Take Me out to the Ball Game

Fifteen of us went to the Dodgers game tonight. Fourteen of us cheered for the Dodgers; I cheered for the Padres. I wasn't trying to be antagonistic, but practically everyone in the stadium was there to cheer for the Dodgers, so I felt like the Padres could use a little love. Don't we all deserve motivation? Isn't the drive that makes us cheer for the home team the same factor that causes us to bomb other countries for few reasons other than pride?

At any rate, as a highly religious person, I felt compelled to root for the Padres. For my gringo readers, padre means father and father means the Lord. I dare you to cheer against God. Furthermore, the fans in the seats surrounding us were compromised predominately of Spanish speakers. Why they cheered for the Dodgers when the Padres is a team name in their own language is beyond me.

The jumbotron disturbed me. When it showed a baby wearing a Padres shirt, the entire crowd booed. They booed a baby! What the hella? Worse than that is the awkard "Kiss Cam," on which couples (all heterosexual) are shown at random and obligated to kiss for the amusement of tens of thousands of people.

People are noisy. They need to shut up and enjoy the game. Most of them are not even there to watch the game, their priorities are to 1) attract the attention of a television camera, 2) get on the Jumbotron 3) participate in the wave 4) hit a beach ball. If necessary, familiarize yourself with my diatribe about why the wave is the stupidest thing ever. The beach ball phenomenon might be even worse, however. These people pay money to see a baseball game, and then they completely ignore the game for fifteen minutes at a time so that they can focus on a beach ball bouncing amongst the crowd. I used to be impressed with how Bosco could be so fascinated by a ball that seemingly nothing else in life mattered more. Apparently, it's not a unique occurrence. Some people acted as though their entire life would be fulfilled if only the ball came close enough to them that they could take a swat at it. Ironically, you know that these are the same people that, were they to be sitting and watching television at home, could not be bothered to play a beach volleyball game for all the money in the world.

By the end of the game, the Padres had totally kicked some ass. At least that jeered baby and I were happy.