Take Me Out to the Ballgame

Sunday afternoon, I lived one of my lifetime dreams, when I took my son to his first professional baseball game.

For the past three years, my friend Tom Church and I have had four season tickets to the Nashville Sounds' games at Greer Stadium. I grew up going to Sounds' games and, since Greer Stadium is less than a mile from my house, I've really enjoyed going to games the past few years. I had been waiting for the Sounds to be home on a Sunday afternoon, when the games start at 2 p.m., as that would allow me to take John Patrick to the game while Jude napped at home.

Sunday, about 2:15 p.m., I loaded John Patrick in his stroller and off we went to the game. It was a 15-20 minute walk on a hot afternoon, so I was tired by the time we rolled into the parking lot. After we entered Greer Stadium, I grabbed a beer and we headed out to the bleachers. There, we sat in the last row, by ourselves, and watched about three or four innings of the Nashville Sounds vs. Iowa Cubs. Actually, I did most of the watching and John Patrick slept. When he began to stir and fuss a little bit, I rolled him in the stroller up and down the walkway in the bleachers, which put him back to sleep.

I saw my friend and fellow lawyer, Scott Holly and his wife, Liz, sitting in the bleachers, enjoying the game. He was nice enough to take a few photos of John Patrick and me, so I could document what I hope will be the first of many father-son baseball games. It was truly one of the highlights of my life, as crazy as that my sound.