baseball

August 15, 2025August 15, 2025

He’s Growing Up. Part Two.

I remember the day I first dropped him off at daycare. It was a cold day, in February 2008. He was 11 months old, and he couldn’t even walk yet. He could say a few words and was in the early days of eating solid food. I handed over my baby to Liza, who ran a wonderful program out of her home, and I walked away.

Then I cried. What was I thinking? How could I let someone else spend these precious moments with my child? He was so young, and so vulnerable. He needed me for everything, and he was already on his own.

And yet, he thrived. Baby Matthew, aged 11 months, made his first friends, learned to eat all kinds of solid food and share his toys. He moved on to preschool, then elementary school, middle school and high school. Everywhere he went, Matthew was successful.

My little boy who loved Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Tank Engine and Lego, grew into a sports fan as a child and an accomplished student, with an ambition to succeed one day in the baseball business.

In part one, we were in Miami, Florida, as we traveled to yet another location to visit universities. In 2024, Matthew checked out a number of schools, all with programs that offered a major in Sports Administration, and he kept an open mind as to what would be the best fit for him.

On a very cold day in early 2025, he was accepted into the place that became his first choice: University of Miami, in sunny Florida. UM, as I’ve learned to call it, wasn’t even on Matthew’s radar a year ago. But it offered him the double major program he desired, a beautiful campus, a welcoming community and even a small scholarship!

If a career in baseball operations is what Matthew desires, then a university in south Florida, with a top-25 ranked NCAA team and a great sports administration program was the right choice. By early Spring, Matthew accepted the offer from the University of Miami.

Fast forward to this week. Time flew by too fast, as Matthew completed his final exams, graduated high school as an Ontario Scholar, and went to overnight camp as a counselor. On Friday, Aug. 9 he came home, and in less than 24 hours, we unpacked and washed (eew, everything from camp must be washed!) his clothes then repacked them.

By Saturday evening we were on a plane, headed south to Miami to move Matthew into school. Where did the time go? Didn’t I just drop off my little blond-haired toddler at daycare? Every first day he experienced raced across my mind as we sat on the plane

I remember how he proudly wore his little Thomas the Tank Engine backpack when he started preschool at age 2 ½. He waved good bye to me as he walked into his classroom on his first day of kindergarten. He didn’t want to show his nervousness as he went to the subway in grade 9, at the start of high school. He grew more independent every day, but I knew he still needed me. He lived with me and was part of our household.

Sept. 2009, on his first day of preschool

We landed in Miami Saturday night and walked out of the airport terminal to a wall of heat (although Toronto may have been hotter). By the time we left the airport, the skies had opened up, and we drove to our hotel in what seemed like a monsoon. Destination: Coral Gables.

College Dorm Prep

Not only is Matthew my oldest child, which makes me clueless about how to move a teenage boy into college, but we are Canadian, which made all of us even more clueless about what it’s like to move in to a US college dorm.

Matthew traveled with two huge duffle bags of clothes and basic supplies, including one set of Twin XL sheets (look it up, interesting size) that I had bought on Amazon. I had built a basic list of must-haves before the Monday move-in day, so off to Target we went.

It’s not that we don’t have big-box in Canada or that Canadian kids don’t go off to university, but I quickly saw how mega-sized the United States is. We wove our way through a multi-storey above-ground parking garage then walked into a Target that was so big you couldn’t see from one end to the other. The big signs for what to buy for a college dorm were everywhere. I was quickly overwhelmed.

People were running everywhere, filling up their carts with everything from towels and sheets to mini fridges and shelving units. Does Matthew want a grey quilt or blue? One or two pillows? Do we get him beach towels now or later? Should his laundry hamper be on wheels? Oh gosh, we need to buy him laundry detergent. Don’t forget to get a mini fridge! It was mayhem.

By the time we limped back to our hotel room on Sunday evening, after a day of shopping and great pizza in downtown Coral Gables, I was delirious. We all fell into bed quickly, exhausted and anxious for the coming day.

Off to campus we go

Car loaded with duffles, dozens of bags from Target and the mini-fridge, we made our way to the University of Miami campus. I will give them credit: Freshmen welcome, move-in and orientation is a well-oiled machine.

After we parked our car and made our way to the check-in area, I thought about the different words one can use to describe “hot.” Are there special words in South Florida, like sweltering, searing, roasting, blistering or boiling? They’re all accurate.

With his Cane Card in hand, we spent much of the day getting to know the campus better, dropping off forms, eating lunch at the Kosher deli (not really deli as we know it, but it was really good), and surviving the extraordinary heat. Everywhere I turned I saw 18-year-old kids with their parents, all looking a bit confused and overwhelmed. You could see that mix of excitement and joy but also anxiety and trepidation. We felt at home.

College dorm move in

They called it “Cruise Ship Move-In.” We were instructed to get in our car, drive up and get in line at Matthew’s residence. We pulled up front, when it was our turn, and a group of strong and energetic people, all dressed in fluorescent yellow t-shirts surrounded us. They removed everything in the car that wasn’t nailed down, put the stuff in giant rolling bins and whisked them off to Matthew’s room. We drove on and parked our car again. It was astounding.

When we arrived in Matthew’s dorm a little while later, everything had been delivered. Chatting with his roommate’s family, we all got to work putting the boys’ room together. I quickly realized I had to make new lists and that Matthew was clearly lacking in the comfort supplies necessary! I peeked into other rooms and giggled about how much stuff these teenage kids (or was it their parents?) were loading into these modest 13 x 13 foot rooms.

Should I be thankful I have a son who is semi-clueless about décor and would be happy sleeping on a semi-lumpy bed surrounded by blank walls? But I’m his mother. I can’t allow that! After his basic set-up was complete, we said good bye just for the night, and my husband and I returned to the stores to load up on more stuff.

This time we went to Walmart, and I went in armed with the knowledge of what Matthew really needed. I grabbed a soft rug, a nice big cushion for his bed, cleaning supplies for the bathroom (will those ever be used?), a mattress topper (I can’t let him sleep on that lumpy mattress), storage boxes, and more. I had arrived at Target a novice, but I left Walmart an expert!

Saying good bye

After a visit to yet another Target in the morning to get a few final items, we returned to the University of Miami campus on Tuesday to complete the dorm set up. The dorm isn’t fancy, and the building is showing its age. Pink tiles on the walls of the bathroom aren’t exactly what the guys in Matthew’s suite love, but it’s home this year. It’s comfortable, very convenient and I could see that Matthew is happy.

It’s University of Miami’s 100th anniversary.

After Matthew “treated us” to lunch (we used his meal plan that of course we had paid for) in the residence dining hall (fresh fruit and veggies, choices galore like pizza from a wood-burning oven, grill and pasta and oh my gosh unlimited soft-serve ice cream), we took another walk around campus.

I have never seen this kind of sign at a university campus in Canada.

Across the campus we were greeted with smiles and friendly faces. It was such a warm environment (and I don’t just mean the 34 degree heat). During the move-in process we didn’t even touch on the academic side of the school – it was all about the dorm, food, living expenses and student life.

The four-year university process ahead for Matthew is all encompassing, from academics and career planning to finding a comfortable and safe place to live and making life-long friends. It’s a lot, and it really hit me as I started to say good bye to Matthew.

His dorm was set up, tuition was paid, classes chosen and he’d already made a pile of new friends. He was going to be okay. But was I? The tears welled up as I gave him the last hug good bye. He was ready for me to leave. Matthew was ready for the next phase of life. Unlike the little baby who crawled across the floor at daycare, 18-year-old Matthew doesn’t just walk and talk, he’s a mature, smart, kind incredible young adult who is going places in life.

growing up — Set up is almost complete in the dorm.

And of course I miss him. Of course I can’t stop thinking of that day when I dropped him off at daycare. He thrived there, just like he will thrive in university. He’s growing up.

***

Below is the essay Matthew wrote for his US College applications. I admit I’m a bit biased, but it’s such an excellent piece of writing that I feel it deserves to be read by more people than his mother and the admissions teams of different universities:

I walked into Wrigley Field in awe of everything. The patterned grass, brick walls smothered with ivy, rust colored staircases that looked like they could collapse at any moment, all felt dream-like to me. But the smell stood out the most — the century-old atmosphere where thousands of games were played, with a fresh one starting. I’d followed my home team Blue Jays since 2015, but now in Chicago in 2017, I was breathing baseball history, a moment I’ll never forget.

The game was a back and forth, high scoring showdown. The Cubs came out on top, adding another loss in a miserable season for the Jays. Despite that, I remember the warm atmosphere I felt from Cubs fans. Their conversations, expressions, and kindness were a surprise, showing the communal nature of baseball. I’d seen a typical game but discovered a passion to carry through my life.

Since then, my desire to learn and engulf myself in baseball skyrocketed. I talked about it all the time, spent hours watching TV and even unsuccessfully tried out for a house-league team. But no regrets, as I always felt I connected best with baseball’s observational aspects, eventually leading to my next revelation.

In 2020, I spent a lot of time on a screen. It’s when I discovered baseball’s analytical side. With my knack for numbers, I understood the depth of baseball statistics but never took the time to explore them. Everything I thought I understood was the tip of the iceberg of the world I was about to delve into. I started with Youtube, watching countless videos with insights into players, teams, and stories that highlight hidden values. I learned the meaning behind the advanced numbers that power the engine behind player evaluations. I fell in love with all of it.

Baseball has a unique characteristic that separates it from other sports: it has the power of isolation. Every single pitch is a separate entity from the previous. On that pitch, so much can be calculated: spin rate, velocity, movement, shape, release point, and more, happening over 200 times a game. That ball then meets a bat where the exit velocity, launch angle, bat speed, barrel rate, all serve a purpose. Compare this to basketball, where alternatively, there are many variables within every play. Does a player score because of a good pass, was it bad defence, or maybe it was a great move? Maybe it was everything, but that’s the problem. Finding metrics to evaluate 10 players simultaneously moving at high speeds is difficult, an issue baseball simply just doesn’t have. It’s this perspective that has driven my mission to go as far as I can into baseball knowledge, where numbers and real life collide like no other sport.

With my appreciation of the sports world exponentially growing, I then discovered something else engaging: fantasy. It started with football, a sport that was relatively new to me. Building a team of real-life players, competing with others for precious points, and ultimately trying to win a championship, is something that fascinated me. I was soon watching 10 different games on Sundays, cheering on my players. I became quite good, upping the buy-ins for each league, and taking home my fair share of the profit. My favorite part is the managing aspect of it, when to buy low, sell high, find value where others don’t. This sparked something in me I hadn’t considered before: what if I could bring these skills together as the foundation of my career?

With my love of baseball – the sport, analytics and fantasy, I want to work in the real industry. There is endless opportunity in a game that is rapidly evolving and progressing, with new insights and methodologies appearing every year. I am aware of how little I truly know, and I strive to continue to learn, to eventually make my dream come true.

February 10, 2025February 10, 2025

Bagels, Balance and Baseball

Who am I? What are my interests? How do I define myself? These are questions we’ve all asked ourselves – or we’ve been asked in interviews or conferences or team meetings. Using a bit of alliteration, and maybe a bit of creativity, I thought about this recently and came up with: I’m all about bagels, balance and baseball. I hope I made you giggle a bit, or maybe you are thinking of a letter of the alphabet that you can choose to find words that describe you. Let me explain.

Sometimes, late at night, or I admit, even in the middle of the night, I have a sudden idea of a topic I want to write about. I have a notes folder in my phone where I jot down blog ideas, so that if something comes upon me I can note it before the idea fizzles away by the morning. When I read some of the notes the next day, some make perfect sense and others are pure nonsense.

Bagels, balance and baseball sits somewhere in between. I don’t know why these words came into my head late at night recently, but I jotted them down. Maybe I was listening to the news, or I read it on social media, or maybe my husband mentioned something to me. I jotted other notes after the three words, and those made no sense.

But I can’t get these three words out of my head. While I am not defined by bagels, balance or baseball, they do help tell my story. They are key words that help me share a bit about me as a person, beyond my professional persona.

Bagels

This single word says a lot about me. First of all, I love bagels – Montreal bagels to be exact. My parents and grandparents were all born and raised in Montreal, where the humble bagel is a staple of the diet. The bagel dates back, in many forms, to Poland, and it was brought to North America by Jewish immigrants – first to New York, but then beyond, to places like Montreal.

So, the bagel connects me with a humble food that I love, to my Jewish heritage, and my love of baking (and cooking too!). I love to explore my creativity in the kitchen. I like to take an interesting recipe and do my version of it – add an ingredient, take other ingredients away or play with the ratios. I love making challah, and lately, I’ve been experimenting with different kinds of muffins. The latest one I’m intrigued with is caramel swirl!

Balance

This one is a bit more abstract, but stay with me here – it will make sense. I have always wanted to find balance in my life – to make sure I prioritize what matters but to also find time and space to destress. Whether it was in school or my career, I was always all in. I have always taken responsibility seriously, pushing myself so hard sometimes that I either disregarded what else mattered or I tried to do too much that I was not successful.

I could lean on the clichés like “you can’t do it all” or everyone needs a “work-life balance,” but that doesn’t work for me. Right now I am focused on understanding how to honour and respect all the different parts of my life – professionally and personally. Too much of anything isn’t good for anyone. My family needs me more than ever. I need to pursue career ambitions and take some risk. There has to be time for me, to just be a person and do things I love. So, have I found balance yet? No. But I’m trying. I’m really trying.

This one is easy. I have loved baseball since the first Blue Jays’ game I went to, at the old Exhibition stadium, when I was a kid. It’s the right pace for me, it has so many twists and turns, and as a mother, it’s one of the ways I’ve connected with my son.

I’m quite sure my love of baseball was one reason I stood up in grade 11 chemistry and announced I wanted to pursue a career in sports media. I even lived that dream for a short time in my first job in radio, when I filled in as the station’s baseball reporter.

I don’t play baseball (isn’t often said that those who can’t play… teach or write?!), but it’s a passion of mine, that connects my professional and personal life. It may, one day be the focus of my son’s professional life, and as a sport with its special twists and turns, maybe it will always be part of my life in ways I don’t even know yet.

So, maybe baseball isn’t so easy. Yes, I love this sport, but it also makes me think of my love of skiing, and now, yikes, even snowboarding (yes, I promise to write more on that journey soon!). I’ve even taken up yoga, which actually fits nicely into the “balance” area. Yoga forces me to slow down, to focus on my breathing, and sometimes on trying to stand on one foot. I highly recommend it.

Bagels, balance and baseball are not descriptive of everything about me. If you have read Kinetic Motions, you know there’s more to me than these three words. But it’s been a good exercise, to think a bit about who I am and what matters. Take a moment to do the same. I promise you, it’s worth it.

July 11, 2018July 10, 2018

Sports are to be watched in a Social Setting

I love to watch sports. And I like to read about my favourite athletes and look at the scores from the night before. But I don’t like to do it alone. For me, sports is something social and really much less enjoyable on my own. While my son, Matthew, is away at camp, the joy of sports is not there quite as much for me.

I don’t live in a house with big sports fans. How did a big sports fan like me find one of the few males in Canada who doesn’t just dislike sports but basically resents them? I think David enjoys some of the snacking associated with viewing big sporting events, but that’s where it ends. I remember at our wedding, my brother said in his speech that he could see far into the future. He thought of the day that the Jays were back in the World Series or a certain Toronto hockey team dared make the Stanley Cup finals. I would be sitting on the couch with the guys and David would provide us with great snacks!

My brother alluded to something key in his speech – sitting with a group enjoying the game. A social environment. It’s hard to watch baseball in the summer by myself. If I turn the Jays game on in the evening I feel the wrath of an angry toddler who gives me the evil eye and says one word to me, “Dora” She’s not interested in watching baseball with me.

But sports is not just about watching the game in a social setting. It’s also about talking about it, for hours or sometimes days. You need someone to discuss that great play or missed called strike. When Kevin Pillar makes one of his incredible “Superman” catches it’s not enough to see it on my TV from all angles. I have to share my thoughts with someone else.

There is a reason why Superbowl parties are so popular, and it’s not just because of the good food that is typically served. It’s about the social setting, of friends getting together to enjoy the event together. Even if you know nothing about football (how many downs was that?) you can’t help but be with the crowd and get excited by great plays. Your team may not have made the playoffs, but you have to watch that final game of the season with your best buddies.

So while the baseball season is in full swing and the soccer World Cup is about to reach its crescendo, I am feeling a bit of sports withdrawal. Is it sad that I’m a bit lonely? I’m not a bar or pub-loving type, so that’s out. But hey, there’s a reason why Toronto bars are packed in the morning lately as patrons catch a World Cup playoff match and of course want to do so in a social setting (or maybe they don’t have cable and it’s the only way to watch the game).

People come together over sports. Strangers stand side by side and cheer together for their team. Huge crowds packed Maple Leaf Square and Jurassic Park in downtown Toronto when the Leafs and Raptors were on their short playoff runs. Sports is inherently social, and I like it that way. How many more days until Matthew returns from camp?

May 22, 2018May 21, 2018

A Royal Wedding is a Complicated Baseball Game

I slept on the couch, in front of the TV, on Friday night. Okay, I didn’t really sleep, but I was on the couch. I didn’t want to miss a moment of the THE Royal Wedding of the year across the Atlantic Ocean, and it was easiest to just park myself on the couch all night. I am happy to admit that I love all things royal, no matter which royal family it is, and this event was not one to miss. A few days later, as the streets of Windsor are cleaned up and the journalists and tourists have gone home, we are left to analyze and discuss the latest royal wedding. What do I think? A royal wedding is a complicated baseball game.

You probably won’t find this comparison anywhere else, but please, allow me to explain. This connection came to me on Monday afternoon, during the celebration of Her Majesty, Queen’s Victoria’s, birthday in Canada (also known as Victoria Day). As I sat with family, watching our favourite show, House Hunters, we of course discussed our thoughts on Saturday’s wedding.

From outfits (and hats) we loved and hated to which celebrities were invited to asking why the only member of Meghan Markle’s family in attendance was her mother, the conversation flowed easily from topic to topic. Then we moved on to the new title bestowed upon Prince Harry and his bride – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Is a Duke the highest honour that can be bestowed upon the English aristocracy? What are the other titles? Where do Earls and Barons fit in? If a Duke is invited to dinner, does he get served soup before the lowly Baron? Is it true that Ms. Markle had to wear a specific shade of nail polish because of the rules of a royal wedding? What did the seating plan mean during the ceremony?

The questions go on and on when you dig deep into the intricacies of a royal wedding. Each step, each moment and every word are steeped in a mix of tradition and rules (even though I know Ms. Markle added her own modern twist here and there). It made me think: this is just like a baseball game. There is a seemingly endless list of rules, mixed in with ancient traditions. There are few people who are true experts on all the rules of a royal wedding or a baseball game.

Has a baseball player ever married a member of the British royal family? Now that would be neat! Imagine bringing together the detailed, intricate rules of baseball with those of a royal wedding. I can’t even imagine where to begin.

A baseball game is filled with statistics. How many baseball players have hit a triple, in the bottom of the ninth, left handed? Name which pitchers struck out at least 20 players in one game. How many times has it happened in baseball history that a second baseman hit a homerun during a game then pitched the 12^thinning? Think of some crazy statistic, and it happened in a baseball game.

How many royal weddings have happened over the centuries? Too many to count I’m sure. But when you have dozens, if not hundreds, over centuries, rules are created and statistics have been collected. How many royal brides have been pregnant? Do most royal grooms where an army uniform? Have any big name guests died at a royal wedding? What is the most popular chapel used for royal weddings? Like a baseball game, the statistics are endless.

Okay, so a royal wedding is a bit more formal than a baseball game. Baseball players don’t wear a white tie and tails. But at both events there is a prescribed uniform for all participants. The Archbishop of Canterbury does not preside over a baseball game, chanting prayers, but I promise you, many a baseball player is crossing himself and saying a prayer before a key pitch. Loud, cheering fans? Check. Paparazzi photographers? Check. An exclusive group of people who are part of the inner sanctum? Check. Hats? Oh ya, check.

On first thought, a royal wedding and a baseball game may seem worlds apart, with nothing in common. But when you go deeper and do some thoughtful comparisons, they really are so alike. So, the next time you stay up all night to watch a royal wedding, put on your favourite baseball cap and remember to say, let’s play ball.

May 2, 2018

Listen to the Sounds of the Game

If you are a sports fan, May is a great time of year. There is a plethora of choices of sports to watch, read about, follow and discuss. If you want playoff action, there’s a hockey or basketball game every night. Baseball is in full swing. Soccer has come alive. There is a game on my TV every night, and I will admit, once in a while I fall asleep during the height of the action. A few nights ago, I watched a Toronto Raptors’ game with my eyes closed. I was too tired to watch, so instead I just listened. The sounds of the game fascinated me.

Have you ever closed your eyes and just listened to the game? And I mean really just sat down, relaxed and listened? The radio works, but I find the subtle and nuanced sounds the television cameras pick up are even more fascinating.

Basketball

The Toronto Raptors play game 2 of their playoff series versus the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday evening. I won’t go into the letdown that was game 1 on Tuesday night. But I will share the audio highlights that I enjoyed from last night’s game. The sound I love most during a basketball game is how the athletes’ shoes travel across the freshly waxed and clean hardwood floor. Some people may cringe, but it’s this sound that tells me that there’s a basketball game going on. Here is an example:

I also like the even tempo of the bouncing ball as a player races down the court. My son loves when a ball slides through the net with a perfect swish sound.

Hockey

A hockey game has very different sounds from a basketball game, even though they are often played in the same building. First of all, there’s no shoes or hardwood floor. The sound of perfectly sharpened skates flying down the ice or suddenly stopping make me smile. Add a stick and puck to the mix and you get a beautiful melody of sounds. How about when the puck hits the crossbar or a player checks another into the boards? Just close your eyes and listen. It’s a wonder to the senses. Listen to the sound of the blades on the ice:

Baseball

The sounds of the ballpark. These are special. I went to a Blue Jays game last week, and at one point I closed my eyes so I could take in all the sounds around me. Even if you aren’t paying attention to the action on the field, there’s nothing like the concession vendors who run up and down the aisles yelling, “Beer here, ice cold beer” or “Popcorn, peanuts and Crackerjacks!” On the field there’s the sound of the bat as it makes contact with the ball or the sound of the ball hitting the catcher’s mitt when the player swings and misses. And the umpires. Some of them articulate the word “strike” so well that you can hear it for miles.

Just listen to the crack of the bat and cheers of the crowd in this example. You know it’s a baseball game in an instant.

Other Sports

No matter the sport, each brings its own unique sounds. The grunt of the athlete and ball hitting the racquet in tennis. The calls of the quarterback in football. Oh, how I love the sound I hear when skis turn on the snow. How about the swing of the golf club and the sound when it hits the ball?

What are you favourite sports sounds? Post a comment here or on Facebook or Tweet me @AliciaRichler.

April 18, 2018April 17, 2018

Baseball is Back

I know what you are thinking – didn’t the Major-League baseball season begin a few weeks ago? Midway through April, haven’t most teams played at least a dozen games? The short answer is, yes. The 2018 season opened on Thursday, March 29, and I was lucky enough to watch it live with my good friend Meir (a super-fan) in Israel.

But, I was so far away from where the action happens. After I watched opening day (at 11:00 at night, semi-conscious), it seemed as though the baseball season really launched without me. If I wasn’t there to watch the games on TV or go to a game with my son, it was as though the season hadn’t really begun.

We arrived home from our whirlwind trip on Thursday, and my team, the Toronto Blue Jays, had an off day. I was so jet lagged on Friday that I slept through the game. I was ready, both mentally and physically, to watch the Jays play Cleveland on Saturday afternoon. Rain got in the way. Same on Sunday. Then a chunk of ice had to smash through the roof of the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Monday. Another game postponed.

Finally, on Tuesday, baseball came back to my life. A double-header. A double-whammy. My dream, hours and hours of baseball, all afternoon and evening. It was a slow start to the first game, but then the boys woke up and started to whack the ball in every direction. 11-3 final score. No complaints here. I continued on, to watch game 2, which the Jays won in the bottom of the 10th. I was on pins and needles, but it was a great ending, thanks to Luke Maile.

Many people complain that baseball is too slow. It is definitely not the sport of choice for people who like fast-paced action-packed sports. It’s one of the few sports (maybe golf too) where you get a mix of athletes who are in the best of shape and others who are overweight and out-of-shape.

You get to know the life story of the commentators as they share their tales between pitches. With an average length of just over 3 hours, watching a complete baseball game is a commitment.

And I love it. I love every minute of it. I don’t care how slow it moves, that some of the players can barely jog to first base or that a blister puts a guy on the disabled list for ten days. Baseball has personality.

Here are some of the things that I love about baseball, in no particular order:

A team can score up to four points (okay, runs) with one swing of the bat.
The manager (known in almost every other sport as the head coach) wears a uniform, just like the players, who are half his age. Even the players who are out of shape look better in the uniform, but kudos to him for putting it on each night.
That I can get a ticket, in a decent seat, for under $30. I may spend more than that on snacks when I’m there, but that’s my choice.
Even during and after an ice storm, it feels like summer when I’m watching a game.
That I can write while I watch the game, or make dinner, or carry on a full conversation with the person next to me, because the action is slow enough.
Endless statistics. How many players have hit a home run, during a home game, with a player on second base and two outs? Baseball has an answer for that.
Great catches. Great, diving catches (thanks in large part to Kevin Pillar!).
Players jump on each other, like they just won the World Series, when they win in extra innings.

Did I mention that I am thrilled that baseball is back? And because it’s only April, I have months ahead to enjoy it. Whether my team wins or loses (okay, I always want the Jays to win), I will always be a fan of baseball.

November 15, 2017November 15, 2017

My Team MUST Win

I want my team to win. I always want my team to win. Why is it MY team? Am I part owner? No. Do I work for my team? No. Did my spouse, father, brother, cousin, friend or next door neighbour ever play for my team? Definitely not. But as I watch my team play, I sit on the edge of my seat and have that feeling deep within that my team must win.

It’s an interesting phenomenon. The love a person has for a sports franchise. Usually (not always) it’s because a person is a homer, meaning the person is a fan of the local sports club. What is a fan? Well, the word originates from the term fanatic. I did a search using my good friend Google and chuckled when I read the definition of the word fanatic. It is a “person filled with excessive and single-minded zeal, especially for an extreme religious or political cause” or a “person with an obsessive interest in and enthusiasm for something, especially an activity.”

For many people sports is a religion. For some people their passion for a sport crosses political boundaries. Their love of not only a particular game but of their team is true fanaticism.

Go to any live sporting event between two teams, and the fans for each team are quite clear. Some people wear a cap or jersey, while other people paint their bodies and dress head to toe in the team’s colours. Popular or legendary sports franchises like the New York Yankees, Toronto Maple Leafs, Manchester United, Dallas Cowboys or LA Lakers probably make more money off the sale of merchandise than they do from ticket sales.

I will admit that for the most part I am a homer. Carolina Hurricanes aside (yes they are clearly my team), I am a fan of the hometown team. I love my Blue Jays and Raptors. I have a Toronto FC shirt and you can bet I’m cheering on the Argonauts during this year’s playoff run. Okay, I even tolerate the Maple Leafs. Maybe it’s pride for my city or a warm feeling I have that I am part of a community when I cheer on the local sports franchise.

I cheer on my team whether it’s the best team in the league or one of the basement dwellers. I stick with my team through thick and thin. Each game, if my team is down by 7 runs or 23 points, in my head I say to myself, my team must win.

A true sports fan isn’t always straight in the head. As long as there are only two outs in the inning or a few seconds left in the period, the dream stays alive that my team can win.

And sometimes it happens. If you are a Blue Jays fan, you will remember Sunday, July 30^th, 2017. The Jays were down 10-4 going into the bottom of the 9^th. They quickly scored a few runs then Steve Pearce came to the plate with the bases loaded and his team down 10-7. And he hit a grand slam. The Jays beat the Angels 11-10, and that win became the biggest 9^th inning comeback in the team’s history. For a fan like me, who watched it all unfold, the words running through my head, my team must win, came true.

My son, Matthew, was the inspiration for today’s post while he squealed with delight after his beloved Maple Leafs beat the Boston Bruins this past weekend in overtime. JVR scored the tying goal with one minute left in the third period. Then Marleau scored the winning goal for the Leafs in overtime. Matthew focused all his energy on ensuring his team would win. And they did.

A sports fan will never change. If you love your team, you love that team with all your heart. I think that’s great. Sports fans, please never change.

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017

Down in the Dugout at Safeco Field

My son Matthew loves baseball. I would consider myself to be a baseball fan, but Matthew has taken it to a new level. He doesn’t just love the Toronto Blue Jays, he loves baseball in general. He talks about the sport all the time, air pitches all over our house and watches live games or highlights every chance he gets. His dream is to visit every Major League ballpark, all 30 of them, during his childhood. This week he checked one off his list with a tour of Safeco Field, the home of the Seattle Mariners.

Have you ever visited a Major League Baseball park during the off season? It’s a very different experience. First of all, it’s really clean. And it’s quiet. So quiet that it’s almost eerie. It almost feels like you are a celebrity or you are in a movie where you are that main character who appears on screen in the empty ballpark. And it’s really cool!

Our guide greeted us in the Safeco Field Mariners’ store (of course, that way we could make souvenir purchases, like our new hats, before the tour even began!). He was dressed head to toe in team gear and knew everything about the local baseball club and the building in which they played.

As we traveled through the various levels of the stadium, from the concourse on the 100 level to the cheap seats on the 300 level, our guide shared with us his tremendous knowledge of everything Safeco Field. It’s fan friendly and its roof really is a “retractable umbrella.” The incredible rolling mechanism, which is actually in three parts, is quite the engineering feat and I believe weighs, in total, over 20 million pounds. But it’s not a roof, as it’s above the lights and allows fresh air to flow through the stadium. Amazing.

Once we had a taste of the stands, our guide took us indoors to the restricted zones of the building. First we visited the private suites, then we headed up to the press box. It’s a place I knew well from my early days in sports media. Well, I spent time in the press box at the Rogers Centre, so it was my first time in the press box at Safeco Field. Wow, it’s a big one, with a perfect line ahead to home plate and the pitcher’s mound. The protective netting behind plate at this ballpark is also quite low, so a journalist who is not paying attention could get a line drive in the head if he or she is not careful. Oh the walls could talk there!

We then traveled down to the bowels of Safeco Field, to the most restricted part of the stadium. We saw the exclusive Diamond Club for people (or corporations) who pay big bucks for the fancy seats first then headed down the hall to the visitor’s clubhouse. Matthew loved this part of the tour.

Since it’s the off season the locker room of course was not in use. So the Mariners’ tour team had the space set up with its team jerseys to give us an idea of what the locker room would look like if some uniforms were set up. The 5,000 square foot space includes a kitchen and dining area, showers, toilets and the main lounge and locker area for the players. We didn’t see the Mariners’ 15,000 square foot clubhouse, which I am sure is quite the space.

The final stop on our tour was the dugout. It was so exciting for our little group as we walked along the same tunnel that all our favourite players pass through on their way to the field. One guy started to do his own play-by-play, imagining it was game 7 of the World Series, and he was the star player, about to enter the stadium to cheering fans.

There’s something magical about walking into the 47,000 seat stadium via the dugout. You can almost taste the game that is played in this sacred place. Matthew and I together imagined the exact spot where the manager sits and the chatter among the players along the bench. We loved it.

Matthew and I have visited three ballparks together so far – Rogers Centre in Toronto, Wrigley Field in Chicago and now Safeco Field in Seattle. I look forward to more games and more tours. I will help make sure my son’s childhood dream comes true.

October 18, 2017

Left Handed People have a Faster Track to Major League Sports

Yesterday’s blog on my pride about being left handed energized me, so I had to do a second post on the topic. But it’s Sports Wednesday today, so how could I connect the two? I turned on the Cubs-Dodgers playoff baseball game last night, and as I watched the Cubs first baseman, Anthony Rizzo, make a play, it occurred to me. If you want a faster track to the most elite level of many professional sports, you just need to be left handed.

You see, Anthony Rizzo is left handed. So is the Blue Jays first baseman, Justin Smoak. In fact, one-third of first basemen in Major League Baseball are left handed. Remember, we only represent 10 percent of the population.

And the real gems in all of baseball are the southpaws, or left handed pitchers. I am not going to go into the technical details of facing a left or right handed batter and the various pitches that a lefty or righty may specialize in. I am just going to do some basic math.

As I have discussed already, only 10% of the population is left handed, but every baseball team desires a few lefties, on their pitching staff, often at first base and other positions on the team. So a left handed person simply has less competition amongst the general population to make such team. My son, Matthew, often comments on this, and he is dumb-founded that his two left handed parents couldn’t have made him a lefty. My baseball-loving son tells me he is determined to make the major leagues one day, and he feels it will be harder because he is right handed.

Oh, for fun, here is a list of just some of the greatest baseball players of all time, who all just happen to be left handed:

Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, Reggie Jackson, Sandy Koufax, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Stan Musial, Ted Williams, Tony Gwynn, and Ty Cobb,

I came across a fabulous British website, called Anything Left Handed, that was a gold mine of details about the advantages of being left handed in sports, in particular fencing, tennis, boxing and cricket (remember this is a UK-based website!). Here is one paragraph that particularly intrigued me:

The “leftie advantage” seems to emerge in sports demanding rapid reactions and good spatial judgement. In fencing for example 7 of the 16 top world fencers are left-handed, and so are 5 of the top 25 international tennis players and 4 of Europe’s ten best table tennis payers. In boxing, squash and cricket left-handers also enjoy more than average success. Among the scientists who have studied left-handedness in sport one in particular, a French neuroscientist named Guy Azemar, investigated the proportion of left-handers in world-class championships over several years. He reported that about a third of elite fencers are left-handed. One fencing great was the Italian Edoardo Mangiarotti who won a total of 13 fencing medals. Mangiarotti was naturally right-handed but was forced by his father to fence with his left hand as it was thought to be an advantage.”

The left handed advantage is not just some crack pot theory of mine – there is scientific evidence backing me up!

I found some thoughts about left handedness and basketball on THIS website, where it states, “In basketball, left-handedness has a meaningful effect on the game itself, but it also mostly manifests itself aesthetically. Something about a left-handed jump shot seems beautiful, perhaps just because we don’t see it as often.”

Some of the most memorable lefties in basketball include Bill Russell, Toni Kukoc, Lamar Odom, Isaiah Thomas, CJ Miles, Nick Van Exel, among others.

In hockey, a left handed slap shot really is a beautiful thing. Some left handed hockey greats include Cam Neely, Phil Esposito, Roman Turek, Terry Sawchuk and Tom Barrasso. But I have also now learned, from an interesting New York Times article, that as many as 60% of Canadian hockey players shoot left handed, no matter which is that person’s dominant hand. Maybe they just know that left is best.

Maybe after two straight days of reading my musings you all now know that left IS best.

October 11, 2017

My Wish for my Daughters: Embrace Sport

My daughter is a little firecracker with enough energy to light up a city. People turn their heads when she enters a room, with this energy she has and her charisma. She is a smart, sociable and friendly little girl. And she has a green belt in karate. My daughter may be only 7 years-old, 3 ½ feet tall and 40 pounds, but I wouldn’t mess with her. She will take you down. And I am proud of her and the way she has embraced a sport she loves and at which she has excelled.

It is a well-known fact that females do not participate in various aspects of sport as much as males. More, but not all, girls participate more widely in activities like dance or gymnastics. While every active pursuit has its merits, I think girls are often underrepresented in traditional sports like baseball, hockey or karate.

I am not going to dive deep into research and quote any statistics about the importance of sport for everyone – children and adults or males and females. Whether you participate in a team or individual sport, I think it is both physically and emotionally healthy to do so.

I am not a, shall we say, natural athlete. I was drawn to the idea of sport when I was a child and was lucky to live on a quiet street where all the kids hung out outside and rotated between various sports each day like baseball and ball hockey. I couldn’t catch a ball (I still can’t), but I could hit the ball down the street with one swing of the bat. I was fearless with my hockey stick and shot the puck past all the big boys in goal.

As I grew up, in the 1980’s, I had a few female friends who played competitive hockey or maybe soccer or lacrosse. But for the most part, our parents signed us up for dance, piano, gymnastics, figure skating and maybe swim lessons. It wasn’t on their radar to put their daughters on a local baseball team or power skating class. And it didn’t occur to most of us girls to do anything different.

But for me, in 2017, as I raise two daughters, I want them to embrace sport. It doesn’t really matter to me what sport they choose, but I want them to know this is a choice they have. We signed up our kids for karate when they were quite young, and my daughter in particular has shined. She is a natural at this sport, and as she trains and becomes quite skilled, she loves it more. Karate has taught her about self-discipline and respect for others. She has learned self-defense and has tremendous muscle strength. She may be small, but wow she is mighty.

The baby can’t even walk yet (but she could beat me hands down in a bum-walking race across the kitchen!), but as she grows up I hope she wishes to pursue a sport of her choice. I want my girls to know that they can do anything they set their minds to. I want them to dream big. If my 7-year-old wants to get her black belt in karate or if the baby wants to be the star pitcher on a baseball team, great.

In my house, the pursuit of sport is open to my son and my daughters, and I hope that is the case in every household. Girls thrive when they are involved in sport, so let’s all stand with our girls to be active, competitive and successful.