I walked into my friend’s house the other day and her son
the cop, who’s 30-something, was watching television. We said hello to each other and then he
abruptly turned back to the TV. I took a
look-see and he was watching one of my favorite shows, “Pardon the
Interruption” on ESPN.
“Uh, gee, is that Michael Wilbon?” I asked. He slowly turned his head and just kind of
stared at me.
“Yes, actually, it is,” he replied. “I’m surprised you know that,” he said as he
turned back to the TV. The camera
switched and I pounced.
“And THAT’S Tony Kornheiser!” I said. A huge smile spread across his face…along
with some shock.
“OK, now I am impressed.
I mean it. That’s really
impressive.” He continued on to say that
he never met a “girl” who knew anything about announcers, sports, etc. Yeah right, buddy, ‘cause we’re busy reading
Cosmo! I decided to pull out my big gun.
“You know, Mike, I even play Golden Tee.” A huge smile spread across his face.
“No way!” It was a
classic girl-beats-guy moment until my friend
yelled from the other room, “Do you even know what Golden Tee is, Mike?” There was a brief moment of solidarity as we
both looked at each other and rolled our eyes.
“Of course, he does!”
I yelled to her as I shook my head.
I turned back to Mike and he was, once again, staring all glassy,
pie-eyed at Kornheiser and Wilbon.
Moment passes by in a flash…
Yeah, so I am a girl.
I love to wear pretty underwear, and prefer dresses and skirts to pants. I don’t leave the house without makeup…even
when going to the beach. I like to go
out with my BFF and get a mani/pedi…right before we head to our new “go-to”
place for an Irish Car Bomb, a round of Grey Goose Gimlets, and a go at the
Golden Tee machine. I prefer trivia
games, cold beer, and sports bars to mah-jong, wine spritzers, and tapas bars. I decorated our pool room: there’s a Fenway sign; a photo of my son’s
running the bases at Nationals’ Park; a photo of Wrigley Stadium I took while
on a road trip with my college roommate; and about half a dozen books on
baseball and stadiums. On my bucket
list: visit the stadiums of my favorite
teams and get Chase Utley to autograph one of my photographs.Here’s the deal: I love sports. I love the competition. I love the beauty of the movement; the squeak of the sneakers as my Villanova Wildcats run up and down the court; the roar of the crowd when the Eagles win and the equally loud “Boos” when our QB’s pass doesn’t complete. I love watching the puck race over the ice and boy, oh, boy, I absolutely LOVE when the gloves go down and the Flyers fight. The form of a pitcher throwing a ball is a thing of beauty and I am fascinated by the stance of any player at bat…I can spend an entire game photographing the pitchers and batters and then hours examining them…and I do.
 |
| Cole Hamels on the mound against the Washington Nationals 8/1/10 |
Stats? Eh,
yeah…no…not so much.
Sure, I love the trivia part:
Cal Ripkin, Jr. tied Lou Gehrig’s home run record one night
and his consecutive game record the next.
That’s cool.
Mike Schmidt once hit a baseball off a speaker hanging over
100 feet above the field and 200 feet from home plate at the Astrodome. Can you say HOMERUN???
Philly-born, Roy Campanella’s first major league game was
also the last game ever played at the Brooklyn Dodger’s Ebbets Field. See, to me, that’s synchronicity.
In the 1972 season, the Phillies only won 59 games, 27 of
which were won for the Phils by Steve Carlton.
Where was the rest of the team that year?
In 1975 I started high school and used to watch a really
cute boy play baseball, hoping he’d notice me.
He didn’t. He went on to play
with the LA Dodgers. Who is he? Angels manager, Mike Scioscia. Now I watch him on TV.
January
11, 1981: In near-Artic
temperatures, my beloved Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys 20-7 to win the NFC
Championship game. I was there and still
have my ticket stub. It was about 5
above zero, but you wouldn’t know it at the Vet! There were guys behind us without their
shirts on…I think they were the founders of “The 700 Level Club.”
Some of my all-time favorite movies are “The Natural,” “The
Greatest Game Ever Played,” and “Invincible.”
Why? Because they’re all about
the little guy making it against all the odds.
 |
| Ryan Howard at bat against the Washington Nationals 4/12/11 |
Stats just don’t do it for me. I couldn’t care less what Ryan Howard’s at-bat stats are (.275). I just like to
watch him hit that ball. He is a beast at
the plate and when I watch him swing, I can see the power coming off him from
his head all the way to his feet. I love
photographing that.
It doesn’t matter to me if Chase Utley drops the ball (OK,
well, yeah, it really does) as long
as I get to watch him run, slide, whatever…he’s so damned hot to watch!
When I watch the Phils play (sadly, only from Nationals
Stadium these days), I’m not watching for errors. I’m watching form. I’m watching for speed. Sure, I want to know why a play fails, but I
actually like watching HOW it fails more than I want to know why.
Maybe it’s another guy-girl thing. Maybe I am a hopeless romantic and don’t even
know it? I think my best date would be
sitting in a REALLY great sports bar with a guy who is willing to listen to me
wax poetic on what I love about a particular sport or team AND who then –
genuinely and in a fun way - helps me understand the stats, who’s a better
player and why.
Here's a news flash guys: there are lots of girls out there like me. We love sports as much as you do...so don't count us out or roll your eyes, or even act surprised when we express an interest or show even a cursory knowledge of a sport. Instead, embrace it and us...then take us out to the ballgame!!!
Here's a news flash guys: there are lots of girls out there like me. We love sports as much as you do...so don't count us out or roll your eyes, or even act surprised when we express an interest or show even a cursory knowledge of a sport. Instead, embrace it and us...then take us out to the ballgame!!!
Originally posted 6/27/2010 on The Daily Bark, owned by Bark Tees. Visit them at www.barktees.com
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