Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

Okay, so I didn't have peanuts nor Cracker Jacks, but I did attend my first ball game of the season. I'll tell you, I didn't feel too hopeful going into this game as the Marlins are the top seated team in all of MLB while the Nationals are dead last. The Nats, however, game me hope through the first eight innings, and then it just fell apart at the end.

The fun of attending baseball games actually has very little to do with the end score. It's all about getting behind a team and cheering at their good plays, booing bad calls and yelling at visiting team fans who won't shut up. It's about the smell of roasting hot dogs, the sound of thousands of frantic fan, the sight of the crystal-blue sky and the feel of adrenaline pumping past your ears at a million miles an hour. It's about talking stats with one friend while admiring the posterior build of the catcher with another friend.

The boom of the fireworks, the crack of the ball against the bat and the silence of 20,000 people holding their breath during that last desperate play. For the love of the game and for the love atmosphere, I could sit in a ballpark every day through September (keep your fingers crossed for October) and be happy. Nothing could have welcomed in Spring quite like attending a baseball game. Win or lose, may there be many more to come before Fall.