Being in the homeschooled, Christian conservative family that I was raised in, my parents made the decision many years ago to “take out the trash” so to speak by getting rid of everything on the TV that we can’t feed to it. Thus, we have no cable or TV channels of any kind – in fact, I probably couldn’t explain what cable is if you asked. The only time we were ever able to watch “real” TV in our home was last year when we had a four-week trial. It was amazing. The only stuff we can watch on the TV are DVDs and VHS-if we’re feeling nostalgic. But these days, we’re more likely to be found on Netflix anyway.
All that to say, I am thankful for the wisdom of my parents in getting rid of the time-wasting, junk-filled TV. However, there is one major disadvantage – no sports. In my six years of being a Padres fan, I have never seen one Padres game from my house. In fact, it’s a good season if I get to watch the Padres on TV twice, maybe three times. And it’s usually at a restaurant.
“How can this be?” you may ask. “How can she even be a fan if she NEVER EVEN WATCHES THE GAMES?!?!”
*******/Which, incidentally, was what Matt asked me the other day when, after two plus years of knowing each other, he finally connected the dots that I didn’t have cable as was a Padres fan./********
Well, we’ve always listened to the games on the radio. I distinctly remember summer nights with Padres games on even before I was much of a fan. The development of my fanhood was built on the voices of Jerry Coleman, Ted Leitner and Andy Masur late into the night. I can’t even explain the magic of seeing the games through these guys’ descriptions. There’s something so unique about those kinds of memories; like when I stayed up so late listening to the 22-inning game. Or hanging onto every crushing, season-ending word of Game 163.
Besides the radio, there’s always Gameday or notifications on my phone (which will be a first for this upcoming season). Of course, I do get out to games eventually and get to see what’s going on. I also like to watch the highlights online after each game so I am able to get a sense of how everything went down.
Not getting to watch the games all the time is hard. I usually don’t even know what half the players look like, or their little quirks when they go up to bat. I do feel like I’m missing out on a lot by not getting to see the games.
It’s unfortunate, but it’s something I have learned to live with.