Baseball Is Good For Our Marriage

I haven't always loved baseball like I do now. And I certainly haven't always known the game of baseball like I do now.  But you see, there was once this guy I was dating and he loved baseball, so I ended up going to a lot of games, asking a lot of questions, honestly just trying to show interest and be a good girlfriend.  I ended up falling in love with the guy...and the game.

After several years, many sunburns, hundreds of innings and perhaps a thousand questions, baseball is now a  passion and pastime for me and Trent and one that we so enjoy together.

We have an annual ceremonial watching of the movie Bull Durham to ring in every new baseball season, and we quote the movie for the rest of the year.  "Something going that far oughta have a dang stewardess on it."  "The next one is a fastball.  And when you speak of me, speak of me well."  When I visited Rach in Durham last summer, I was ecstatic about seeing the town that is the setting for this special movie.

We follow our Baylor Bears and have made treks to Houston, Austin, Fort Worth and College Station (where we weren't sure if we'd leave with our lives) to watch them play. We have frozen our noses off and baked in the sun. Trent has even adjusted ministry related trips for meetings and such in order to catch some away games.  

We rode the high of the Bears' 24 game winning streak last season that broke records and gave us many near heart attacks.  Then we both said some choice words and shed some literal tears when shortstop Jake Miller had the chance to roll up a textbook double play to send us to Omaha but botched it, sending us to a disaster of a third super regional game, nixing our chance to go to the College World Series.

We have plenty of discussions about the differences between the new regulation BBCOR bats vs the old BESR bats, lament the fact that the new bats just don't have that classic clank noise, but acknowledge that they take the ease out of home runs which brings games down to small ball which we prefer anyway.

We have sat through about 14 hours of baseball in one weekend at the Houston College Classic...on more than one occasion.

I have sat apart from my husband in the stands for the last several innings of an otherwise stagnant game because when I left to go to the bathroom we scored and when I left to get a snow cone we scored.  I believe in Jesus but I also believe in baseball and there was no way I was going back to my stagnant seat.  We won that game.

We carried a stinkin' beaver stuffed animal around for the duration of last season...   If you are familiar with last year's magical season and the phrase "Feed the beaver!" then you will understand why we carried a toy beaver named Bearver to games for three months.

I now know instinctively when a ball comes off the bat towards the shortstop with a runner on first that it should be a double play and find myself shouting "roll 'em up!". I know when it's a good chance to bunt.   I get frustrated when coach Steve Smith starts his typical freak outs about halfway through a season, messes with the batting order, pulls seniors out and generally screws everything up.  I was stoked when he didn't do that last year and stuck with what was working. I know to not mention or draw attention to a no hitter when it's in progress. I know that if Steve DalPorto takes off his cap or batting helmet, his hair looks like Elvis and I know that if you buy the biggest size snow cone at the ballpark you get a flower necklace for free. I cannot for the life of me, however, figure out a hit and run, no matter how many times Trent explains it.

We are currently counting down the days until Baylor starts up again (19, if you are wondering).  Trent just asked me across the Starbucks table what I am blogging about and when I told him he said "That's my girl."   

Baseball is a major part of our marriage.  It's not just a passive hobby.  It's no longer something that Trent loves and I just kind of follow along with for his sake.  It's a legit part of our relationship, our conversations and our time spent together.  And it is so. much. fun.

Do you have something like this in your marriage, something you share and love to do together?  If it is baseball for you too, come join us at the Baylor ballpark!  We'll even buy you a snow cone.