By Jon Weisman
It’s warm in Los Angeles. Spring Training warm. Some might even say it’s hot. Regular-season hot.
We’ve still got some El Nino-style rain ahead of us, believe it or not, and the official home opener at Dodger Stadium is nine weeks away. But it’s hard to ignore that you step outside today and it’s feeling like … baseball.
That’s good, right?
I jotted down a question at a stoplight: Do you love the game more than winning? Sometimes, I wonder how many fans still enjoy baseball for baseball’s sake. During these offseason months, when Dodger Stadium is quiet but the Hot Stove is angry, and 27 winters without a World Series title leave a grinding frustration, does baseball’s absence makes the heart grow fonder or harder?
At FanFest 10 days ago, though, there was joy. There was carnival. And I think that’s the thing: You need to be in it. You need baseball around you. You need to see that grass, to lean in for that first pitch, to feel that potential — baseball is potential. Baseball is a rejuvenating force, giving life in every fastball snapping into the mitt for strike three, in every shot past a diving third baseman down the line, in every smile of a player who has conquered a moment. These are addictions with no substitutes.
Baseball in the abstract might be all well and good for some, but for others, day after day without it, it’s unnerving, your body aching and jangly without really realizing why.
If you love the game, you need the game. Even if it takes over your life.
Soon after that stoplight, Lyle Lovett’s “Private Conversation” came on. And this lyric has been whipping in my head all morning …
And dance right where you are …
That’s it, right there. When baseball is on, that’s what we do. That’s what we need: To see baseball take the field, and dance right where we are.
jpavko
LIke Rogers Horsnsby of the St Louis Cardinals said years ago when asked what he does in the off season. His response “Sit By The Window and wait for Spring”, That is mine as well and all those who truly love the game
Michael Green
The Rajah and Jpavko nailed it, as did you, Jon. Now send it to Vin and Sandy, and make him stay past this season.
Ron Zrodlo
I look at Fanfest a spring training for fans to a chance to stay connected. See your stars again, your upcoming guys, your park. It is the best. It will re-energize you for what is to come a couple of months later and makes you ready NOW. Now if I could just see them on TV.
oldbrooklynfan
I follow the hot stove all winter and I’d say, or me at least, it moves along rather quickly, holiday after holiday but that doesn’t mean I don’t love the game.