Free Write - America's Favorite Past Time

Many children play sports when they’re little. Either by choice or by force, most of us have ended up playing something. I was a bit of an anomaly because I had to beg my parents to let me play tee-ball and baseball. Around the ages of 7 and 8, my father had some strange notion that the only sport I needed to participate in was swimming. I personally thought he believed the Earth was headed towards some type of apocalypse that involved the polar ice caps melting and the only survivors would be those who knew how to swim well. Each year I would begin begging in January to be signed-up for tee-ball. When that became too tiresome for my parents, I began expressing my desire to play in other ways. The only pictures I drew were of baseball diamonds, pitchers, batters, etc., the only thing I ever wrote about in school was baseball, and if I ever had to create some type of poem or limerick for some reason, it was sure to be about baseball. Every year my efforts paid off and I was signed-up to play. Before the season started I would try to prepare myself in every way. I would start by stocking up on Big League Chew. If you want to be a real baseball player, you MUST have Big League Chew. Next I would begin an oil regiment with my glove. Before the season started I’d usually go through 2-3 bottles of oil. Usually my glove was moist for the first couple games, but it didn’t matter because it was oiled up just like the real players’ gloves. After that I’d begin thinking of potential names for our team because for some reason the organizers could never do it themselves. I’d start out simple with actual MLB team names like the Twins, Mariners, Red Sox, etc. These names were always contingent, however, on what our uniforms were going to look like. I’d then move on to some animal names that were sure to strike some fear into our opposing teams. The Hawks, Eagles, Sharks, Lions and Cobras were always popular. These names would then transition me to another level entirely. This level would consist of names like the Thundercats, Dragons, Killers, Nazis, Sorcerers, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the like. When it finally came down to starting the season, however, I became incredibly nervous and constantly thought about my potential performance. Even after several practices, I never really lost that feeling in my stomach. Now that I look back I wonder what I was ever nervous about. I would go to the plate to hit a stationary baseball on top of a large rubber pole at a team full of little kids who all had no idea how to field how to even field a soccer ball, let alone a small baseball. Whatever our team was called or how soft my mitt was, I always had a good season and have vowed to force my children to become baseball players.