This week Jeff is like a kid in a candy store. His favorite team, the St Louis Cardinals, is in Denver playing the Rockies. When the tickets for the game went on sale several months ago, he bought two tickets and started a countdown calendar to the BEST WEEK EVER (well maybe I am exaggerating, but he was really pumped). Jeff was gracious enough to invite me and was hoping I was equally as excited.
Unfortunately, I have never enjoyed baseball (or softball for that matter). I have tried and tried to enjoy it, but I just can’t get past how painfully boring it is to me. And Jeff just can’t fathom why I don’t enjoy baseball or why I have not morphed into the biggest STL Cardinals fan like he is. I have tried the “fake it” method like many wives and girlfriends use, but realize it just fuels Jeff’s expectations of me joining in on his excitement and enthusiasm for the sport.
After 10+ years of being with Jeff, I no longer fake it. I lay it out there… I could care less about baseball and there is a list of 500 things that I would rather do with my time. With that being said, I *try* not to take away one of his loves; I just don’t accompany him to games and never watch the sport with him on television. If he wants to go to a game, find someone to go with who appreciates baseball (or the Cardinals) as much as he does. It will make all involved much happier.
Despite my obvious disinterest in going to the game, for some reason Jeff really wanted me to go…and being the dutiful wife that I am (hahaha…), I put on my Cardinals jersey and headed to the game.
I really wanted to enjoy watching Jeff’s beloved Cardinals and share his enthusiasm, but yet again, I couldn’t get past how boring it was (plus I was tired and had a headache and would rather be watching the Olympics). To top it off, there was not good people watching. Usually I can entertain myself by counting mullets, drunkards, or people over 300 pounds, but we were in the first row and it would be too awkward to sit backwards.
This made for a unpleasant situation….
- Jeff: “Why aren’t you having fun?”
- Me: “Because I just don’t care about this game and find baseball boring.”
- Jeff: “You are such a Debbie Downer. Your are ruining my Cardinals watching experience. Why can’t you be like all of the other girlfriends and wives and love baseball?”
- Barb: “Because we have been together 10+ years and I cannot fake it any longer. Plus I have a functioning brain with opinions and interests of my own. Sorry to disappoint you.”
Then I made a discovery that brought life to the game of baseball and to last night in particular. The bullpen. (And if I didn’t find something to turn around my attitude, Jeff probably would have pushed me into the bullpen to get rid of me.)
As I said above, our seats were positioned in the first row, but thankfully overlooking the bullpen. So I spent time watching the relief pitches entertain themselves while they waited for the final innings (because they too were bored). Luckily there was a duck in the bullpen. The pitchers and catchers LOVED this Bullpen Duck and spent the entire game conversing with the duck and feeding it sunflower seeds.
Apparently this guy does this every single Rockies home game and every single time an away pitcher is called to action. He takes the pitcher’s coat, jogs it out to someone (a coach?), and then sprints as fast as he can back to the bullpen. He even performs warm up and cool down stretches! This is worth the wait and all the 9 innings of boringness! In fact, I will go to the game for the last few innings and to watch The Bullpen Sprinter.
Thank you, Bull Pen Sprinter for your 250 pounds of awesomeness. You and the Bull Pen Duck made the baseball game entertaining and saved a disastrous night out with the husband (yep, a duck and a fat man sprinting is all it takes to make baseball entertaining for me).
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