Rebuilding Rob

The last thing I got excited about happened last night. I went to a Detroit Tigers baseball game and saw the best nine innings of baseball that I’ve seen all year – in person or on TV.

Kid 2 went with me; and even though it was his mom’s weekend, I asked if I could take him and she said “he’ll probably have more fun with you that he will doing nothing with me”

The Tigers we’re down on 1-0 for most of the game. This was very much a “pitcher’s duel”; the Tigers had only given up on one run, but the Astros pitching had no-hit the Tigers through six innings.

As the game made it’s way to the ninth-inning, I introduced Kid 2 to the concept of “the rally hat“. Two Tigers hitters had already reached base when rookie Parker Meadows hit a three-run walk-off home run to end the game.

It was also “90s night“ a Comerica Park. So, in addition to the traditional organ music that plays at a baseball game, there were all kinds of soundbites from ’90s’90s songs played throughout the game. The Tigers’ massive Jumbotron even took on the look of the pre-HD, pre-LED, traditional electronic scoreboard in black-and-white.

After we screamed our heads off, hugged each other, and exchanged the obligatory high-fives with random fans, I looked at Kid 2 and said “THIS is why baseball is the greatest sport ever invented!“

Even the weather was perfect. It was warm, but not super hot. The night was a bit muggy, but it was that summer type humidity, where all the cold drinks “sweat“ just enough to remind you that this is summertime.

I’m so glad that kid 2 got to experience that last night. Yes, I’ve been to games that ended in a walk-off home runs; but I’m happy for Kid 2, because he got to experience that moment when jubilation strikes the entire crowd simultaneously like a bolt of lightning. As people made their way up the stairs, exiting the stadium, fans were just randomly high-fiving one another. Random strangers who might otherwise never speak to one another shared a moment of pure happiness together. That sense of communal excitement is the greatest thing about sports.

What was the last thing they got you excited?

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier, related posts:

• Teacher Armor and the Saturday Clearing
• The Extra Day: A Ten-Year Memory
• Of Training Wheels and Christmas Lights
• Charity Starts at Home (And I’m Back in My Childhood One)
• The Muscle of Empathy

The article “What Summer Memories are Made Of” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob.