Baseball’s often called the sport of fathers and sons, but in my family it’s just as much about mothers and sons. Or mothers and daughters. Or grandmothers and grandkids.
Both my mom and my nana are diehard Giant fans, to the point where my nana keeps score of every game she can (that’s right, with a pen and a scorebook!). While my little sister had a crush on J.T. Snow back in the day, my mom was always partial to Jeff Kent…until he became a Dodger, that is. Baseball runs through many families, but how many moms play fantasy sports and say stuff like, “I just hate the Dodgers” like mine? How many grandmothers believe New Year’s Day doesn’t actually occur until the start of Spring Training?
On past family get-togethers like today’s upcoming Mother’s Day celebration that take place during baseball season, you could always tell it bothered my nana just a little when she wasn’t able to watch the game. That’s probably why lunch is early today at my aunt’s house, so everyone can eat and go upstairs to the room with the huge projection screen and catch Tim Lincecum and the Giants face (and hopefully annihilate) the Dodgers. This somewhat rare mixture of sports and traditional holiday activities was proposed by my cousin, so that our nana wouldn’t feel like she was missing anything on this annual day for her and mothers everywhere, although quite a few others in the family (including myself and my cousin who had the idea) aren’t upset about the chance to watch a little ball either.
One of my favorite stories is about when nana was due to give birth to my mom’s youngest brother, and as a result had to part with Opening Day tickets to the Giants that happened to take place at the same time as the due date. Perhaps the funniest part of that story is that her doctor wanted to take the tickets off my nana’s hands (“You won’t be needing these!”), but he was unsuccessful. In my nana’s words, “If I’m not going to the game, then you aren’t going either.”
Since then, we’ve all watched countless hours of baseball together in person and on TV, and undoubtedly that’s part of the reason I’m a baseball fanatic who writes a sports blog every day. Happy Mother’s Day to all moms out there — we wouldn’t be the same without you.
