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SPORTS SPORTING NEWS FOOTBALL BASKETBALL BASEBALL SPORTS CRIME
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer and raconteur
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Baseball ,
Movies , Fans , Major League Baseball , Sports , Sports News
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Inspiring Funny Typical Scary Outrageous Amazing Infuriating ExtremeWhy I Love Baseball
So Major League Baseball is running a contest to pick
some lucky (?) baseball fan who will spend an entireseason eating, sleeping, drinking, breathing and bloggingabout baseball. They'll watch every game humanlypossible, give interviews, write stories about it, tweet,blog, crack wise, sing, you name it. A friend sent me alink to the entry form. (I'm a devoted Yankee fan with
two season tickets in the bleachers.) Then another friend
sent me the link. Then another. And another.
I glanced at the rules and info and realized I would
never get picked. I know a lot about movies and musicand TV and a lot of other topics. I know a lot about theYankees. But baseball in general? I'm no expert. I find it
challenging enough to keep up with the ins and outs of one team. (Now tennis I could yabber on about....)But one of the questions on the entry form caught my eye: why do you love baseball, in 500 words orless? Why do I love baseball? I suddenly found myself waxing poetic (when I wasn't checking the wordcount). Nothing brings out the sentimental fool in a fella quite like baseball. So here's what I wrote. I
could have gone on and on, but here it is in about 498 words. When you're done, tell me why you love
baseball.
WHY I LOVE BASEBALLMy love of baseball -- and especially the New York Yankees -- came through the movies. I grew up in
South Florida when there was no major league baseball team based there. Until I moved to New YorkCity in 1991, I'd never been to a baseball game -- not little league, not softball, not the minors, not the
MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
WATCH: Two New Yorkers
Take A Taxi To Los Angeles
9/11 Responders Warned
They Will Be Screened For
Terrorism Ties (EXCLUSIVE)
Poll Shows One Potential
Presidential Hopeful In
Striking Distance Of Obama
Popeater: Brad and
Angelina's Strict Nanny
Requirements
Shelterpop: Unplugging
Appliances: Do I REALLY
Have to Do This?
What To Do About Smelly
Feet
Noam Chomsky Is the World
Too Big to Fail? The
Contours of Global Order FOLLOW USBIG NEWS: NBA | Hockey | College Football | Football | Personal Finance | More...
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Posted: 03/ 8/11 02:40 AM ET
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pros.
But I loved the movies. And some of the best sports movies of all time have been baseball movies. Bull
Durham. Pride Of The Yankees. Bang The Drum Slowly. Eight Men Out. Field Of Dreams. Fear StrikesOut. So I was primed to love baseball when I entered Yankee Stadium in May of 1991 and sat in the front
row of the upper deck just past first base. I came back a few weeks later and then again. And then again.
The following season I went to about ten games and soon migrated to the bleachers. Year by year, the
number of games increased. And this was when it took dedication to sit in the bleachers. They only sold
tickets on the day of the game and if it was a popular one, you had to arrive very early or you'd be shut
out. Suddenly, a game that already took three hours to watch was a six or seven hour event. But I was
hooked.
First it was the excitement. But now it's the lulls as much as the hits and strike-outs, the chance to chat
with lifelong friends I've made in the Bleacher Creature section (and who forwarded me an email
insisting I apply). I call it urban fishing. You sit and relax and chat and show a little patience and every
once in a while something happens. And this is the amazing part: time after time, you see something
you've never seen before.
Until baseball, I never realized how much satisfaction you could receive out of cheering others on. I
enjoyed watching sports but always preferred to play them. I never imagined I would be so obsessed witha team, feel such joy over winning a game or clinching a post-season berth. You don't say, "They won!"You say, "We won!" And you mean it.
The winning is sweet, naturally. But that's not why I go to 40+ games a year. It's the humbling awareness
that I can study baseball all my life and still have more to learn. It's the mini-dramas that take place
during every at-bat. It's watching a player grow and apply themselves and become a star. It's pinpointing
the ones that don't apply themselves; the ones who drive you nuts by squandering their chance. It'sraging at a move of the manager or a trade by the owner. It's insisting the moves and trades that do workout were ones you championed all along. It's high-fiving the person next to you when you've never seenthem before and don't even know their name. It's starting fresh every spring training. It's baseball.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
AOL Real Estate: Prince
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RT @sbeasla : What happens when
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http://j.mp/dEZjCM via
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Antoine Dodson Arrested For
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Get AlertsFRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY SPORTS STYLE WORLD FOOD LIVING IMPACT EDU LOCAL
Michael Giltz
Freelance writer and raconteur
GET UPDATES FROM MICHAEL GILTZ
Follow
Baseball ,
Movies , Fans , Major League Baseball , Sports , Sports News
10
78
5
27React
Inspiring Funny Typical Scary Outrageous Amazing Infuriating ExtremeWhy I Love Baseball
So Major League Baseball is running a contest to pick
some lucky (?) baseball fan who will spend an entireseason eating, sleeping, drinking, breathing and bloggingabout baseball. They'll watch every game humanlypossible, give interviews, write stories about it, tweet,blog, crack wise, sing, you name it. A friend sent me alink to the entry form. (I'm a devoted Yankee fan with
two season tickets in the bleachers.) Then another friend
sent me the link. Then another. And another.
I glanced at the rules and info and realized I would
never get picked. I know a lot about movies and musicand TV and a lot of other topics. I know a lot about theYankees. But baseball in general? I'm no expert. I find it
challenging enough to keep up with the ins and outs of one team. (Now tennis I could yabber on about....)But one of the questions on the entry form caught my eye: why do you love baseball, in 500 words orless? Why do I love baseball? I suddenly found myself waxing poetic (when I wasn't checking the wordcount). Nothing brings out the sentimental fool in a fella quite like baseball. So here's what I wrote. I
could have gone on and on, but here it is in about 498 words. When you're done, tell me why you love
baseball.
WHY I LOVE BASEBALLMy love of baseball -- and especially the New York Yankees -- came through the movies. I grew up in
South Florida when there was no major league baseball team based there. Until I moved to New YorkCity in 1991, I'd never been to a baseball game -- not little league, not softball, not the minors, not the
MOST POPULAR ON HUFFPOST 1 of 2
WATCH: Two New Yorkers
Take A Taxi To Los Angeles
9/11 Responders Warned
They Will Be Screened For
Terrorism Ties (EXCLUSIVE)
Poll Shows One Potential
Presidential Hopeful In
Striking Distance Of Obama
Popeater: Brad and
Angelina's Strict Nanny
Requirements
Shelterpop: Unplugging
Appliances: Do I REALLY
Have to Do This?
What To Do About Smelly
Feet
Noam Chomsky Is the World
Too Big to Fail? The
Contours of Global Order FOLLOW USBIG NEWS: NBA | Hockey | College Football | Football | Personal Finance | More...
News Web
Like 276K April 24, 2011 | Log In | Sign Up
Get Alerts
Like 1
Posted: 03/ 8/11 02:40 AM ET
SHARE THIS STORY
Submit this story
Get Sports Alerts
Sign Up
Like 2K
Like 20K
Like 1K
Like 1K
Like 1K
Like 664
FRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY SPORTS STYLE WORLD FOOD LIVING IMPACT EDU LOCAL
pros.
But I loved the movies. And some of the best sports movies of all time have been baseball movies. Bull
Durham. Pride Of The Yankees. Bang The Drum Slowly. Eight Men Out. Field Of Dreams. Fear StrikesOut. So I was primed to love baseball when I entered Yankee Stadium in May of 1991 and sat in the front
row of the upper deck just past first base. I came back a few weeks later and then again. And then again.
The following season I went to about ten games and soon migrated to the bleachers. Year by year, the
number of games increased. And this was when it took dedication to sit in the bleachers. They only sold
tickets on the day of the game and if it was a popular one, you had to arrive very early or you'd be shut
out. Suddenly, a game that already took three hours to watch was a six or seven hour event. But I was
hooked.
First it was the excitement. But now it's the lulls as much as the hits and strike-outs, the chance to chat
with lifelong friends I've made in the Bleacher Creature section (and who forwarded me an email
insisting I apply). I call it urban fishing. You sit and relax and chat and show a little patience and every
once in a while something happens. And this is the amazing part: time after time, you see something
you've never seen before.
Until baseball, I never realized how much satisfaction you could receive out of cheering others on. I
enjoyed watching sports but always preferred to play them. I never imagined I would be so obsessed witha team, feel such joy over winning a game or clinching a post-season berth. You don't say, "They won!"You say, "We won!" And you mean it.
The winning is sweet, naturally. But that's not why I go to 40+ games a year. It's the humbling awareness
that I can study baseball all my life and still have more to learn. It's the mini-dramas that take place
during every at-bat. It's watching a player grow and apply themselves and become a star. It's pinpointing
the ones that don't apply themselves; the ones who drive you nuts by squandering their chance. It'sraging at a move of the manager or a trade by the owner. It's insisting the moves and trades that do workout were ones you championed all along. It's high-fiving the person next to you when you've never seenthem before and don't even know their name. It's starting fresh every spring training. It's baseball.
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox , a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
reviews .
Follow Michael Giltz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/michaelgiltz
AOL Real Estate: Prince
William and Kate to Live in
Royal Mansion
TV Squad: Maria Menounos
Relives Her Paparazzi
'Wardrobe Malfunction' on
'Lopez' (VIDEO)
DON'T MISS HUFFPOST BLOGGERS 1 of 5
Sam Waterston
Saving Easter Island’s Marine
Ecosystems
David O. Russell
FDR Said it All in 1936 -- Who Will
Follow in His Steps Today?
TOP VIDEO PICKS 1 of 11
After a couple of bad
games in a row, Canucks
goalie Roberto Luongo
has shaved his beard onceagain,
Mike Quade credits JeffStevens for saving the
bullpen; says he has to
brush up on his unwritten
rul
Blackhawks have a
swagger, confidence after
back-to-back big wins but
aren't getting over-
confident;
MOST DISCUSSED RIGHT NOW
HOT ON FACEBOOK 1 of 3
Like 3K
Like 56
Like 52
Versus Announcer Has No
Clue Who Won The Game
Brandon Marshall
Stabbed, In Intensive
Care; Wife Is Main
Suspect
Recommend 158
Brandon Marshall's Wife
Out Of Jail After Stabbing
Like 5
Angels Fans Taunt
Carl Crawford With
Dollar...
Ann Browne Dead:
Sister Of LSU
Coach...
Mark Cuban Hit In
Face With Object...
Brian McRae
Arrested: Former
MLB Outfielder
Busted...More in Sports...
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Groupon™ Official Site
1 ridiculously huge coupon a day. Get 50-90% off your city's best!
www.Groupon.com
DO NOT buy Auto Insurance!
A secret to saving you money now. $9 Auto Insurance is here!
www.Consumer-Insurance.org
TODAY: Samsung 55 LED TV’s Sold for $82!
Auction site to give away 1,000+ LED TV’s for $81.98 EACH!
NewsToday4.com
Trade Free for 60 Days.
Plus get up to $500. Apply at E*TRADE Securities.
www.etrade.com/tradefree
Loading comments…
Buy a link here Sponsored Links
Groupon™ Official Site
1 ridiculously huge coupon a day. Get 50-90% off your city's best!
www.Groupon.com
HOT ON TWITTER 1 of 2
HUFFPOST'S BIG NEWS PAGES
NBA
Afghanistan
Fast Food
Gas & Oil
NASA
Hockey
Brian Williams
Gabrielle
Giffords
Mexico
Enter Keyword(s):
Enter a City:
Select a State:
– All United States –
Select a Category:
– All Job Categories –
MORE BIG NEWS PAGES »
SPORTS SPORTING NEWS FOOTBALL BASKETBALL BASEBALL SPORTS CRIME
Advertise | Log In | Make HuffPost your Home Page | RSS | Careers | FAQ | Contact Us
User Agreement | Privacy | Comment Policy | About Us | Powered by Movable Type
Copyright © 2011 TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. | "The Huffington Post" is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost.com, Inc. All rights reserved.
mayhemstudios
RT @sbeasla : What happens when
you tickle a little penguin?
http://j.mp/dEZjCM via
@huffingtonpost
twsuccess
Antoine Dodson Arrested For
Marijuana Possession
http://huff.to/edLaIo
Get AlertsFRONT
PAGEPOLITICS BUSINESS ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA TECH COMEDY SPORTS STYLE WORLD FOOD LIVING IMPACT EDU LOCAL