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By Cyd Zeigler, Jr. Baseball fans are the loudest, straightest, dumbest, most obnoxious fans in sports. And I wouldn't have it any other way. They have to be. In a game where most professional players can't run a 40 in under 5 seconds, and a simple diving catch makes every highlight show on television for the next week, it's up to the fans to entertain themselves. Sometimes it's a wave, which I was disappointed to see only one of at the Dodger game against the Rockies on Thursday. And that one only lasted two go-'rounds. Often that self-entertainment takes the form of arguing with umpires. Spectators don't have the luxury of pushing and head-butting the umps, so they have to resort to screaming from a bad angle and 40 rows back that he made a bad call. Still other times the crowd puts themselves on an emotional roller coaster. Last night, at the top of the 4th inning, the Dodgers were leading, 1-0. Pitcher Chan Ho Park allowed a hit and a walk and there were suddenly two guys on first and second. And the crowd booed. Then Rockies stud Jeff Hammonds hit a double and tied the game - and the crowd yelled and screamed, "Park you suck" and "pull Park." 45 seconds later, Park threw a strike and the crowd clapped. An infield pop fly and the crowd cheered some more. Another pop fly and a strikeout and Park was the crowd's new best friend. Some cheer to pass the time at a baseball game. Some wave. Some pick fights and some get drunk. I just drooled last night over Dodger Shawn Green. And, as my friend Chip said, Shawn knew I was there.
He turned his back to me (he's a lefty after all), stepped into the batter's box (imagine that), and belted a home run to give the Dodgers the lead. "He did that for you, Cyd," Chip said. And as well Green should. I'm no pushover - I don't get excited over a baseball uniform - I want to see what's inside of it. And, with the game on the line, my boy Shawn Green made one of the biggest hits of his career. While I can't stand the Dodgers (though they do serve Krispy Kremes in their stadium), and I'm not impressed with Los Angeles sports fans, I was standing and cheering for Green when he hit the home run. But, Green wasn't through. While it didn't turn into runs, Green hit a nice double in the eighth as though to say, "that one's for you, kid." Or, maybe he said "Cyd" - I was about 10 rows back, so I couldn't tell. But "kid", "Cyd" - they sound similar. While Shawn was standing there on second as the Rockies rotated relief pitchers in and out of the game, I thought about just running out and saying "hi" to him. He wasn't doing anything else - just standing there, waiting for the new pitcher to get warmed up. I'm sure he would have been happy to see me, in fact, and would have been thrilled to get a picture of him and me. Maybe Gary Sheffield, who was on first, could have even taken the picture for us. Oh well - the pitcher was ready and I missed my opportunity. As we exited the park, I looked back for one last glimpse - and there, standing 50 feet above me, was a giant mural of Shawn. I smiled, getting my one last look from him, and snapped a quick photo, then turned my back on him and headed home. On a night when two surprise tickets came into my hand an hour before the game, I was treated to an MVP performance by one of the hottest guys in baseball. And he did it all for me. |
After
the Rockies took a 3-1 lead into the bottom of the sixth, there were
two runners on base with no outs when Shawn Green stepped to the
plate. He looked around the stadium, as though he was looking
for someone - searching. And I swear he looked right at me -
right at me!