Spring Training and the Magic of Baseball
Allie is now officially a published author! He wrote an amazingly hilarious book with co-authors Jon Chattman and Rich Tarantino called I Love the Red Sox/I Hate the Yankees, and it’s in stores now! Please buy this book and support Allie’s fledgling writing career! You don’t have to be a baseball fan to read it.
Cyrus opening the box of advanced copies of I Love the Red Sox/I Hate the Yankees
I must admit, while I’m not a very sporty person, I’ve always believed in the magic of baseball. In springtime, we have awakened from slumber, ready to take on the world. By the time baseball’s spring training arrives, the first buds of the season are peeking their way out (here in the northeast, anyway) as players of the game are warming up their muscles and minds for the coming weeks ahead.
Baseball, sometimes referred to as “America’s Favorite Pastime,” can be quite magical in its own way. Unlike sports such as football or tennis, there are so many more variables involved that makeup the way each game is played, opening multiple paths to fate: anything could happen. This is why baseball is sometimes also referred to as a “game of destiny.”
Experiencing a game in person can be exhilarating – the intermingling scents of beer and popcorn, the sound of amplified theatrics, the rumble of the crowd cheering. The most moving component for some may be the memories evoked as a child, perhaps having attended games with a loved one so many years ago.
Fans in the grandstands may have entered the ballpark as individuals, but in the stands, they become a unit – working together as one giant organism seamlessly communicating with all its parts in cheering on their favorite team. The energy in the grandstand builds as it ebbs and flows with the highs and lows of the game. It is baseball’s version of the sacred circle. Picture this – a wave of people stand up at once at one end of the stadium. Others next to them do the same. The wave of fans flows through the entire stadium until it reaches the other end of the grandstands. I can’t help but think this is the macrocosm version of the very essence of an organism – cells collaborating with one another to create energy. And that energy propels their team to victory.
Juniper is the first to read the book!
Together, fans create this energy for their home team. This is the very magic that supports teams playing on home turf. Is it any wonder that teams almost always fare better at home than they do at an away game? The home team has a built-in support system which creates energy, supplying mental, emotional, and dare I say, psychic strength to the players on the field. Who can deny this? The mystical Laurie Cabot, the “Official Witch of Salem” (who gets a shout-out in Allie’s book, by the way), dubbed so by then-Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, embodies this practice by creating spells of achievement for her home team, the Boston Red Sox. I think all fans do this in their own way, even if they don’t remotely consider themselves witches.
Which brings me to the issue at hand: some fans are so passionate that they help create a demigod out of their home team. And when two demigods battle, the earth shakes. Such is the storied rivalry between the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Not even Shakespeare’s Capulet and Montague families have taken on such passionate competition. I urge you to read about the infamous baseball rivalry in my husband’s new book, I Love the Red Sox/I Hate the Yankees, in stores now! Read about the magic and the mayhem, in part fueled by the ever-passionate fans.
Love,
Shira
The ultimate flip book!
Our Baby: Shira and Allie's Journey Into Parenthood 