Sports Talk: Summer and The Sandlot

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published July 3, 2013.  

I could not help but noticed how timely it seemed that I had the opportunity to interview with former St. Louis Cardinal and Casey County graduate, Don Durham.

It’s hard for me to believe that it was twenty years ago that one of my generation’s favorite childhood movies first came to the big screen: The Sandlot. The coming-of-age film is the story of a young group of baseball players during the summer of 1962.

A ragtag bunch of kids, for the most part, they all know everything there is to know about America’s greatest pastime and they all dream of playing in the big leagues. They meet up daily and almost always it’s at their neighborhood ball field. The end of the film tells you that one of those boys went on to play major league baseball.

A great summer movie, The Sandlot was my first trip to the drive-in theater—another great summer activity from yesteryear that carries a sense of romance. For that reason, the movie has always brought back to me a sense of summer fun and freedom you only find in your youth.

Hearing Don’s story recently brought that fictional story to life. I attended Middleburg Elementary as a youngster in Casey County and I remember the old, fairly unused baseball fields in the area. We never really used them for the sport during my elementary years and I never thought much of these fields. I wasn’t sure if anyone used them and why they were even there.

But these fields were exactly the special places The Sandlot, as a movie had to create in order to bring forth a sense of summer fun and childhood dreams. The difference is the fields I looked upon, empty, in my childhood, were the real fields where stories like The Sandlot truly took place—and Don Durham is living proof of those stories.

In addition to Don’s story, the Fourth of July tends to make me think of this classic movie also. I spent three college summers working for the Governor’s Scholars Program at Bellarmine Unviersity. With over 300 students on campus, it was quite costly to transport the entire group off campus. It was always a disappointment for students to find out they would be missing out on any firework shows for Independence Day, but it just did not fit the budget.

Instead, the program would have a big-screen showing of The Sandlot for the Fourth. Not only was it a great summer movie, but one scene includes a great firework show, so in some sense, the students got their fireworks for the holiday.

For those in school, summer is already half over. It may not be 1962 anymore, but be sure to get outside and enjoy all that makes summer, summer: swimming, carnivals, baseball, fireworks, drive-in movies and most importantly fun with friends.

If you need any inspiration, try watching The Sandlot. If you’ve never seen it, you may finally understand when someone says to you, “You’re killin’ me, Smalls!”

Sports Talk: Nothing like a summer day at the ball park!

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published June 19, 2013.  

I attended my first Major League Baseball game in two years last weekend. I have not actually been to many MLB games in my lifetime. I did, however, attend my fair share of Louisville Bats games while living in the city, but I did not even get to do that last summer. Friday evening was definitely a reminder of that special something baseball can bring to summertime.

The Reds played the Brewers, which was cool to me, as a Brewers’ home game was actually the first MLB game I ever attended. My uncle took my brother and I, along with our cousin, when we visited one summer long ago. He taught us all of the tricks to enjoying a good baseball game—including catching a foul ball. (I think that wasn’t so much a “trick” but just the kind of luck my uncle tended to bring when it came to sports in our lives.) For that reason, the Brewers still hold meaning in my world, even if my husband would have preferred watching the Cards and Reds face off the week before.

We got lucky with the weather not only being sunny and beautiful, but not extremely hot nor humid either. We got to enjoy plenty of deliciously bad-for-you ball park food (more than either of us needed) and see the Reds take a close win.

You see a lot of people at the ball park, ready to enjoy a game: groups of young friends and groups of old friends; old families and new families.

While I definitely enjoyed the game itself (I wanted the Reds to win, but I admit that I was more than OK with the Brewers playing well enough to make it a ball game), I was equally entertained by the group of three boys who sat behind us for a large portion of the game.

The three of them were there with fathers/uncles/grandfathers (could have been any or all thre) and were probably between the ages of five and seven. One definitely knew “all” there was to know about baseball and Reds games and was telling the others exactly the things to yell, what all of the fun on the jumbo tron was all about, when they needed to stand up and dance in hopes of getting on the jumbo tron and why baseball was his favorite sport.

One of the younger boys had lots of questions and was very concerned about seeing a home run and when there would be fireworks. He was also having a hard time deciding if baseball was his first favorite sport or second, until he remembered this was his second Reds game and he definitely liked watching baseball games, so it was probably his favorite.

I find there is something relaxing and down to earth about baseball when you are actually there at the field. It does get intense and it is a very serious sport, but there is such a positive, family-oriented and fun atmosphere that surrounds it. You expect to see young kids running around begging for another hot dog.

Sitting at the game on the Friday before Father’s Day, seeing so many youngsters there with their daddies—and seeing adults enjoying the game with their fathers—made me think about what a neat memory attending a baseball can be (and is) for anyone who was fortunate to have been taken to a game as a young one.  

My husband and I were both athletes but baseball and softball were not our sports, but I still know that I’ll be excited about the opportunity to take our kid(s?) to a baseball games someday. Yes, football and basketball and soccer games would be cool too, but I think baseball is special. This, coming from the girl who is not an avid baseball follower, but still holds fond memories of her first MLB game many moons ago with her uncle.

Sports Talk: A little loyalty in the pros makes his exit

As a correspondent sports writer for The Casey County News, I write an weekly editorial column for the publication. Published Oct. 17, 2012. 

I have probably admitted before that I am more of a college athletics fan than a pro-sports fan. There are a few reasons for this, one, of course, being that our great state has no NBA, NFL or MLB teams.

Additionally, though, it is very rare for a college athlete to ever play for more than one school. This may occur more often on the lower division levels, but usually the school the athlete chooses post-high school is the one they stick with until they graduate or go pro.

Because of this, as a fan you are not only loyal to a specific team but players as well. On the professional level, trades occur and contracts expire. Perhaps this is not a big deal to many fans because players win fan love at the college level and who they play for doesn’t matter to their biggest fans. Maybe it is just something we have gotten used to in general.

But no one can deny that it’s hard to see “your” player turn around and sport the colors of a rival and feel OK about it. In Kentucky, the best comparison might be to look at what happened when Rick Pitino returned to NCAA basketball as Louisville’s head coach after the seasons of success he brought to U.K.

Just as it is rare to hear of a college player to switch schools, it is rare to have stand-out professional athletes spend the entirety of their career under one name. However, a little less than two weeks ago Chipper Jones finished his 19-year Major League Baseball career as an Atlanta Brave, the same team he first suited up with in 1993 for his MLB game debut.

Jones announced his retirement last March and ended his career with a statistical record that will, without a doubt, send him to the Hall of Fame in no time. 468 home runs .303 batting average; 1,619 runs.

For me, this all-star third baseman’s feat is his tenure in Atlanta. He is a star that only Braves’ fans can lay claim to and there will never be question as to what uniform he should be remembered wearing.

Other famous one-uniform MLB stars include Tony Gynn of the San Diego Padres, Cal Ripken of the Baltimore Orioles, Robin Yount of the Milwaukee Brewers and Mike Schmidt of the Philadelphia Phillies. I’m sure Yankees fans are crossing their fingers that Derek Jeter lands on the list of rarities when his retirement comes.

While my husband’s love for the Cardinals made me happy to see St. Louis defeat the Braves on Oct. 5, I wish the win had not been at the expense of a sour conclusion to Chipper’s career.  I would think and hope that no fan would wish that on a stand-up athlete.

The Braves not only lost 3-6, but an error in the fourth inning by Jones led to three runs in the inning. Additionally, a highly disputed infield fly rule calling, fizzled the Braves shot for a rally in the eighth. The one thing Jones had going for him was his final at-bat: a bat-shattering single.

It is very probably Chipper Jones had several good seasons left in him but he’ll end a long career on a season with numbers that show he’s still ‘got it’. For his sake, I hope he sees it that way and does not look to that single last game, where he openly took the blame for his team’s loss due to his fourth inning error. I have no doubt that Braves fan remain proud of their loyal third baseman of 19 years.