December 5, 2012

December, and it’s hard to find live people talking about baseball, unless they’re paid to do it or are crazed enough to spend time blogging. (My version of Word is so old that ‘blogging’ spell-check prompts include ‘bogging, ‘logging’, ‘clogging’, ‘flogging’ and ‘slogging’ – all accurately descriptive of what goes on here).

My daughter Sarah and beau Jason, both Yankee fans, will talk baseball if I bring up the topic but now they would rather talk about the Steelers and the Bills respectively.

My sons Josh and Chris… topics in descending order of conversational worthiness… 1) family (when they’re fed, otherwise…), 2) food, 3) the Bills, 4) snacks, 5) fantasy football, 6) politics (keep it brief), 7) careers, 8) food.

I played golf with my nephew Tim this week. Tim is a lifetime Mets fan. I don’t know how that happens. The most Mets info I have dates back to the really amazing 1969 team – and that’s just about the right amount to keep – and at this time of year even Tim, also a life-time Cowboys fan, is happier talking about Dallas. I don’t know how that happens either.

Even the A’s cap doesn’t generate much action in December. I wear team hats when I’m awake. No surprise, there are some I like more than others – hats, not teams. The iconic Yankees cap, of course, and the A’s, Tigers, Cardinals, Blue Jays, the Buffalo Sabres (the classic logo), Montreal Canadiens, and Penn (most in both wool and cotton versions for year round wear – a fashion must).

Anyway, each team hat generates spontaneous questions from unexpected sources, particularly during the season. The Yankee hat gets the least attention, unless you’re in Boston and then it will get you pushed into oncoming traffic. When wearing one of the other’s, occasionally a stranger will ask if you’re a fan. But the A’s hat is an entirely different story.

 Everywhere I go wearing that yellow crowned, green billed and top buttoned beauty, someone will ask if I’m an A’s fan. Most often they’re not, but people respond to that hat. It’s like being Canadian. When you wear that hat people believe you must be a mellow dude. They’ll ask if you like the A’s to initiate a conversation in the diner, gas station, and any and all slow moving checkout lines.

But in December the conversation is all about concussions, dirty plays, stupid coaches,  and the new anthem “Mothers, Don’t let your Sons Grow Up and Play Football”.

Spring can’t come soon enough.

V.