Women's Softball is So Cool

As an old jock I have a different calendar than the rest of the world.  Mine is predicated on what sports are being played at what time.

Fall is nice with college football...
I like summer when the pennant races heat up...

But nothing beats right now when Major League Baseball is in full swing and the NCAA baseball and softball regionals and championships are upon us. 

MLB for me is simply painful.  The Cubs have the worst record in baseball, again.  Painful.  But with the Major League TV package (see past blog about watching Derek Jeter) I get to watch other games and that's fun.  TV is full of games too.  And with the internet package I can even watch the games with the other Team's announcing crew so I don't have to listen to the Cubs broadcaster, Len Kasper, who talks more about rock music and the other games going on than ours.  (I'm about to begin a one person petition campaign to get that guy farmed out to the Boise Hawks he makes me so angry.)

But if I'm really honest I love the Women's softball almost (note, almost) as much as the men's baseball championships.  There is something about watching those fresh faced young women, so alive and so intense, banging on the dugout rail chanting some ridiculous words that only mean something to them; deciding whether to put a bow in their hair or not (yup, that's the big issue in Women's college softball this year), and finding new ways to put on eye black to help with the sun's glare, a dubious exercise nobody has yet proved actually works.

When they are interviewed they just exude love for their teammates and coaches.  They describe their pre-game antics that are more elaborate than  Mayan human sacrifice rituals, they mention the goofy things some of them do during the game and they always mention how important the coach has been to their personal as well as softball development.  Which is always number two in the gratitude department to their parents and siblings.  Always.

There are also lots of siblings that play with them, against them, or before them on their college teams.  Girl's softball is a full time job as these kids grow up.  The travel teams stay together all year long, play too many games, and become way too important.  It seems that girls follow their sisters too... if one plays the other plays, even if it means at a different college eventually.

During those interviews they always talk about their siblings with love and sometimes awe.

I love that.

So damn corny I could scream.

I'm about to help a 13-14 year old all-star team prepare for a tournament.  I haven't coached a team since my kids were young, (just before the Civil War) and while I have no concern about teaching and coaching the sport I do wonder if this 'twitter-shy' old man will still be able to relate.

I'll bet I will though.  Because somehow when kids get on the baseball and softball field they are very much like those that preceded them.  Those softball players are examples--just kids having fun and competing.  I'm being naïve I know but I don't care.

And they aren't allowed to take their cell phones on the field (I don't think).