Why I’m Not Writing a Blog for August

I’ve heard from a few of you now, asking if I’ve given up posting blog entries.  The answer is:  I’m not sure, but, I am going to tell you why I’m not writing my blog for this month.

You see, we’ve been way too busy for me to sit down and blog away.  Too busy to even think up a topic about which to blog.  First of all, there’s been that baseball thing.  Yes, I’ll admit I finally got bit by the baseball bug and it left an indelible mark on my psyche.  Kind of like a tattoo on the grey matter, perhaps in the shape of a diamond with a striking resemblance to a ball.

Anyway, until last summer, I could not even spell baseball…unsure whether it was one word or two.  Then, as fate would have it, we decided we should at least put in a token appearance for our hometown Asheville Tourists Class A minor league affiliate of the Colorado Rockies Major League Team.  I figured while they were busy trying to hit and run, I could guzzle beer and eat peanuts to pass the time.

But, much to my amazement, I discovered there is a reason that hundreds of millions of people around the world are enthusiasts of the game.  I became as hooked as a large mouth bass on a hand tied fly in calm waters at the break of dawn.  I became a fan.

So, as those of you who know me best can clearly attest, I don’t normally get into things in a small way.  My response to my new interest in baseball was to purchase front row, box seats for the entire 2011 season right beside the on-deck batter’s circle with a clear view directly into the dugout just whispering distance away.

Now, the benefit of this vantage point is that we are close enough to the players to count the beads of sweat dripping from their foreheads.  We can see the determination in the set of their jaws, the hope in their eyes and the power in the muscles of their forearms as they flail the bat through their practice swings.

There are undoubtedly better views of the action on the field providing an overall perspective of the game.  But, seeing those faces up close and getting to know the personalities beneath the uniforms is a captivating aspect of the game that no grand, overall view can provide.

And, furthermore, our seats were in the “family section” where the visiting mothers, fathers, brothers, cousins and other relatives of the players are assigned to sit.  So, over the course of the season, we became acquainted with many of the players’ family members who traveled to Asheville from all over the US and Puerto Rico to see their pride and joy play baseball at the professional level.  For them, it was perhaps the thrill of a lifetime.  For us, just the pleasure of getting to know these people, in this exciting arena, where everyone present is feeling the buzz, where everyone is happy and in a great mood…this unique pleasure of becoming personally acquainted with these folks was an aspect of the game that most people in the stadium never know anything about.

Now, if you are wondering what this tangent has to do with not writing a blog this month, I offer the following explanation.  Professional minor league baseball teams play nearly every day or night of the season.  There are only a handful of days or nights that the team has off.  During the season between April and the end of August there are 140 games, 70 of which are “home” games.

As a season ticket holder, one attends every game unless detained by a major illness… such as death.  So, you do the math.  Approximately one half of the summer is consumed by attending the home games of one’s baseball team.  That is a large chunk of time my friends.  It is roughly one half of one’s life between April and the beginning of September which is one of the main reasons, and this should be self evident,  I do not have time to write a blog for August.

“BUT”, you say.  “There is still that other half of the summer.  That should leave plenty of time to write a blog in August.”  To which I reply, “No no no.”  That “other half” of summer life has been spent battling groundhogs, tending to home improvements…mostly cleaning, then recleaning…and the cycle continues, in hopes of snagging a tenant to occupy our home for a year so we can fritter our time away in Costa Rica and wander around the USA when not in Central America.

So, now you know why I’m not writing a blog as previously planned for the month of August.  There simply is not time to sit around tapping the keyboard of my laptop for such an otherwise pointless purpose.  I hope you understand.