Traffic, White Sox and Life

Travel and Chicago
Well, let me just say that Chicago has continued to surprise me. I knew moving here that traffic would be bad. I have lived and visited many places where traffic is bad. I mean I have been to San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, San Antonio (And many other San areas) as well as St. Louis, Detroit, Tulsa, Dallas, Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and even new York and London, England: But I can honestly say with authority that the traffic to and from Chicago yesterday was the worst I have ever experienced in my life anywhere in the world.

I trekked out yesterday to see a White Sox game with my son and some coworkers. Love the White Sox and I always have. So it was great that I could go see a day game in the middle of the week during a series they should win too. We left and after only 15 minutes of traveling, we ran into our first traffic jam. Now it is the middle of the week and middle of the day. Traffic should not be that bad. I use my GPS and get a detour, which takes us a little less time than it would have sitting in the traffic. In addition, we were moving so the wind was a nice feeling with no AC in my truck.

After the game traffic conditions were even worse. After I had talked to a few friends there, I discovered it was just a weird traffic day. All routes into the city were jammed packed. No wrecks really to speak of, no construction hogging up lanes and the weather, yeah it got nasty but that was well after the traffic nastiness.

Every route into and out of the city was just bogged down. Movement was less than fifteen MPH and it was starting to get humid with storms pushing into the area. We had the windows up most of the way, no AC and just humid air blowing on us. Miserable conditions inside that truck let me tell you. A mobile rain forest is all I can use to compare the experience.

I want a Discovery channel episode on why these traffic phenomena occur. How can we be driving along so slow we barely move then all of a sudden it all opens up and there is nothing in the way causing the jam? I DO NOT UNDERSTAND!

The traffic problem was so bad; by the time I had made it home, I forgot most of the game. It felt like it was last month or something and I could just remember a few things. I was so focused on the annoyance and wonderment of the traffic I felt like I was at the stadium for a sit down and left. I mean the amount of time I spent driving is what it takes to drive from Knoxville to Nashville and I was only thirty miles away from home. Wow!

The Game
Now we got to the game a little late of course. Missed the first home run that made it 1 nothing Sox, but that’s okay. We had great seats as they were just right of the 3rd base line fowl pole: right in territory where we could get a ball. As a matter of fact, every home run came within a few rows of us except one. We had a couple of fouls come in on us as well. One went to the upper tier and bounced back down and landed two rows away. So all in all the game was a very cool game to see.

Now a couple of things I love to do when I am out is watch people and interact to some degree. One has to be careful with this one especially in a large metropolitan area. So at the game I met this very nice older lady and her husband. I would say they were well into their eighties. She had brought an umbrella for the sun as it was hot when the game first started. Her husband was holding it for her the entire time too. The sweetest thing I had seen in a long time.

I sat down next to her and she greeted me very politely “Good afternoon sir. Wonderful day for a ball game isn’t it?”

I have to tell you that was such a refreshing welcome from the current standard of just sitting next to someone and never interacting. And I tend to get along with the elderly much better. I always have. When I was a teenager, I and a few of my friends spent most of our time with adults. We wanted to learn how to do things and why things were the way they were and hear the stories about how things used to be. It was fascinating and still is.

I love to sit and talk and hear stories of what older folks did when they were young. How they worked, went to school and played. These are some of the best indicators of how life has changed and how we rely on different things. How we have evolved and become who we are based on tools and technology.

So this game was a perfect example. I had sat down aggravated and sweaty from the drive and not ready to enjoy the game as much as I thought. I had already missed half of the first inning and the first home run so I was sour. But then this sweet old lady and her husband speak to me with the kindness and welcoming attitude I have missed so long from my childhood.

I responded back “It is a truly wonderful day for a baseball game. And hopefully this will be a good one and we win too.” I responded that way immediately even though just seconds before I was a grouch. My mood lifted that much.

As we sat there I expected more conversation however, this lady was up on her ball game. She knew the rules and the atmosphere and definitely kept up with the standings. She called out names and chastised the pitcher when he threw what she thought was the wrong pitch. She praised the batters that stood in and played admirably and chastised the ones that didn’t pay attention. I tell you I could have had this woman sit and watch a game with me any time anywhere. She believes in the old way of baseball, having respect for your opponent, playing hard and smart, paying attention and doing what’s right. It was so good to see.

At one point she got up to go to the restroom. She folded her umbrella and handed it to her husband to watch while she was gone. She was gone for half an inning. I looked over at the man and asked is he wanted me to go check on her and right then she began to walk down the deck. He thanked me and began to open the umbrella.

She sat down and told him to put it away since the clouds were coming in. She was afraid she was going to poke me in the eye with one of the ribs.

I made sure she knew she was fine to keep her umbrella up all she wanted. I used it as a marker for my wife to see if she could spot us on TV anyway. It was the only umbrella in the place.

After she sat down, she looked at the score board and saw the White Sox hit another home run and said, “I should go more often when we bat, we might win this thing.”

I said, “Yes ma’am, but when you left they hit one too so that might not work out so well.”

She laughed at me and patted my leg and her husband was laughing too. I could have sat all day with them and watched this game and talked. They were so nice. And to see the two of them, dressed up so neatly, sharing something with each other that was such a stressful event for me to go to being at least half there age, made me ashamed I had thought the way I did about my travel to the park.

The game was a half inning out of being done by now. The Royals were getting ready for their last at bat and the Sox changed pitchers to their best closer. The music came on and as I looked around the stadium, I could see many people had left since the deficit was pretty much insurmountable for this Kansas City team. However, get into a bad pitch rotation and you got a tie game.

So Jenks comes out to pitch, gets to a 3-2 count and my new friends are chastising away. “Come on now, you throw better than that! Throw one f those pretty ones that drops right when he swings at it!”

I said, “You mean a sinker?”
“That’s it. Throw that sinker and set him down!”

He does just that and the batter strikes out. They are now playing this song I can’t remember the name of but says BOOM BOOM in it. It’s metal song and I look a few rows down and see this little boy with a sox short on, he may be 5 years old. He has his glove and he’s doing the Metal hand sign up in the air to the beat as Jenks pitches. Everyone is standing and you can see his dad laughing with him and patting him on the head while he throws his hand in the air in support. It made me think of my little girl and how she is just now beginning to speak well. One of the things she says is White Sox. She can spot the symbol and point it out and Mom taught her to say Go White Sox yesterday while they watched the game at home. Then one day, maybe I’ll have another son I can take to the park and watch his eyes light up when he sees that grass for the first time and the immense proportions of the outfield as that little ball gets smashed into the air at a young tanned man that has the privilege to play a game for a living. Such are the thoughts that conjure up to dreams as you watch people and EXPERIENCE a ball game, not just watch it.

Now back to the game: Jenks gets out of the inning and the White Sox win.

My friends say good bye as they depart toward the deck and we wait for the crowd to thin so we could leave.

I will not dwell on the traffic situation anymore. I wrote about that debacle in the first section so it could only e referred to. It is now a memory and a bad one that almost ruined my good memories of home runs within reach and a glimpse of the goodness of the past when strangers could sit at a ball park and be united as one in thought, presence and conversation over such a simple subject as baseball.

If I am privileged enough to live to that age and be near something I love as much as they loved sharing that baseball experience with this stranger, I want to give the same experience and feeling of welcome to someone that chooses to interact with me. That lady reminded me that we all have something to give and sometimes it costs nothing.