being a good sport

Despite my occasional, sometimes near-fanatical, interest in sports (that is, as a spectator), I have absolutely no affinity at all for America’s pastime: baseball. I do, however, greatly enjoy America’s other favorite pastimes, eating and shopping.

Somehow, I found myself going to not just one, but two, baseball games this week, doubling my lifetime record. Which is fine, I enjoy outdoor activities on a summer afternoon. And I especially enjoy activities where sno-cones, ice cream, and hot dogs are brought right to your seat. Most importantly, I enjoy spending time with friends before I’m deported. So in the interest of friendship, we had a little field trip yesterday to the Red Sox-A’s game at Oakland Coliseum and then partook in today’s cross-bay rivalry at AT&T park.

As my tutors, Profs. Ng and Mulligan explained, this so-called “baseball” begins with a “first pitch”. All those clowns down there are supposed to be hitting the “ball” with a “bat” (although, let me tell you, that didn’t happen very often this time). And then people run around “bases”. Which, you know, I’ve seen Fever Pitch.  I know what it’s like to go to baseball games.  I know it’s okay to bring my laptop because Drew Barrymore did it.

My friend Rohit often berates me for being bourgie, which I perpetually refute. But at yesterday’s baseball game, an inspection of my purse revealed a bottle of Evian, the NY Times, and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. So, okay, maybe a little bit.  But at least I left the Powerbook at home.

I was really looking forward to today’s festivities, since Phil dubbed AT&T ballpark “the ballpark for people like you.”  Which means that the majority of people aren’t paying attention to the game and are just walking around eating, taking in the view, and sending emails.  This turned out to be largely true, especially as I went with a group of bright-eyed lawyers in training.  Who fed me and helped ridicule this sign that said “baseball is the fullest expression of freedom of speech, freedom of press, and freedom of assembly in our national life.”  Really?  I mean, really the fullest expression of all these freedoms?  If that’s true, I really have been under-utilizing my constitutional rights.  But in the end, once the distractions faded, I realized I was watching my second baseball game of the week, one that was fast approaching the 4-hour mark, and that it was about -20 degrees (that’s after the wind-chill factor).  So I asked myself, WWMD (what would Martha do), left to buy some eggs, and came home to bake pumpkin spice cupcakes.