THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 19, 1994 TAG: 9408190015
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 34 lines
I fell in love with baseball all over again this year, and thank goodness it was with Triple-A baseball in general and with the Norfolk Tides in particular. What this means is that while many fans are going through the pangs of withdrawal now that the major-leaguers are somewhere pouting over their paltry paychecks, I still have a wonderful outlet for my passion.
At Harbor Park I get to watch players who probably don't earn in one year what some of their buddies up in the ``bigs'' make in one day.
Yeah, yeah, I know: They're all dying to get there themselves.
No matter. I can yell and scream and rid myself of any accumulated stress; I can make a fool of myself doing the ``YMCA'' bit or the ``Wave''; I can sway with my friends during the seventh-inning stretch singing a very off-key rendition of ``Take Me Out To The Ballgame''; and when the game is over, whether my guys have won or lost, I'm happy. I've had a good time. I'm de-stressed. I get to sing ``New York, New York,'' along with Frank Sinatra as I'm leaving the park. Life is good. I feel better.
There are still a few Tides games left. They'll probably be very good ones. So my suggestion to anyone who needs a baseball fix and hasn't been to Harbor Park: Don't let the summer end without experiencing our ``boys of summer'' who, at least for the moment, are playing baseball, not games.
JUDY BAKER
Virginia Beach, Aug. 12, 1994 by CNB