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ballgame

This is love, isn’t it.

Love of the sport, of course — but also the sort of love that would allow a man to take two small children to a sporting event. The sort of love that allows a man to cradle those children in his arms, to hold them and pass on his love of the sport to his children through the touch of his arms.

Baseball teaches us patience — most of the players spend the game waiting, alert for the moment they’ll be called upon to act. It teaches us fairness and personal responsibility — every player gets a routine chance to pick up the bat and become a hero, and yet every individual error is recorded and published for everybody to see. Baseball teaches us to be giving — we throw the ball to the opposing team, giving them a chance to hit it, and after it’s hit we throw the ball to the person on our team who can make the best use of it. Baseball teaches us that sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the good of the team. Most of all, baseball is a game of hope — no matter how far behind you are in the score, there’s a chance that through a combination of luck, skill and teamwork you’ll somehow manage to win.

And aren’t those the qualities of love? Patience, fairness, responsibility, a giving nature and a willingness to sacrifice when necessary. And hope — always hope.

-- greg fallis

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