Baseball is foremost on Piglet's brain right now. Baseball hat. Baseball glove. Baseball teams. Baseball songs. Baseball matching games. Baseball cards. Baseball books. Baseballs and baseball bats. Trying to indulge the obsession indoors since Mother Nature seems to fancy an indefinite rain delay. Even a Sunday drive just to look at the local baseball field. Doing our best to indulge this little obsession indoors since Mother Nature seems to be on indefinite rain delay. Boo.
Baseball season is here again. I'm singing "Put Me In Coach" and getting excited to take M to a hometown baseball game or two. And maybe, just maybe, we'll head up to Safeco Field to watch Jr. play with the Mariners again.
One Shining Moment is in the making as the finest in college basketball emerge in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Americans everywhere obsess over brackets and seeds and rankings and point spreads and divisions and some guy's turf toe problem in North Carolina. Some say that one toe could define the entire tournament. It really is madness.
B loves football, but doesn't actually commit to watch very many games--only those that really matter (mostly college) to him. And the SuperBowl. I even look forward to it, though I have no real favorite this year. We get comfy, scratch our heads at some of the mega-dollar ads, laugh our heads off at others, critique the half time show (Bruce Springsteen should be OK, Paul McCartney was not), and hopefully enjoy a good game. All while noshing on man-food like Pigs in Blankets (Lil' Smokies wrapped in puff pastry, baked, dipped in hot mustard. The only occasion that even remotely justifies Lil' Smokies). I lack the ambition to do anything more complex. We'll have fresh fruit and veggies, and maybe these chocolate peanut butter goodies for a sweet treat. I've a feeling they won't last long. 
M has a little obsession with football. One that is fueled, naturally, by his daddy. I'm ok with it. He is sometimes persuaded to do something if told it's "like a football player." He likes to wear his bike helmet and call himself a football player. He gushes with excitement when there is football on the TV, and loves to look at Sports Illustrated with daddy.
Couldn't let summer pass without taking M to his first baseball game. Though our team is only AA, and is the farm team for the Kansas City Royals, the games are fun. Perfect for families. We didn't stay long as the game started at M's bedtime, but he seemed to enjoy himself. Each time a player got up to bat, he clapped his hands and yelled "yaaaayy!" Daddy was proud.
Our hostess, and her family, was delightful, and the Opening Ceremonies entertaining. I especially loved the children in their native dress and the children's choir. But those drummer were pretty cool, too. As were the acrobatic dancers and those dancers making drawings on the LCD screen and those amazing fireworks. Just what Beijing's air quality needed, right? But add it all up with some spring rolls, potstickers and Cokes, and it was a great evening. Oh, and in case you can't tell, someone I won't name made cupcakes with the Beijing Olympics emblem little guy on them...
Well, I don't really like peanuts or cracker jacks all that much, but I do enjoy baseball season. There's something all-American and leisurely and summery about it that I really love. Since the Red Sox are off to a great start this season, enjoy these photos courtesy of the Library of Congress flickr stream(found via Oh Happy Day)
Fenway Park, before 1914 World Series
Happy St. Patrick's Day and March Madness to you. It's the most wonderful time of the year, for sports fans anyway. The office bracket contest is one of the few things I really miss about my former professional life. I loved listening to all of my male co-workers gasp and whine when I beat them. (Learn all you ever wanted to here.) At least Mr. J and I enjoy it together: the energy, the passion, the blood, sweat, and the tears of it. The sentimental back-stories on coaches and players, the purity of the game. My heart swells, my heart breaks, my fists clench. Mr. J jumps and whoops and hollers. And then there's "One Shining Moment." I rarely have a favorite, but I'm always a softie for the Cinderellas, and pretty much anyone who beats Duke.
Yes, I know I said I didn't have a strong preference on a winner for this year's Super Bowl, but, dang it, I got all sucked in by the pre-gram show and the glory and blood and sweat and tears and the fraternity of the thing. Plus, I'm always a sucker for the underdogs and boy did they fight hard yesterday. Plus, again, Plaxico Burress has a very cool name and Michale Strahan seems like a super nice guy. I loved that the winning play (Manning's pass to Burress) is precisely the same one the practiced during warm up. (I'm sure there's a life lesson in there somewhere). Ah, the Super Bowl, it's a beautiful thing. Even if the commercials weren't so great. Go Giants.
I always look forward to the SuperBowl. I have to: I married an all-American sports-loving meat-and-potatoes boy. Football is his favorite of all sports (with baseball, basketball and soccer all vying for second place) so over the years, rather than resent this devotion, I've grown to love and understand it. A little bit. I typically don't like a loud obnoxious game on the tv on a peaceful Sunday afternoon, but I'm weakened by the pomp and circumstance that is the SuperBowl and I make an exception. I don't really have a preferred outcome this year (Tom Brady's alright, but I think it's time for Eli to have his moment) so I can just enjoy the commercials, the half-time show, snuggling with my boys, and guy-food. Our menu:
