Baseball is Life, are you a Lifer?
3/20/10
Here are the next batch of pictures Robert sent me from Tucson.
Jorge De La Rosa and Rich Dauer.
Jorge throws a strike.
Chris Iannetta
Iannetta at bat.
Clap Clap.. Clap Clap Clap…Clap Clap Clap Clap,..TULO
Jay Payton
Robert said Jorge’s foul ball sailed over his head.
Note the temperature.
Just for the contrast check out the snow we received in Nederland yesterday.
I’m officially done with this winter.
I’ve had enough cold, I’ve had enough snow, I’ve just had enough. Jack Frost can kiss my a-ss and take a long walk off a short plank.
I can’t tell you how much it sucks to have sweet dreams of baseball then waking up at 2:15 AM and driving the icy snowy mountain roads an hour to work.
Don’t get me wrong, I love where I live. I’m just extremely ready for some sunshine.
Ok, I’m gonna go a little deep here….
For some folks baseball is a nice way to spend an afternoon in the sunshine. Those people are easy to spot as they are the ones with seats behind home plate and spend the entire game texting their friends. No worries somebody has to buy the expensive seats right?
For others they follow baseball so they have something to talk about around the water cooler. That’s ok too, I like good baseball talk.
For some baseball is their life. For 6+ months a year most of the spring and summer is spent preparing for and attending games. Their baseball stadium becomes their second home. When their team is out of town their extra time is spent making signs, watching the games, checking stats, hitting the team forums, you know trying to stay in the loop.
These people are baseball lifers. These fans are what holds baseball together and enables the sport to continue to exist through all it’s ups, downs and player controversies.
Lifers are the reason baseball WILL flourish in the post-steroids era.
Baseball owners take note: Take care of your lifers. Throw them a bone whenever you can. You should consider lifers as “Messengers of the future of Baseball”.
Give them something good to say and they will spread the word. Case and point is my pops. Until last year he and my mom had never been to a professional baseball game. This year they attended a Rockies spring training game. 
So that makes me think that maybe my passion for baseball rubbed off on them and that’s why they went to the game…You see, spreading the WORD.
Who knows, maybe I’m wrong and they were bored and wanted to kill a nice afternoon?
On a funny note my dad mentioned that it was autograph day and he didn’t understand why nobody asked for his autograph?
Coors field in the spring and summer definately feels like a second home to me. I can tell you that it bothers (just a little) when I’m not the first one inside the stadium.
I love that feeling of being the first one to enter the Pavilion. Completly empty ‘cept for one solitary Usher.
The first few minutes of an empty stadium are surreal. It’s exciting working my way over to my favorite spot in the bleachers. Knowing that any ball hit into the pavilion in the next few minutes will most likely end up in my glove, and then in some lucky kids hand.
When you are the first one into a stadium there is that moment when you see the players and they look over at you.
Thats when you smile and think to yourself ” Yep they know me and they know I’m here to support them” That’s a cool feeling. Acceptance and appreciation from your team all wrapped into one short moment.
Then again it could all be in my head….Either way it feels real so I’ll roll with it.
I’ll tell you a secret. There’s a reason I prefer my sports live. I don’t watch a lot of TV and I really have trouble watching baseball on TV. At times it’s way to boring and I feel like I’m wasting the day watching TV.
I prefer baseball on the radio when the Rockies are out of town or if I’m not at a game. I will however go online and watch the hi-light clips if I hear a play on the radio that sounded cool.
I still for the life of me can’t figure why the Rockpile Rant continues to hold onto a top ten spot. I mean look who holds the top spots. You’ve got an accomplished professional writer in Jane who writes “Confessions of a She-Fan” and has a couple of books. Red State Blue State has two writers and both are top-notch and feed off of each other.
Then there’s my fellow Ranter Julia. She’s a baseball lifer and she works MLBlogs like pro. She’s witty, funny, creative and the Red Sox biggest fan bar none.
In case you didn’t know it (I’m a fiddle player too, kidd’n), “The Happy Youngster” is my favorite MLBlogger. I’ll tell you why….As passionate as I am about blogg’n, snagg’n and tagg’n, Happy is me times two with a list of accomplishments to back it up. He’s a family man, a baseball lifer and has rised above a bunch of bull-sheet that happened to him last year and is a better person for it.
I enjoy reading Happy’s take on things as they are quite often similar to mine and he always “Tells it like it is”. I respect the hell out of that.
I can tell you which MLBlog will slide into the top ten if we ever have another “Latest Leaders List”. That would be another lifer known as the Rays Renegade. His blog is top notch and is filled with baseball history and written by guy who knows this sport inside and out. He’s an avid reader of other blogs and always has a bit of trivia or a kind comment to leave when he visits someone’s blog.
Guess what I’m saying is it is an honor to blog on this platform with such talent and fellow lifers. Each of us brings a different take on baseball to the masses and it’s fun to see who is willing to push the limits on what an MLBlogger can do.
Write On baseball freaks…Spread the Word
D..The Rockpile Ranter
Rockpile Rant 
We were the first ones in once. Was awesome and I’ll be tryin’ for more of that this year. 🙂 Counting the days.
LUVMYROX-You and your family can cut in front of me anytime. What’s your first game this season?..D
Haha. Far be it from us to ever cut in front of The Ranter. 😀
First game is April 9th, Opening Day! WOOO!!
LUVMYROX-Enjoy it, take lots of pictures. I’ll be there on Saturday and Sunday…D