Four photos at the ball park the other evening, over the course of a few innings. The game was of interest, don’t get me wrong, but I kept looking at the sky. Not sure just what I was looking for out there, but my buddy next to me was talking, and I don’t recall much of what he said…
Fans were cheering (or hooting, as the case may be). The pea nut vendor, beer vendor, ice cream vendor, all coming up and down the aisle, earnestly selling their wares. Kids sitting excitedly with gloves ready. Some folks, inevitably yes some, looking at their cell phones.
What’s worse? Looking at the cell phone, or peering time and again at the sky? What did I expect to see out there — Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig riding in on beautiful horses, flanked by Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron? Or, perhaps clouds that remind me of Grover Cleveland and Warren Spahn?
Do you ever get distracted at the game? Of course you do! We all do. One of the reasons we go is distraction. The romantic fans, they are distracted often enough by each other.
On this particular occasion, the beauty of the ceiling got my attention. I am sitting there thinking: That’s not the work of the “great statistician in the sky”. That is the work of the “great pitcher in the sky”, throwing beauty all around us, so we look up and admire the artistry, the wonder. We swing and miss and don’t give a darn… It’s just nice to be there, in the seat, or the batter’s box of planet earth, if you will.
Well, as they say before all this begins: “Play Ball!”. Some of us, at times, have a little trouble keeping our eye on the ball, but can you really blame us?
