Spring Baseball Tales ReSpring

SPRING

All About the RE.

The greatest time of year.

Harbinger of

Rebirth, Renewal, Regrowth, Re-dedication, Regeneration, Rejuvenation, Recharging, Replenishment, Restoration, Revitalization, Revival, Reawakening,

REJOICING
 

I am so thankful for spring every year. I love the newness it brings.
New flowers, new greenery, new life - animals and children, new longer days - yes, I love Daylight Savings Time.

Then, of course, it is the harbinger of the Great American Past Time - BASEBALL

Each and every year since I moved to Sunny Florida, The University of Florida continues to impress me with their involvement in the community especially with the school children.

Our baseball tale begins with winning tickets on a radio contest to a Saturday game. It was the weekend between my birthday and my 10 year old son's birthday. What a great, unexpected thing to do with him for our birthdays.

We have not been to a Gator Baseball game before. High Adventure Here.
Needless to say it's been a very long time since I've been to a baseball game. I called a friend who has sons that play to find out how long a game lasts -she tells me anywhere from 2 -4 hours . Oh Boy!
What I remember most - long, slow, and Take Me Out To The Ball Park music.

We find the stadium and parking - another great accomplishment.
We of course have a snack bag - mother of 3 ya know.
An officer is at the entrance, who checks your bags for dangerous items.
We had 2 plastic bottles of sparkling tea, 1 can of soda and trail mix.
The officer says" I can't let you take the soda in because it can act like a missile. You are welcome to step back outside the entrance and drink it. "

Now I only drink one soda - Dr. Pepper and there is no way I'm gonna waste one. My son says he has never seen me drink a soda that fast. I was guzzling for sure. We contemplated a can versus a plastic bottle as missiles. They both get very hard when shaken. I guess the aluminum is considered more dangerous than the plastic lol. I think getting hit by either would be stunning to say the least.

Finally in the stadium, we ask an usher where to find our seats and a wonderful, gentleman calls the usher over to give him 2 tickets for the Sunday game for us. WOW. What a wonderful thing to do and we so appreciated it.

We had tons of fun together and the Gators won. There was no way we weren't going back for the Sunday game since they announced that there would be free T-shirts, autograph books and pins for the first 500 kids on Sunday. MOMS & DADS YOU WILL BRING YOUR CHILDREN. LOL

Now, we offered the girl child the opportunity to go to this game since the other boy was off camping with the boy scouts. She didn't think it was a COOL thing to do. No real surprise there - 14 and angst.

Sunday gets here pouring down spring rains. I say - Honey there is no way I'm sitting in the rain for a game. I have never in my life done that for anybody or team. The disappointment in those big, beautiful, blue eyes was enough to make me get on the phone and internet to find out if they were going to call the game due to weather. It's raining buckets surely they are going to cancel.  Guess what another of those times - I AM WRONG!! Dern my average is really getting blasted these days.

Off to the stadium we go. Now we are old pros. Right. No problems. An hour and 10 minutes before the 1 PM Start. My son gets his t-shirt and pin and autograph book. The rain starts to lighten up. Delay due to weather, game will start at 2:40. Oh my, what do we do for 2 hours and 50 minutes??? You hang out in the tunnels to stay dry. Actually the entertainment wasn't bad. Watching the team pull the tarp over to get the lake removed and put it back in the wind was educational and funny. Taking it off the field totally was even more entertaining as it whipped in the wind, 8-10 foot swells coming into the beach.

At the Saturday game, we were still uninitiated to all the goings on at these Gator games. Sunday we know and find the 4 boxes where you can register for different things, like being the Junior Gator Announcer, the Gator Races, the Gator Mystery box and the final Gator Runs for the game.  My son got picked to be the announcer. Sooooo Coooool. He was in the press box and announced the Gator batters in the 5th inning. He was awesome - could this be a career choice - maybe - he got to have the experience thanks to UF. Every time a Gator Pitcher strikes out a batter, they throw t-shirts into the crowds - we got 2 of those that weekend. He got all the stuff and got all the players to autograph his book too.
Now the other boy is home and even the girl's interest is piqued.

Here is a great reason to work for yourself from home. On Wednesday, I get an email that there will be $1 admissions to baseball game that night and $1 drinks, hot dogs and a few of the other concession items. SO I get my appointments covered and off the whole family goes to the game. Being able to do things on a moments notice - PRICELESS.

Once again UF provides my family with a great night at the ball game. My daughter was chosen for the Junior Announcer, the boys were picked to do the gator races - where they go on field and represent blocks of scorecard holders. The child that wins and all the score card holders in their group get Chick-Fil-La coupons.

My children are "like mom you need to calm down, people are looking at you, oh no she's dancing to the music, ack she does the loudest Go Gators" Could they crawl under the stands - well yes they could. My oldest son says "MoMMMM people are going to laugh at you!!!!!"

My Answer: Let them, I don't care, I'm here to have fun and that includes - I get to SCREAM & YELL and it's not at ya'll for a change. 

So the only thing we haven't gotten in these 3 games is a ball. Most go out of the stadium. A few hit in the stands. At the very end of the game, the oldest boy asks can he go out front to see if he can get a ball. Well lo & behold, the game ball is a foul out of the stadium and he got it. Then he got a couple of the players to autograph it.

I must say baseball games have changed. We had a blast. Cool music during all the wait times. Drawings held to win prizes during the game.  I hope you are near a school that offers fun like this. If not  - I would ask why they don't. As you keep reading, I will be giving you more examples of this university's participation in this community.


Hope you laughed with us today. Go See A Baseball Game, scream & yell like there's no tomorrow. 
REJOICE IT'S SPRING