So I am joining a baseball team! Nope, it has nothing to do with the fitness aspect of playing a sport, no my friends, that is the last thing I considered when I said yes to baseball. My mind went straight to thinking up fun team names, designing cute outfits, flags, chants and anthems. Priorities right?!
I’ve been brainstorming potential team names; Pitch Slap, Multiple Scoregasm and E-Lemon-Nators, I actually thought this name had legs, we all wear yellow..… But nope, it turns out that idea was the most strongly vetoed. I decided to step it up a notch and see what kind of response I got yelling potential team names in a crowded room….. ‘Smack my Pitch Up ~ COMMON Smack my Pitch Up’…. It scared a few people and made some laugh. A good balance of fun and tough I thought, and we’d be able to use the Prodigy song for our team anthem. Boom!
All this baseball planning got me to thinking back to 2003, and one of the most special and romantic dates of my life while I was a Summer Camp Counsellor in New Hampshire, USA. Now as ya’ll know, I enjoy a spot of adventure and love romantic comedies, so the idea of living an authentic American camp movie like experience was super exciting to me.
As an Aussie visiting the States, there were a few things that I absolutely had to do, one of which was go to a major league baseball game.
Like any group of people, there is always the Alpha, the over arching leader, and in this instance, one of the best looking boys at camp. It doesn’t sound all that romantic now, but at the time, it was completely swoon worthy when a handwritten note from Eddy G was delivered to my cabin asking me on a date to a ball game.
Aaahhh, the memories, I remember being giddy with excitement as we walked hand in hand through the giant big gates to Fenway Park in Boston, thousands of people milled around and smells of beer, cigarettes, and deep fried food filled my senses. Im not generally one to chow down on a Frankfurt, memories of a food poisoning from a bad dog as a child remain eternally still well fresh in my mind, but when in the US, one eats as the US folk do. So we lined up to order a Fenway Frank, a slightly garlic spiced dog wrapped in a white bread bun that had a mushie texture, slathered with onion and yellow plastic looking cheese. Sounds appetising huh?!
Our seats were incredible; the innocent cheeky kisses were amplified by the awesome vibe in the Stadium. It sure is something to hear 35 thousand people chant and erupt into song.
“Take me out to the ball game
Take me out with the crowd.
Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don’t care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out.
At the old ball game.”
Now I haven’t seen Eddy G in the flesh since that remarkable Summer (thank goodness for social media, I am able to speak with him and his beautiful family). But the time we spent together, it is one of my happiest memories.
Cheers to Eddy G, you really knocked it out of the park!
I give Eddy G
So tell me dear reader, do you follow a sporting team or play a sport? And what team colours do you think we should use for the Smack my Pitch Up jersey?
