love and baseball

"You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen." -- Joe DiMaggio about Opening Day

Two months ago Al and I bought tickets to the last home opener at Shea Stadium. At 1:10 PM today, with the first pitch of the ball game, weeks of anticipation finally gave way to reality. The sun was shining, the seats were filled, the smell of good ol' stadium food was in the air, and the Mets were winning. It was a (nearly) perfect ball game, at least for the first six innings. But then, like many good things, the sun dropped behind the stands, the crowd grew rowdy, and the Mets bullpen fell apart. Before we knew it we were on a train back to Manhattan and the Mets had another loss on their record. Right about now you might expect me to start talking about how love is like baseball, curve balls and all... but that's been done before, sorta (rent this). Instead I wanted to talk about the role sports have played in our relationship and our wedding planning...


Over the past two years or so Al and I have been to countless sporting events and watched even more on tv. When I told my fiance that I was writing about sports, he started listing off facts, such as: "John Elway was drafted by the Yankees but refused to play because they didn't offer him enough money. The Colts also gave him an offer, but he refused that, too, because it was too low," and many others including very specific names and dates. And while most of these facts went over my head I can say that, as two people who were each very involved in sports in high school, watching sports together and (usually) rooting for the same team has been one of my favorite parts of our relationship. Of course it's most fun when our teams win, but even when they lose, it's enjoyable to partake in the experience together. This probably goes without saying, but for any relationship to thrive, I definitely recommend finding an activity that you can enjoy together and doing it as often as possible! When we first started planning our wedding we were thinking of having it in September, but then sports came in to play in a new and different way. I realized that a late September wedding, although autumnally pleasing, fell at possibly the worst time of the year-- the end of regular season baseball and the start of football season. When I shared this news with my "wishes-he-was-a-sportscaster" fiance he replied, "And that's how you know a girl's a keeper." To say the least, we are no longer planning a September wedding. In fact, this weekend we are visiting my home church and seeing what dates they have available in August 2009. Wish us luck-- major moves are to be made in the near future!


"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." -- 1 Corinthians 9:24-25