My Life: A Work In Progress: The Game

So there we were, twenty rows behind home plate (plate seems an inaccurate term since the pillow like thing is on the ground and people step on it. It should be called ‘home mat’), at a Rockies soft ball game. The stadium was packed, and everyone was enjoying spirits... um, I mean in good spirits.

We arrived a little late, right around the fourth period, but no one seemed to mind. There were several guys on the field, and they seemed very intent on doing their best at what ever it was they were doing. Some wore purple and white, while the rest wore red and gray, which was nice, so that the everyone could tell them apart. From time to time, everyone would switch places, giving everyone a chance to play all the parts. This was an excellent example of taking turns and sharing, and a good lesson for all the kids as well.

The players were pretty casual about the rules. There were several times I witnessed one guy wonder away from his mat, while the thrower and the hopeful hitter were doing their bit. But as soon as someone on the opposing team saw the guy wondering off, he would remember his place and run right back to his ground pillow thingy.

Several hitters were very generous as they would hit the balls into the stands for grateful fans to catch. A wonderful example of generosity and another fine lesson for the kids. At one point, one guy swung his stick and the ball shot off into the stands and hit a gentleman on the head. As far as I could tell, this was okay, since the game continued while a medical staffer rushed to the man’s aid. The ball was traveling at 93 miles per hour! That’ll definitely leave a mark!

For the most part, the game was pretty easy to follow. The men would try to hit the balls thrown at them, and if they were successful, everybody on the field would run around allot. A couple of them even got some touch downs! That was very exciting!

Another lesson for the kids took place in the video clip below. The lesson is when to duck!

That having been said, I found it difficult to figure out who was winning. The scoreboard had a ton of numbers on it, and I couldn’t make sense of them. RBI was one of the numbers listed. I assume that means “Rockies Ballgame In progress”. After the girls went to the bathroom, I leaned over and asked my friend (also named Mike) what the score was. He told me the teams were tied. He then pointed to a different light panel that listed hits, runs, and something else that I can’t remember. I pretended to understand and said, “Oh, okay.”

Suddenly, the game was over, and America had voted. The Rockies were the new American Idols! To celebrate the victory, there were fireworks. Several sections of seats had to emptied, for safety reasons, and those fans were relocated to the field.