boys of summer

it's baseball season.
and my BOYS won yesterday.
on OPENING day.
in an amazing show in the 9th inning.

you all watched it, right?
yeah, i thought so.

we were up early (by our standards) and laid in bed snuggling until H got all wormy and couldn't stand it anymore. he was SO excited about today. he was all chattery about baseball and how much he loves it and that it's like Christmas and his birthday all rolled into one. i think he may have even peed on the floor a little. he was THAT excited. and it was so nice. while i still had his attention, we talked about all things Reds and baseball related. and it was the first time we had really talked to each other, in a while, and listened to what each other had to say. partially because we have both been busy and on different schedules and partially because i can only hear about the Final Four so much. or Terry Schiavo so much. or STEROIDS so much.

in our house, baseball is the language of love. and i'm real damn ok with that.

so we laid like spaghetti on the couch, all tangled up in each other, flipping between all the baseball games. we watched part of the Opening Day parade, in Cinci, on the computer.

and then the game came on. and we talked about how much we hated that we weren't there. and that we probably wont make the trip to "mecca" this year. which we both hate, but it's a fact. that is one of my favorite trips of the year. when we lived in SC, we would make the 6 hour drive up there. me talking about white castle and Rock Bottom Brewery, him talking about the players and the people we were going to meet. if you've ever driven to Cincinnati, you know that it's hidden. you are driving and driving and driving and then all of a sudden, you round this curve and there it is. as if it appears by magic. i get a thrill everytime.
we cross the bridge from kentucky to ohio and we point out the stadium to each other... as if neither one has ever seen it before. and i start to get antsy.
cincinnati is a beautiful city. and friendly and its a place where we Reds fans are no longer the minority. its like being a square peg in a round world... and then you move to Squaresville. its a sense that i can't explain.

we start talking about all the things we want to go/see/do while we are there and usually end up doing about 3 of them. my list is small.
i want white castle everyday.
i want rock bottom brewery and the beer sampler.
i want to walk around downtown and see the baseball exhibits that are going on. i think for a few years a guy was making all sorts of awesome art from louisville sluggers. i LOVED that.
i want baseball.

there are lots of places that people tell us that we should go to; and we are slowly crossing those off our lists, but for now, we are here for baseball.

since H is on the Reds messageboard, we end up meeting a lot of new friends from there. and it's cool how the same people who came the first year asked when we were coming back. and its a big deal on his board that we are making our annual trip up there and we end up meeting about 20 - 30 new people. it's really neat.

so, we meet up with "Zoners" the first night, for adult beverages, and then head to the park. we either walk or ride in the back of a friend's truck. it's like being a kid all over again... headed to the ballpark in the back of a truck.
we get to the GAB and its a sea of red. and we can smell the popcorn and hot dogs and burgers and all things baseball. once inside, my Husband loses about 20 years of his life. he is now the world's largest 9 year old. and i get dragged all over the place. i can never keep up with him. so we take pictures and find our seats and go get beers and as we sit down for the first time, its like a jolt of electricity AND your favorite chair all rolled into one. we are home.

i get the chills when the boys come out on the field. i cry during the national anthem. my heart swells. and i am full of pride and love and happiness.

we settle into our world for the next 9 innings and i then turn into a little kid. i take the first inning to look around and see what all is going on. i am so out of it and H is used to it. he tries to tell me stuff and i'm just like "lalalalalalalalala, look at all the pretty colors..." and then he realizes that i will be "back" in the second inning.

there is much laughter and beer and cheering and shit-talking. mostly between H and his fellow Zoners. it's neat to see people come together over something as simple as baseball. its common ground. and i adore it.

we always win the first game we go to. always. it's a rule. and as the night progresses, and the home runs get hit, and as the smoke from the stacks hangs in the air, and i look around and see al these strangers smiling and accepting each other, it makes me happy beyond compare.

as we leave the game, we all agree to meet back up for the next days game. and we get back to our hotel room and we are so worn out and still buzzing with excitement that we try to lay down to go to sleep and KNOW that we are fooling ourselves. then we throw on our shoes and head back out. and go directly to white castle.

i make sure i don't get too full during the game so i have room for white castle. i dont know what it is about white castle. they aren't really great burgers. and i am sure that about 79% of it is tradition. it's what we do. it's not cincinnati unless we got sliders.

we get back to our room and CRASH. but are up early for more baseball. we wander the town, killing time, buying souvenirs, being tourists, and then off to the park again. we get there early so we can go exploring and see all the new things they have done. we find our brick (its hard to tell, but the bricks paving the way into the ballpark all have messages on them. ) and we go watch batting practice.

imagine a slew of kids leaning over the wall trying to talk to any of the players, and then imagine a 6 foot 2 kid leaning over with them. yeah, that one's mine. in the Griffey jersey? yep, sure is.

and i sit back and watch him. and he helps the littler kids get autographs because they are usually the ones that get squished by the bigger kids. and if he catches a ball, he gives it to the ones that look so dejected. and he is so polite. "Mr. Casey, how are you today? Enjoying this fine weather? Gonna beat the Cubs today? Would you mind signing?" and this is so much better than the kids, "hey, sign! hey, sign!"

and this gets him autographs. and he then brings them back to me to put away for safe-keeping. and then he's off somewhere else.

and this is how the weekend is.

usually on sunday, he goes to the game by himself. i drive down to louisville to meet up with some of MY favorite people. about 10 of us girls get together and drink and eat and laugh and eat and drink some more.
this also happens to be where #3 KY and devilboss and smashlee live and even tasty comes down from indy.
it doesn't get MUCH better than that. after trying to kill myself with laughter and fried cheese i head back to cinci.

we stay for the monday game and head back after that. we are so tired from all the fun we had and all the baseball we saw and all the nasty food we ate.

and then we do it again the next year.

but we dont get to do that this year. and i HATE it. we wont even get to see them play at all, this year.

we ARE going to a Rangers game... so at least we get our fix... but its not the same.

so, 1 down. 161 more to go!

GO REDS!