For The Love Of Baseball

Fall is upon us. For most families that means the end of summer and the beginning of the school year. But in our house, September represents the last month of baseball and my husband starts to get a little sad inside. I can’t tell you how many times he’s reminded me of just how few games are left for the season. As usual, he’s already designed and completed his “costume” for fan appreciation weekend with hopes to win a season ticket plan for the third year in a row. And if you know my husband, you know it’s practically in the bag.

He certainly deserves it. If you’ve ever attended a game with us, then you’d have to agree he’s the Orioles’ biggest fan. If you haven’t, then you’re missing out. It is truly a unique experience. Even if you’re not a fan, you will be after spending nine innings watching him yell, cheer, start the wave and spell O-R-I-O-L-E-S in an attempt to get the crowd pumped up. In fact, it’s hard to not let his energy and love for the game seep into you. And that’s just what it does. I love watching a person who sat through most of the game glued to their seat suddenly jump up and start joining in the fun. Or seeing the look of appreciation on a kid’s face as Romeo shows them the best way to catch homeruns at batting practice.

Sure, the Orioles haven’t been playing great for a long, long time, but the words he scribed on his favorite O’s hat says it all – “Win or Lose, Die Hard”. Isn’t that what a true fan is supposed to be? Now that we’ve got Buck and the O’s are improving, I’m sure we’ll see more fair weather fans popping up next year. Regardless, we’ll be there cheering on and supporting our home team, because that’s what we do.

You see, for us baseball season is never really over. So, while everyone else’s mind is shifting to cold weather and football, we’ll be spending the month at Camden Yards, cheering on the O’s and planning out next year’s schedule. We’ll talk about going to Florida for spring training and maybe this time we’ll actually book the trip and go. We’ll start to plan our fundraising games for 2011 and be filled with anticipation for Fan Fest and Opening Day. And while Baltimore’s residents are decked out in purple Raven’s gear, we’ll still be rocking our orange and black O’s shirts, hats and jackets. Call us crazy. Call us die-hards. But please call us what we truly are, fans.