Octoberfest

Let me start by saying that my blogging frequency has decreased as of late and probably will only continue to do so until October ends. Why?

Baseball playoffs.

Baseball is not my favorite sport to play but it is to follow. I absolutely love all the stats - ERA, batting average, OBP, slugging percentage, WHIP, etc., etc. Hearing two baseball fans talk is like listening to another language - its great. Secondly, I LOVE pitching, thus 1-0, 2-0 games are still exciting for me where others hate them, plus TV baseball is fun for me because TV baseball is pretty much just staring at the back and sometimes intense face of a pitcher in between plays for 3 hours. I love it when fans post K's on the stadium walls. I love the history of the game. I love that every stadium is unique - outfield fences aren't all the same distance or even shape. Some have monster green walls, some have waterfalls, some have hills that centerfielders trip over. If you play for the Marlins, your outfield fence is located in the next county. I love that they play games everday.

And I especially love the playoffs. What's not to love? They still play virutally every day, except the games all matter, and they don't play Black-eyed Pea's songs during the broadcasts and take 3 months to complete like the NBA.

One jewel I have rediscovered is playoff baseball on the radio. If you're driving in your car there is nothing more dramatic than hearing a hometown announcer say things like, "and here's the 3-2 pitch..." or "and that ball's hit hard to deep right field..." all while there is the faint hum of AM static through it all and the crowd has worked itself up into a fanatic din. During Game 3 of the Tigers-Yanks when Kenny Rogers pitched the game of his life, I was listening to it on the radio and over Boog calling the game I could hear the crowd chanting "Ke-nny, Ke-nny" as he fanned the "lineup that couldn't be beat."

I'm not even a Tigers fan and I got goosebumps.