If you weren't fortunate enough to grow up in a city where baseball ruled the roost, but are constantly surrounded by people who follow and enjoy the game, you may not get the importance of baseball.
Sure, the games are slow, the play linear, the season long. I even sometimes forget what draws me to baseball and the progression of a season that goes on for almost nine months. But then I remember.
Growing up in St. Louis, baseball was always the dominant sport. Sure, the city had other franchises, but they never seemed to stay very long or be noticed when they would leave.
Professional basketball called the city home for awhile, leaving when the St. Louis Hawks flew the coop.
Football had been around for the better part of forty years in St. Louis. But even when the NFL decided to leave the Gateway City in 1988, not many people were too terribly upset.
Hockey thrives, and the Blues will always have a place in the city, largely because the season mirrors that of baseball. The game works because the players reflect the blue-collar work ethic of the town. And, you always have to have something to do while waiting for another baseball season to roll around.
In St. Louis, everyone is an expert when it comes to baseball. No matter your, age, race or gender, everyone knows about baseball and can talk baseball. When it comes to education in St. Louis, it doesn't matter if you're a P.H.D. or a high school dropout. If you can't talk about baseball, you're stupid.
Which is what I have always liked about my hometown. With a little help from baseball, people of different social classes and backgrounds can transcend those usually stifling barriers by talking about a little round ball.
In the summer, you can walk up and down the streets in St. Louis and hear the radios tuned into the game. And, although I have never really examined the back of a Cardinals ticket, I am almost positive that it states wearing red to a Cardinals game is a requirement.
All of this helps to build a community where one might not have existed without the game. It helps to draw different races, religions and creeds to a ballpark to cheer for a united cause.
I miss that about St. Louis, particularly because it seems to be lacking here in Phoenix. A Sunday at Sun Devil Stadium or an evening at Bank One Ballpark just doesn't seem to have the same effect on me. Every time I go, I hope that it will, but it never does.
The one community I have always felt a part of is right here on campus, rooting for the Sun Devils. But as I write this, even that is coming to a close for me.
On Friday, something that has taken longer than it should have will finally come to fruition when I graduate in the same building where so many great Sun Devil athletes have competed in the past – Wells Fargo Arena.
Yet I wonder how many times those of you reading this column have actually visited Wells Fargo Arena, or any other sports facility on this campus for that matter, to cheer on your college team and build that sense of community that I spoke of earlier.
Win or lose, the chance to be part of a collective unit (as sporting events give all of us a chance to do) is one of those experiences that you will cherish for the rest of your years.
So, when the fall semester rolls around, take time out to join some of your fellow students at a game or a match and learn how a community can grow from just a little round ball.
Reach the reporter at al.stevens@asu.edu.
