Ranger's Opening Day

I started on Tuesday what I hope to be a yearly tradition with all of my children. I took the day off of work along with 48,000 of my closest Ranger fans and headed out to Ranger's Ballpark for the opening home game for our Texas Rangers. Before yesterday, the Rangers were 3-3, which is a much better start than the last 7 or so years.
We got out to the ballpark early to watch bp (batting practice for the uneducated) and to get an early start on the food. Peter ate a thing of popcorn, peanuts and most of a Dr. Pepper even before the anthem was sung. Since we got there almost 2 hours before the game started, Peter was very ready for the most exciting part of the game, (and it pretty much was the highlight of the day) the B1 Bomber fly-over.

The game soon got started and we made our first of 6 bathroom trips in the middle of the first inning. By the time the Rangers went down in order in the bottom of the 1st, I could tell Peter was bored with the game. I kept him busy during the 2nd inning by explaining the intricateness of each play and pitch, and why the white guys and the gray guys kept running in and out of the dugouts. By the 3rd, Peter was ready to move around some, and so we headed out to Vandergriff plaza near center field to play some of the kid games. We ended up just watching the games and getting a snow cone, a hot dog, and some more Dr. Pepper!

This is Peter's impression of baseball, fighter jets, food, and a little bit of cheering and booing mixed in for some unknown reason. Overall it was a great day. Beautiful weather, packed ballpark, good fans, overpriced food and drinks, and a great day that I and I hope Peter will remember for a long time.

There is just something amazing about the power of baseball to bring people together. No matter how popular other sports become, baseball will always be America's past time. It is a great sport that anyone can play, but only a few can play at such a high level. Being out at the ballpark is one of those things that every young boy should do at least once a year. The smell of the grass, the sound of the bat, the joy in my child's eye as he takes it all in; this is what baseball does, it brings together different generations to the same place and time, to cheer for their team, watch a great game of baseball, and the only thing that matters isn't the totals on the scoreboard,(which wasn't good for the Rangers) it is the time spent together!