When I was a kid, Daddy and I used to go to the baseball games of the Atlanta Braves at the Atlanta Stadium. I won tickets by making straight As at school. We likely would never have gone otherwise because money was limited for such things. I saw Hank Aaron hitting his homers.

I watched lots of teams over those years. The Reds, the Dodgers, and the Yankees were all excellent. Sorry, I cannot name them all. You know the names better than I do, probably.

In school, I was seldom picked for teams when we did sports things like softball, even kickball, or dancing.

I played basketball with the neighborhood kids at my hoop on the tree that Dad measured to league specs, often with my ball. The boys were great with their prowess. I was short and I seldom got to shoot as a guard. We did play Horse and I shot then, like free throws. We played a variety of basketball I called Tag Basketball; it was not regulation.

The Globetrotters came to my school once and probably to another school, too, as I grew.

We, kids, played croquet with the set I got from Santa one year. My parents taught me, and they played sometimes, but it was often us kids.

The funny thing about the croquet set was I did not find it at Christmas. I am diverging from the main theme I meant to have here. I have to let you know something though. I was that kid who would not go to sleep on Christmas Eve, or ever really, early enough. My brothers were years older than me and they must have helped with how things were done. We would go on a ride on Christmas Eve to see the lights while Mom and Dad told me The Christmas Story of Jesus being born of the Virgin Mary and how He came to save the World. When we returned Santa would have visited our home. I believed in Santa, even as I believed the Christmas Story. I gave my life to Jesus as a child. I sinned a lot since then and it preys on my mind that I was not well enough surrendered. I have asked for forgiveness, but I worry.

Back to baseball, we watched it on television when it came over the airwaves. It was before you had to pay for all that was on TV. Back then, it was a right to be entertained as you relaxed after hard days of working, making money, or learning work, at school. I suppose commercials paid for it, then.

I always hated the commercials, because they were louder and I was in charge of the volume, which meant I had to turn the sound down, then back up. No remotes guys, it was a physical knob on the facing of the set. Channels had to be changed by someone walking to the set too. Commercials interfered with watching the games but gave us time to grab a drink or go potty.

 Through a fortunate circumstance this year I have MLB. I have not watched my Braves in many years, partly because of the extra cost, and partly when I pay attention, they often seem to lose. Usually, I check on sports rarely cause I want all my teams to win. It is exciting having MLB cause I want to know what the athletes do.

I was Pep Club Captain in High School. We designed and did the artwork for the teams’ signs by hand. We were at the ball games to cheer, but we were not cheerleaders with all their charisma and athleticism. What we made, like the banners the football team ran through and decorative signs in the gym. We were supposed to encourage school spirit and were not allowed to brush our hair in public places.

Again, I digress. The Braves won. I only saw the scores for Thursday because I had to sleep. But replays I saw of some players were incredible.

Go, Braves, Go! I am for all of MLB that the players stay safe from injury and do well.

Go, Braves, Go! Win it!

Copyright – Jo Ann J. A. Jordan. Friday, March 31, 2023