Play Ball!!

This is it. It's that time again. Every year at this time my DH regains his faith. He'll occasionally travel to his house of worship. He'll offer up prayers out loud along with thousands of others. He declares his faith, his devotion, his new-found hope, his excitement with all the other followers. And I sulk.

Yes. It is Baseball season again and we are a Mets household. (Okay, quit the groaning and I don't want to hear about the Yankees.) Every spring I have to listen to how good they are going to be this year. How they traded in some new great players. How the Mets are going to prove me wrong. It's not that I'm rooting for another team. I'm just rooting to get my t.v. back and try very hard to point out to DH that the Mets have been disappointing him year after year. Every Spring his hopes are high, only to be crushed by Fall.

I thought I would like baseball. After all, DH and I had so many things in common. We both loved animals. We both liked fishing. We both did not care for the beach. We worked in a movie theater. We grew up in the same neighborhood and had the same memories of old Mom and Pop Shops that are no longer with us. We knew some of the same people. We are both huge Star Wars geeks...I mean fans. So, when we started dating and Baseball Season rolled around, he tried to recruit me...brainwash me...make me a member of his cult. And for a couple of years, I was.

I should like baseball, because I love baseball movies. The Sandlot, Long Gone, Angels in the Outfield, Rookie of the Year, Field of Dreams...all great baseball movies. One of my favorite movies is a baseball movie. I can watch it over and over again. A League of Their Own.

A League of Their Own takes a part of baseball history that not many people knew about before this movie. It's a wonderful movie about the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. I love the history in the WWII era movie. I love the clothes, the settings, the hairstyles. All the actresses from Geena Davis to Madonna bought forth a touching, warm, humorous friendship among America's first female baseball league. I love how they were supposed to kick butt as a baseball player, but still be a lady. I love how Penny Marshall directed this and didn't forget her co-stars from her Laverne and Shirley days. Squiggy is the announcer. The Big Ragoo has a great jitterbugging dance number with Madonna. I love Tom Hanks as the drunk, ex-baseball player/coach who really did not want to coach a bunch of silly ole' girls.

Like any baseball movie (or any sports movie), this movie is about the underdog. It's about them pulling through and persevering. It's about falling in love with the characters and rooting for them and cheering for them in the end. I learned a lot from watching this movie. I learned that the phrase "You throw like a girl" will no longer be an insult if you think of the ladies from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. I learned that if you worked hard and dedicated yourself, you can be anything you want to be. And I learned the number one rule in baseball. "THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!!!"

So, yes...thanks to Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, and Penny Marshall I followed DH into the world of baseball. Into the world of the Mets. Our first date to Shea was also Mike Piazza's first date with Shea Stadium. I had no clue who Mike Piazza was. People were going wild in the stands for this Mike Piazza. DH told me proudly that I was taking part in a historic day in Mets history, thanks to Mike Piazza. The only thing I knew about Mike Piazza was that his big, wide set eyes and thin mustache kept reminding me of a cute catfish. It made it easier for me to remember that he was the catcher. Catfish=catcher...get it? No? Just me? Doesn't matter, because I remembered Mike Piazza was a catcher and impressed my date.

I became a Mets fan because my boyfriend was. I followed the Mets and DH through the trials and tribulations. We were there in the stands, in the rain for like a million innings when the Mets where battling it out with the Braves for another chance to stay in the playoffs as the notorious John Rocker pitched. We took a vacation to Cooperstown and the Baseball Hall of Fame. We were there when the Mets won the playoffs to compete against the Yankees in the 2000 World Series. That Halloween, to show my love for the Mets I put on a Mets helmet, a Piazza Jersey, and penciled in a thin mustache and proudly dressed up as...a catfish. When I became pregnant with our first baby, I ran out and bought Mets onesies and jumpers.

But, sadly, my passion for the Mets had died out. They are just not exciting anymore. Maybe I'm too tired to follow them because I'm a Mom now. Maybe I never was a true fan. Maybe I'd rather be watching something else. Maybe I'm a fan of Shea and not a fan of CitiField. Who knows.

While we are on the subject of baseball, movies, and the Mets I want to recommend another great movie. It's not about baseball, but the Mets play a very important part in the plot. It's the only movie where I can think the Mets are part of the plot. The Yankees always get all the glory when it comes to baseball teams in movies.

The movie is Frequency, starring Dennis Quaid and James Caviezel. I love this movie. It's a supernatural thriller where a deceased firefighter father (Quaid) helps his police officer son (Caviezel) try and fix the past. It's a great father/son movie with twist and turns, but it's still touching. And the Miracle Mets are a running theme in the background.

Thinking back and remembering all the games DH and I went to at Shea is stirring up memories. I have to admit, there is nothing like being in crowd at a baseball game. The spirit and faith among the cheering fans is something to be proud of. The smells of hot dogs, spilt beer, and fresh air is good for the soul. I think we are going to have to buy some tickets soon and take the kids and let them discover the love of the game. And if they start whining and crying because the sun is too hot or the Cotton Candy man is too far, I will teach them the number rule of baseball. THERE'S NO CRYING IN BASEBALL!!!!!