Will B.

It’s that time of year again. Baseball and softball season is in full swing. Sports wise, it is among one of my favorite times of the year. After all, summer is (and will always be) my favorite season.

It’s easy to put into words why baseball season is one of my favorite times of the year. Mild weather, lazy evenings sitting in a chair, popcorn and lively chats - just to name a few reasons. After a few innings of taking photos, I have the chance to sit back and enjoy the game while chatting with other Cub fans.

Football will always be my favorite sport, but baseball has its charms. While covering football, I am a solitary person standing on the sidelines rarely in close enough distance to chat, even if I had enough time to do so.

Baseball for me is much more relaxing and sociable, even if it isn’t very relaxing for the players (although compared to other sports I imagine it is). Speaking from experience, I had played both football and baseball growing up. I can definitely say - without a doubt - that playing baseball took dramatically less work (or at least it did for me). Most of my time was spent in left field watching all the action, with brief moments of possible fame by catching a pop fly or what have you.

Football was full of two-a-days in the sweltering summer heat, giant salt tablets, aching muscles and what seemed like a swimming pool amount of Gatorade over the course of a single week. It was also when I first learned of brotherhood, grit, determination and dedication. It was the first time I learned the outcome of an event could be determined by sheer will of the human spirit. This is Will B. singing Jack Norworth’s:

“Take me out to the ball game. Take me out with the crowd; Buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks, I don’t care if I never get back. Let me root, root, root, for the home team, if they don’t win it’s a shame, Aahh, For it’s one, two, three strikes you’re out, at the old ball game.”