Every year i forget..........



Every year i forget the beauty of Minor League Baseball. Tonight me and some of my Cronies went to the new Park in Stockton, Ca to watch a Stockton Ports game. One of the things that is so wonderful about minor league ball is that they make the game so accessible to the fans. You can sit very close to the field for a very fair price (sometimes as low as $4 per person). Between every inning they have some sort of promotion where anyone in the staduim can win. Not like a promotion at the major league level where one lucky fan is going to win a Cadillac Escalade, of course you never see that fan, not to mention its one of 50,000 people so you chances are very slim...... A just so you know............everything that happens in that stadium is sponsored by something or someone. so if someone in the crowd sneezes, you will undoubtedly hear the announcer say in his microphone, that sneeze was brought to by kleenex available at your local Save Mart.

A group of 8 went to this game where the Ports of Stockton battled the mighty Blaze of Bakersfield and our group got two fould balls....NO JOKE TWO!!!!! we gave them to the little kids in our group and you should have seen their faces, it was so important to them, because to them it might as well of been a Major League game. After the game we even got a grounds crew member to sign their ball, it was amazing to see how important they felt by getting an autograph and being out at a big league game. So if there is a minor league team around you and you are looking for a good time and a fairly inexpensive activity, go check out your local minor league affiliate.....

Some people dont get it, some people think its childish, and some people think caring that much is a waste of time. However for those who love the game of baseball and have a team that they bleed their colors, they will understand what i am going through.........I love baseball, it is by far my favorite of the major sports (unless i can count the Nascar the Ricky Bobby is in). I have been a SF Giants fan from the start i can remember countless times being at Candlestick park as a young tike with my parents watching the game.........I dont remember everything from my youth but i remember specific games where Darrell Evans hit home runs and a game where it was raining and Gary Carter (playing for the mets then) hit a home run to beat the Giants and i was upset because it was cold, wet, and then we lost.........A true fan follows his team year round not just during the season, they watch the teams web page, and follow the free agent market and right through spring training. Every day with hopes of what might be. Then for seven months.......SEVEN MONTHS......we watch games, we go to games, we check scores, we check stats, we hope for a big christmas present in July at the trade deadline ala Bobby Abreu (ben you must have been happy with that Robbery of a trade!!!!) and if by chance your team doesnt make the right decisions or believes that Armando Benitez is capable, or that (this is the best one) Jeremy Accardo is the future closer, and that an outfield in which 32 year old Randy Winn is the preverbial "SPRING CHICKEN"is good enough and the players you do have on the roster cant play good enough baseball to stay at .500, let alone compete for a playoff spot you too would feel disappointed and discouraged that you pay attention and give your sports heart and soul (i said sports, there are many...many things more important than sports but if its a passion you understand) all year and we root and support and then after all that nothing.......sometimes it feels like you wasted your time, like all your passion ripped out of you at once.......Like i said before some people dont get it, some people think its childish, and some people think caring that much is a waste of time, especially now that you get let down...........you know what i tell those people? maybe your right, but soon as that world series is over and the free agent period starts i will be right there waiting because i bleed BLACK AND ORANGE!!!!!