For the Love of the Game

Yesterday evening, another box on my list of "Things to do in America" was ticked - namely, i went to my first baseball game. Now i know what you're all thinking (probably because i was thinking the same) but before you launch into a rant about how its just Rounders and they've ripped it off, let me point out the fact that Rounders, as far as i know, is not played anywhere beyond secondary school - feel free to correct me if i'm wrong - and certainly not at professional level. And, besides, there are - as i found out last night - a number of differences between the two games. Now, i'm not going to list these in any way, shape or form cause, frankly, it'd probably bore the pants off both you and me. What i will say though is that i had a great time, very much got into the spirit of things and could see myself getting quite fond of the game.

The match yesterday was between two local teams (as the States goes)
- the Charleston Riverdogs and the Greenville Bombers (Greenville is a SC city/town, a bit nearer the middle of the State if memory serves). These are two minor league teams that are affiliated with some major league teams - the Yankees (NY) for Charleston and the Redsox (Boston) for Greenville. The game is played over nine innings but cannot be tied so, as happened last night, it can go to extra innings (we only had an extra one). Charleston ultimately won - but it was very tense indeed. Unsurprisingly, a trip to the stadium is as much a social event as it is for watching the sport (its considered relatively slow here. They should try and watch cricket)and there's plenty of food and drink stand (i bought some boiled peanuts - a South Carolina delicacy that are much nicer than they sound). Most importantly (for me anyway) is that the game last night reminded me very strongly of a particular episode of "The Simpsons" and had me having to bite my tongue to stop laughing at inappropriate times (like during the US National Anthem where the singer kept changing pitch and key at random throughout). Suffice to say, this is one national sport that i may become quite interested in. Even if the World Series DOES only feature American teams!