Don't blame us if we ever doubt you, you know we couldn't live without you

Ah yes.  This one shouldn't be too hard to see coming.  I swear, sometimes I feel so shallow and transparent.  But the thing about being "shallow" is that I really enjoy the simple pleasures in life.  Seriously.  It really doesn't take a grand gesture to make me happy or to entertain me.  Which is why I think I like sports in general so much.

Baseball.  If you get it, you get it.  If you don't, you just don't and there is not anything I am going to say to convince you.  Trust me, I have tried.  No amount of  "there are really cute boys" or "c'mon just support my team!" will convince my beloved sister to give it a try.  Her loss.  ;)

I haven't always been a fanatic of the sport like I am now.  The entrance into my life of a certain Mr. has turned me from casual fan to ridiculous fan.  Yup.  THAT fan.  Moving to a city with an actual big league team has only fueled that fire.  While I watched baseball on tv before, now we can go down to the park with very little effort (we live less than 10 miles from GABP) and usually not so much cash expenditure.  There is something very different about watching the game live, which I am sure most fans will agree with.  We are now on our third summer in the area and I am a full blown crazy Reds fan.

(To stop the questions before they begin, yes.  I am still very much a Red Sox fan.  I just prefer not to discuss them in their current state.  Its all about the Reds love baby)

Today's grateful is that silly little game.  Oh, and its a combo post for the weekend because I am in the midst of a preseason frenzy.  I wrote the rules, I can break them.

It really is a silly game.  Grown men running around after a little ball, insane superstitions, inane rules like the infield fly rule.  Yeah, I went there.  Despite all its silliness, it brings people together.  It brings families together.  We watch all together here.  I chat on the phone with Dilly in New Mexico during games.  And when things get tough, as they have been known to do around here, sometimes its easier to sit quietly and watch a baseball game than it is to stress over more worldly matters.  That is the main reason I am grateful.

Baseball lets me have pure joy while putting aside other thoughts for just a little while.

Go Reds.