Michael G.

"Hey Kid"

When I was six years old my parents decided it would be a good idea to bring me to a baseball game at Fenway Park.  I had never been to a game nor had I any interest in going to one.  My cousins, who lived in Texas, had also never been to a game at Fenway.  So, in the spring of 1996 they came to visit and we planned on going to see the Boston Red Sox play the Texas Rangers at Fenway Park.  I thought this was a stupid idea because all I wanted to do at the time was play my Nintendo 64.  Since I was just a small child dealing with a bunch of mean adults I had as much say in the matter of whether or not we were going to go to the game as my dog.  

I hated baseball at the time; I thought it was a dull, boring, lame activity that was no fun to play or watch at all.  After what seemed like years of arguing with my dad, he finally convinced me to try to go the game without a snobby attitude.  When we got to the ballpark I was still not in a very good mood.  The weather was not the best; the gray sky and small rain showers did not help my attitude. However, as soon as I got my first glimpse of the field, my mood quickly changed.  The grass was like an ocean of green.  It was glorious. The image will stay in my head forever.  Even now, whenever I step into a ballpark or an ice arena or any other stadium, I get the same amazing rush of excitement and adrenaline.

Then suddenly, when my dad and I were walking to our seats on the third base line, all of a sudden, out of nowhere, Rusty Greer, the right fielder for the Texas Rangers, popped his head out of the dugout and yelled, “HEY KID!” and threw me a baseball.  Almost instantly, I loved baseball.  It was like the sun had come out from behind the clouds; I was smiling from ear to ear.  From that moment on I lived, breathed, and slept baseball.  It was the love of my life.

Now whenever there is something that I do not want to do because I think it is lame or boring my parents just bring up this memory.  From that day on I truly learned how to give things a try and go with the flow.



 

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