12: “The Winter Doldrums”

 ALL MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY NOT BE USED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION.

by Chrisklob

CHARLESTON, SC – That’s what I call this time of year – the winter doldrums. The holidays are behind us, college football is almost over, NFL football is winding down and there are fewer and fewer choices of sports to watch on the television.

Of course, there are plenty of basketball and hockey games on TV, but quite frankly, if those sports decided to shut down tomorrow I wouldn’t have a second thought about it. I’m not really a big football fan either, but I force myself to at least watch SportsCenter. In this day and age, if you’re a guy and don’t know what’s going on in both college and professional football you run the serious risk of having your “Man Card” revoked immediately and terminally. So, reluctantly I follow it, but have no real passion for the sport.

My true passion in sports lies strictly in baseball. I prefer professional baseball. There’s just something about the “ping” of an aluminum bat that rings hollow, both literally and figuratively, to my ears.

But, over the years, I’ve had the chance to see some pretty decent college baseball in my area. Clemson, the University of South Carolina, College of Charleston (my alma mater), and The Citadel are all nearby and I have seen them all play over the years and enjoyed watching them and their opponents, especially many of those fine programs from the ACC and SEC. The South is blessed with good baseball.

Not living in a major league city, I don’t get to see many big league games in person but I typically attend 30-40 minor league games a year. Most of them are here, but over the years I’ve traveled to Myrtle Beach, Columbia, Greenville, Jacksonville, Charlotte and Zebulon to see a player or team that I was particularly interested in.

I’m equally happy watching the younger guys play ball too. We have an excellent AAU program that plays less than half a mile from my home so I’ve been known to stop by on my way home from work to catch a couple of innings. My son, Matt, has been playing since he was four and I’ve attended and helped coach just about every game he’s played in and enjoyed every one of them. Very few things are as exciting as watching a kid get his first big hit. Matt hit his first homerun this past spring and I’m not sure who was more excited, me or him.

I simply enjoy the beauty of the game. I enjoy watching the pitcher battle the hitter, sometimes winning and sometimes not. I love watching the shortstop and second baseman work together to turn a double play. I love a close play at the plate.

But while any baseball game is good, my preference still lies with professional baseball. There’s just something about the sound of a well-struck ball as it leaves the bat that makes my heart sing.

As a kid, I never gave baseball much thought. I liked playing it well enough, but football was my favorite sport to watch. Baseball is sometimes described as a “thinking man’s sport” and “a game of inches. As I matured I came to understand what these expressions meant. I began to appreciate the subtleties of the game.

Let’s face it, there’s nothing subtle about two tons worth of lineman trying to smother each other into oblivion. Nor is there anything subtle about a 300 pound center, lumbering through the paint, knocking bodies in every direction and slamming the basketball through the rim.

However, there is a beautiful subtlety watching a pitcher strike out his opponent with a wicked splitter or perhaps an inside fastball after only offering off-speed stuff off the plate. Homeruns are great but it’s equally intriguing to watch the hitter battle that pitcher, fouling off pitch after pitch, and finally earning an off-field single, or perhaps just drawing a walk.

Sometimes those seemingly insignificant plays (which some would classify as just plain “boring”) are as important as, and sometimes even more important than, the three-run homer. In my opinion, folks that say they don’t like baseball because it’s too slow simply have not learned to appreciate these nuances. Yes, the subtleties of this game are a large part of what make it so attractive to me.

Anyway, I digress. Ah yes, the winter doldrums. Winter is my least favorite time of the year. Aside from the lack of sports entertainment I find it a generally depressing season. The excitement and anticipation of Christmas is past, and the mailbox only brings the holiday’s bills.

Plus, in spite of being pretty well insulated, I can’t stand cold weather. Living in coastal South Carolina, I realize that I shouldn’t complain. Relatively speaking, it doesn’t get very cold here and rarely do we ever experience snow, a fact that irritates my children.

There is just something about the barren trees, the dormant grass, the lack of any color outside aside from brown and gray and the short days that leave me feeling, well, just cold inside. Oh, and coincidentally, winter is the worst time of the year for my business. Frankly, I find it all to be damn depressing.

Pitchers and catchers report!

In my opinion, that short series of words is one of the finest sentences in the English language. These august words coincide with longer, warmer days.

It means the grass will very soon be turning to its proper, glorious green and the skies will once again be blue. My business will show signs of life once again, much like the dogwood tree at the edge of the woods behind my house and my neighbor’s azaleas will dazzle us with their beautiful flowers.

“Our” bluebirds will (hopefully) like the new nesting box that I just built for them well enough to raise their brood there. My wife’s tulips will soon fill the garden with their stunning pastels and our rose bushes will push out their first new shoots. The scent of purple wisteria will fill the air and the long shadows cast by the winter sun will be replaced by longer days.

More importantly, it means that we’ll soon see baseball being played again. The first games mean nothing, but they seem so important. They answer many questions, yet those early games raise many more. Did we solve our rotation issues? How strong is the bullpen? Who will play in center this year? Will the bench be worthy of its task?

To me, those four words mean that all the things that I dislike most about winter will soon be gone and they’ll be replaced by those other good things. Ah yes, once the pitchers and catchers report, things will be good in the world once again.

It’s a time of hope, promise and the anticipation of another great season of baseball. I know that if I can hang on until that glorious day, life will be good again.

chrisklob

HOME PLATE

TEXT EFFECTS

THE LINEUP CARD

Blog address: bravesandstuff@hotmail.com