Baseball Season

I've lived in the South for almost 12 years and have only found a handful of baseball fan buddies in all that time. By fan, my standard is one who enjoys watching the games. Unfortunately, when we moved to Asheville, we moved away from those guys.

So now, with baseball season underway, I'm going to go where the fans are made. I will be coaching my four year-old's t-ball team. Spring training gets going tomorrow and the games begin in two weeks. My purpose and goals for the season are to make it as much fun for the players and parents as I possibly can.

Sports are an often overlooked and under-rated tool for development. Sports teach many biblical values like community (learning how to function as a team), accountability, setting priorities, humility, etc. In fact, Brian Kilmeade (one of the obnoxious guys on FOX and Friends on the Fox News Channel) wrote a book that I read several years back entitled The Games Do Count. He relates the role sports played in very prominent cultural figures and how various aspects of sports shaped their lives.

So this Spring, our family will pack into the white whale (our minivan) and head out to the ballpark to celebrate my four year-old's development. And perhaps we'll homegrow a baseball fan, because the Braves are playing the Mets and the Braves have not started their season well thus far...and I need someone to cheer them on along with me.