kam.blogspot.com

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  3. Nice...
    Your family sounds a lot like mine, sports oriented and half clothed at most times...

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  4. If you exchange the Brewers for the Cards this could be the story of many of my summer evenings. I pity people who don't grow up in families who can enjoy sports together. It seems to make the family ties stronger.

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  5. yayyyy baseball season!! I grew up with 2 older brothers, my dad & my tomboy Mom - needless to say watching sports (&baseball in particular) is a necessity!!

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  6. Lovely poem, it really illustrates that special thing between dads and daughters, makes me think of my dad and I with football.

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  7. I love that poem!

    And we're super excited for baseball season too! Actually-we're like pathetically excited. We just upgraded our DirectTV package for the summer so that we'll have the MLB channel and the extra ESPN channels so we'll be able to watch more games!

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  8. Oh wow I know nothing about baseball except that it's sort of like Rounders (?) and played in America.

    High five!

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  9. Very cute post! Baseball is very big around our house. My hubby is a HUGE fan!! Stopping by from Friday Follow. Cute blog. Looking forward to seeing more fun stuff ;) Oh, and now I am a follower too!

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  10. I <3 baseball, can't wait for the season! :) Though, my team plays indoors so it's just not the same

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  11. What a great post. Baseball brings back a lot of nostalgia for me too. I love the poem. This is definitely my favorite post of yours! Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend.

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  12. Love the poem. I can picture that completely! (Because I lived it with you) Good job Kinsey!

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  13. That was very touching Kinsey girl-- I'm waiting for Dad to come over here and read it, I'm sure he will be very moved by it:)
    Love you. YFM

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  14. Kinsey:
    The poem was very touching. You caught the moment exactly as it was. I loved all those games, over all those years, with all of my kids. They were special times that I remember to this day. Thank you for bringing them back to me. Love, Dad.

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  15. Baseball is huge in my family too! I spent many an evening watching with my dad - Indians, Braves, Cubs, Mets ... whatever was on. My husband and I are huge Indians fan and are going to Opening Day - can't wait!!!

    Loved the poem - it really spoke to me!

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  16. What a sweet poem!

    Following from Friday Follow!

    http://thingsicantsay-shell.blogspot.com

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  17. I used to be in a softball team, in high school. This brings back memories. I definitely love the game and the euphoria of people during it :)

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  18. I love the poem!
    Hi :-)
    Following From The Friday Follow :-) Sorry a little late....the list is soooo long!
    You can follow me at http://savvycouponmommy.blogspot.com
    Have a great weekend!
    ~Sarah

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  19. Stopping by from Friday Follow:)

    check out my $35 Fantasy Jewelry Box Giveaway @ http://lifeisasandcastle.blogspot.com/

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  20. Thanks for your visit! I love reading and writing inspirational quotes. Dig a little deeper into the blog and you'll find a bunch--and I hope they lift your spirits! Please let others know about "Inspire!"

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  21. Good one kins!
    my brother just wrote his VERY FIRST blog entry on his wife and his blog about baseball the other day! gets me excited for baseball!

    heres the link if u wanna read his.

    http://thetalesofeandc.blogspot.com/2010/03/outdoor-baseballits-more-than-just-game.html

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