Pamela Skjolsvik

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F is for...

Fans

Yesterday, I went to go see the opening day game for the Texas Rangers in Arlington.  My husband and I love baseball and the three years that we've lived in Texas, the Rangers have gone to the World Series twice.  We've been to several games, but we're usually seated in the cheap-o nosebleed section.  But not today.  These tickets were gifted to him and they were SWEET.


But, and there's always a but.  We were seated very near Josh Hamilton in the right field.   Josh Hamilton used to play for the Rangers but he left for the Angels after last season.  Mr. Hamilton had this to say about his time in Texas...

"Texas, especially Dallas, has always been a football town. The good with the bad is they're supportive, but they also got a little spoiled at the same time, pretty quickly. You can understand a really true, true baseball town. There's true baseball fans in Texas but it's not a true baseball town."

So, this did not sit well with Ranger fans.  They loved Josh Hamilton.  He was a player that could knock a ball out of the park and when he was good, he was really, really good.  But when he was bad, he liked to blame it on Red Bull and quitting nicotine and stuff like that.  Oh, Josh.  The mere mortals of the world who don't make millions of dollars have to do that humdrum/icky no fun stuff all the time and we still have to show up and do our best.

So, here you were, Josh, back in Texas.  And boy did the forty-eight thousand fans at today's game vocalize their dislike for you.


I didn't boo.  Or call him a traitor or bring up his drug and alcohol addictions.  I merely clapped when we struck him out.  I know why people feel the way they do about him, but I didn't want to focus on the negative.  I was enjoying the sun on my face, the bacon wrapped hot dog and a day with my husband at a ball game.  

Are you a baseball fan?  Who's your team?