Go Reds! A Tale of “Opening Day”

In my household I can honestly say that we have NEVER sat around watching any kind of sports on TV EVER!  It’s just not a big deal to us.  But we do like a good baseball game at Great American Ballpark maybe once a year.  But last week as we were deciding how to spend our Spring Break we realized that Opening Day, which is practically a holiday in Cincinnati, would be during the break… no school or work!  It sort of occurred to us at the same moment to make a party of it.  Because it was a sold out crowd the game was to be televised.

Rick wore his “practically vintage” Reds t-shirt from when they won the World Series in 1990.  He’s worn it every year on Opening Day and to every game at the Ball Park he’s been to since then.

We didn’t go downtown for the Opening Day parade but Rick went out in the 40 degree weather and grilled hot dogs in the backyard while I made this city’s traditional “Skyline Chili Dip” at my husbands request.  The kids suggested we break out the soda pop that we were saving for the once or twice a year we actually drink soda, a real treat.  And we had broccoli and carrot sticks along with pineapple.  Because it was sports we felt the need for some Buffalo chips.  Lots of “fun” food.  And it was great.  We watched the game from warmth of our own living room, didn’t have to walk miles from a parking spot, took a communal nap during the boring part after we put the little guy down in his own crib, had a bathroom nearby… what more could we want, except maybe a win.

A win was looking pretty unlikely.  But then came the excitement.  At the bottom of the ninth inning the score was Brewers with 6 and the Reds with just 3.  Two outs, bases loaded, Hernandez hit the ball out of the park and brought everybody in.  The game ended Reds 7, Brewers 6.  It was incredible!  We all yelled (very unlike any of us in our family to do for a ball game) and woke the baby up.  But it was almost 5:30 and we’d been sitting there for more than 4 hours so we were OK with that.  Very exciting game.  We wish it could work out like that for us every year.  Go Reds!