A little bit off subject so I will apologize in advance. I got back from a trip from Port St Lucie a few weeks ago to see Spring Training. I took my 7 yr old son and my brother took his 9 yr old son. I have not been to Spring Training in over 20 years when the Mets first moved from St Pete.
Anyone who loves baseball...has children who love baseball has to make the sacrifice and make this trip. Does not have to be the Mets..could be any team. It was just an amazing time. Nothing like bonding with your son who is just mesmerized by Big Leaguers. I got the tickets to the games a few weeks in advance...pretty cheap. The flight from NY was not bad and the hotel was 5 minutes from the park..We landed and went straight to the park...the hotel would have to wait. We saw a game on Saturday against the Marlins and Sunday against the Astros.
The minute you walk into the stadium its just such a relaxed atomosphere. Everyone is smiling and everyone is friendly. WE got to the park at 11am for a 1pm game and watched batting practice. My son was not in the park five minutes when one of the Marlins catchers tossed him a ball!. I have been going to games since I was a kid and I never got a ball. You just had to see his face...he was so excited. He was glowing. We sat and watched the game and he was just talking a mile a minute about everyone on the field. Nothing makes a Dad prouder than seeing his boy so into sports..lol.
The next day we saw the Astros and J.R.House a player for Houston just went over to my son and signed his ball. Little things like that mean so much to a little boy. We sat and watched the game and just basked in the sun and the serenity of watching a simple game played for a few thousand and everyone was just so relaxed and happy
As the game ended, we sat alone in the stands and just took in our last looks of the field and of a sunny spring day...and all was perfect...all was good in the world. My son and my nephew said as we were leaving the park,"This was the greatest vacation ever!". Little did they know that it was mine and my brothers also.:hi5: