Quick! Explain The Infield Fly Rule!

Obviously, the heat is getting to me

I can't believe it; it's a beautiful Sunday afternoon, the kind of day I call Yet Another Perfect California Day, and I am doing nothing except lying around the living room, playing Escape Velocity, and watching a baseball game. An American League baseball game.

Talk about wasting one's time.

I used to be a really big baseball fan. A really big San Francisco Giants fan, to be exact. My sister, an even bigger fan, bought season tickets a million years ago, and my father and I used to go out to Candlestick with Deirdre to watch 20 games a year. Candlestick, on the sunny days, is actually quite pleasant. And I liked having an activity to do with my family.

Then I got married. October 3, 1993. The same day that the Giants lost to the Dodgers, thereby allowing the Braves to go off to the National League playoffs--the year that winning 103 games just wasn't good enough.

(October 3 has turned out to be a singularly bad day for a wedding anniversary. It is also the day the OJ Simpson verdicts were announced. This is not trivia I am proud of or even want to know.)

The next year, 1994, was kinda icky, baseball-wise: Will Clark went to Texas, and in the middle of an incredible year for Matt Williams the players went on strike. I won't get into which side I sympathized with: the strike ruined a great season.

The strike started in August, I think. Along with baseball fans all over the country, my father, my sister, and I found other things to do with our money and our time.

We gave up the season tickets during the off-season.

We went out to a couple of games during 1995. It wasn't the same. Shouting "Clark woulda had that!" at whoever was playing first that day didn't have quite the same amount of fun. I used to know every station on our cable service that showed baseball; I don't even know which channel ESPN is on any more.

I've gone out to one game so far this year. It was just okay. I didn't even take my scorebook to keep score. A lot of the spirit is gone.

On the up side, because I've spent so much of today clearly not feeling well, Darin is being a sweetie and going to do things for me like go shopping for fizzy drinks. Note: he hasn't actually done them yet, but he has offered. Well, not exactly offered. Said he would once I asked.

At any rate, he's being a sweetie.