This was me Friday:
Orioles vs. Blue Jays, 3/4/16, Dunedin, Florida
That's Florida Auto Exchange Stadium in Dunedin, Florida, where the Toronto Blue Jays hold spring training. On Friday the Baltimore Orioles made their way up from Sarasota to play a little ball. With Friday being my day off, the timing seemed opportune.
It was a pretty typical spring training game, won by Toronto 4-3. The highlight was a three-homer inning in which Toronto built the lead that Baltimore would never overcome.
My seat was actually much closer to home plate; this just seemed to be a good spot to get a picture of a baseball crowd on a sunny (but not too hot) March afternoon.
As this was Toronto's spring training site, you might wonder about the national makeup of the crowd. I'm sure there were plenty of Floridians around, but I was surrounded by Canadians. As a result, in odd moments between action I learned more about Ontario than I had learned in any one occasion since the last time I was there (2011, I think, when I attended one of my last academic conferences that happened to be meeting in Ottawa).
And thankfully, no political talk. Just as well, I can't say I know that much about Justin Trudeau.
Being in front of live professional baseball game was all sorts of good for my psyche and my soul and all those good things. On the other hand, getting into and out of Dunedin, and the Tampa/Clearwater/St. Petersburg area in general, mostly managed to evaporate all that psychological healing before I even got back to I-75. Still, some residual effects (good ones) do linger.
Not nearly on the same scale, but still a pleasure, the Major League Soccer season started today, and I got to see Sporting Kansas City get an ugly win against Seattle Sounders. It's still not on the same level as baseball, and it was televised instead of live, but hey, small pleasures count.
And of course my #3 sport preference, college basketball, is approaching its peak season. (I dare not use that phrase -- you know, the M-alliterative one -- for fear of copyright infringement.) The Kansas Jayhawks head into their conference tournament as the top seed, with their twelfth consecutive Big XII title wrapped up. They won the national championship in 2008, during my first year teaching at that university, and have been breaking hearts ever since. Still, this is "hope springs eternal" time.
On occasion it's good to remember the pleasures of "participating" in sports. So no heavy ethical contesting tonight, just some enjoyment of such pleasures as sports can bring, and enjoying the way they can bring a little life to the everyday.
Clint Dempsey, you shall not pass!
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