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LATEST SUBMISSIONS

Fishing For the ‘Big Win’

Thursday, October 18 at 12:26 PM

This Speakout has not been edited.

By Priscilla Dann-Courtney

Bottom of the fourth and the Rockies just hit a grand slam against the Phillies! I’m not even a baseball fan and here I am cheering to AM radio as I drive home from Safeway. I’m sure if I’d been stopped at a light, the driver next to me would have been dancing away — the two of us bonded by the old — fashioned magic of baseball. I arrive in our driveway, to see our house painter, in his spackled white pants, jumping up and down on his cell phone. His radio blaring, I yell, “Wasn’t that just incredible!” like I’ve been following every game for years.

My grandparents were devoted to the Yankees — inhaling the season on the glory of black and white TV. My sister’s old boyfriend never missed a Mets game and my cousin’s mother in-law from the Philippines idealized the Red Sox. I wish I could say that I remember sunny skies in Yankee stadium, sitting next to my grandfather — too little to see beyond the baseball caps in front of me. But the truth is I’ve been to one baseball game in my life and three T-ball games, until my then five-year-old son decided it just wasn’t his sport. It seemed the love of baseball was for other people — until this week.

This banging on the steering wheel moment brought me back to high school when suddenly that guy who never looked interesting, looked really cute after a summer in the sun. The Colorado Rockies are making my heart skip. Suddenly Saturday night is taking on a whole new mystique as they go to bat for their third win. I liken myself to those fair-weather runners I see on the trails in early spring. As they jog on by in crisp Lycra, I silently wonder, “Where were you when the snow was blowing?” And now where was I when the Rockies were struggling to find their footing?

My husband and I pass up a good movie to make room for the excitement of nine good innings. Suddenly the too big TV my husband purchased a few months ago has new meaning. The really green baseball field looks beautiful and the purchase doesn’t seem like such a whacky husband thing. I don’t ask if the bottom of the inning is the beginning or the end — protecting my status as a die-hard fan for at least the past twenty-four hours. I smile listening to the sportscaster, realizing it is the one place where we can teach our kids that stealing and “going all the way” are really good things. When the lights go out in the stadium, I figure maybe that’s common. My husband assures me, “Nope, never seen it happen.” Luckily, they resume play just as I’m feeling the sadness of being stood-up.

Watching baseball feels like fishing. It is very calming, somewhat meditative, until the batter hits a big one. Catching a fly ball or a fish starts feeling one in the same. Then everyone sits down, breathes in and waits peacefully for the next exciting moment. In truth I fell asleep before the game was over. But I did keep the radio on in the bedroom — I just didn’t want to be left out. Which is what this seems to be all about. At a time when the world is being pulled apart, the simplicity of wanting our baseball team to win pulls us together. Like that dance at bat mitzvahs and weddings, where the train of dancers begins and we all join in at the tail end — the Rockies have created quite a celebration. And in truth, the World Series is not as important, as the beautiful reminder that we are all on the same team anyway.

Priscilla Dann-Courtney is a clinical psychologist and freelance writer. She is a resident of Boulder.

READER COMMENTS

GET REAL ! !
Im a Denver native and I have real loyalty to this city. Not one of those Rockies would be here next year if they could make a few dollars more somewhere else! Its a pleasant pastime to watch baseball but I dont care about them any mor than I would one of the Red Sox. If you want to see Baseball played with heart and soul go to a high school game. pro sports salaries should be capped at less than a million each, our pastime would not suffer!

Posted by mike on October 31, 2007 12:26 PM