the holiness of baseball

if you are a regular reader of my blog, you know that one of my passions is sports, particularly baseball and football. now football, for me, is a physical endeavor. it is body against body, in violent athletic beauty. there is grace in football, to be sure, but in my mind, football is a wintry, bone-crushing, testosterone-fueled, sport of physicality. it is all blood and mud and sweat.

baseball, though, is the spirituality to football's physicality. that way i see it, baseball is as much spirit as body. it is played in the summer, during warm nights when the whole world seems wide awake. it is less about quickly crushing the other team and more about slowly journeying toward victory (even in the fact that it has 162 regular season games compared to football's 16). the spiritual aspects of baseball are hinted at even in our media, where we have made movies like "angels in the outfield," and talk about things like "mystique" that help teams win.

you may not agree with this, but you should know that this is how i approach it. i come to the baseball season with a certain kind of awe, a holy reverance for something which always seems to make me a child again, something which simplifies life for a few hours, something which strengthens my spirit. i love baseball. and it is here.

so, get used to it. i will be writing about it from time to time. i am a fan of the yankees and the pirates, so i will have things to say about them (like how the pirates won their opener last night in an absolulely incredible way over the atlanta braves). but i may also just want to stop and take a breath and reflect on how awesome baseball is. if you are not a baseball fan, i am not trying to convert you. but if you are, come on in, you have found a sanctuary.

play ball!
greg.