Monday, August 28, 2006

Relocation of an A's Fan: Or, The Hunt For Baseball In Your Dorm

As you may or may not know, I recently departed home (Colorado) for college in New York, just outside the city. Well, here I am now (and entirely too excited) and preparing to start registering for classes. 1600 miles appears to be a non-issue, as I love it here and I am seriously ready for classes to actually start. But as happy as I am to be at my first-choice school, several nagging questions remained. Such as: Is there anyone else in this entire school with whom I can talk baseball?

So, I began my hunt. As soon as I got my laptop set up and connected to the campus network, I opened MLB.com to check on the prognosis of my beloved A's and Cards. My RA came in, took one look, and said, "Baseball fan?" I said, "Yeah!" She laughed and said, "The homepage was a giveaway."

But I still had not found that elusive someone. My roommate liked baseball, but didn't really follow it or have a team to support. So, although it would be nice to have a baseball fan in residence, it was not to be. Onwards rolled the mighty search.

While walking to an orientation meeting, I spotted someone in a Giants shirt. I pounced, figuring that a Giants fan was better than no fan at all. Turns out, the guy wasn't even a Giants fan; he just wore the shirt since he was from San Francisco. Crap... denied.

So, it happened by accident. I was asking someone in a Cubs shirt if they were a baseball person (they weren't, but they had lived in Chicago and liked the Cubs) when someone overheard me and said, "BASEBALL! Yeah, I'm a total baseball person!"

She's from Oregon, so she supports the Mariners and the Giants, but she lives two doors down the hall in my dorm and we are already plotting to hijack someone's TV when the postseason rolls around. Having baseball on my laptop makes me feel quite comfortable, at home, and now I've posted all my pictures from a summer of attending games over my bunk.

There's me and Gillian, me and Swish, Coors Field, the Cardinals bullpen... on and on and on. My autographed A's hat is dangling from my bunk post, my jersey is in the closet, and you can bet that when the A's make the postseason, I will be strutting around campus like a lunatic, proudly sporting the green and gold, and pissing off all the New Yorkers who wear their logo-emblazoned hats with a flat brim, rapper-style. (I personally think that style is entirely stupid. ;)

I'm really happy to be where I am. I signed up for a theatre group, will be taking a full courseload (writing, and hopefully history and politics as well) and the best part - I am planning to play softball for the Gryphons, my college's team. I know how to hit and I know how to throw (that's why I'm in right field just watching the dandelions grow) and whenever I play a game, I will ALWAYS wear the high socks. :D

Let's go OAKLAND!!!! :D :D :D

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