and you think I am a baseball fan?

Ok, as most of you might know I am a big baseball fan. And in Louisville, there really are quite a bit more of us than you might realize. Part of that is because of Louisville's baseball history and the ties to current baseball with The Louisville Slugger bat and Hillerich & Bradsby.

And I admit I love the "game" of baseball, even though I hate all of the recent scandals over drug use. I even make a yearly trip down to Ft. Myers, where I used to live, for a week of fishing and spring training baseball. I actually love spring ball to see guys who are trying to make the teams and where the next generation of talent comes from. And you have not tailgated until you have grilled out redfish, snook and snapper that you caught just that morning!

Even in the winter I love to watch the off-season trades, and who is moving to which team.

But I am NOTHING when it comes to some people and their baseball frenzy. That fact was driven home to me just a couple of days ago, when I was reading an article from a Boston newspaper, and came across the following little hysterical item:

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Dan Shaughnessy
<http://www.boston.com/news/globe/>

It's live - but not lively

2/16/2008

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Seminal moments in television history?

There was the first appearance of the Beatles on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in
1964, the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969, and, of course, the final
"M*A*S*H" episode, watched by 106 million viewers in 1983.

And now we have spring training brought to you live by NESN [New England
Sports Televsion]. Television history.

The Red Sox network today will broadcast the team's first workout for
pitchers and catchers from 10 a.m. to noon. It will be replayed in condensed
versions at 1:30, 4, and 11 p.m.

Wow. LIVE FROM FORT MYERS! MUST-SEE TV! . . . Curt Schilling leading the
charge out of the clubhouse for the ceremonial single lap around the warning
track . . . Doug Mirabelli belching . . . Pitchers standing on the mound, in
line, running to cover first base as a coach hits fungoes to the right side
. . . Tim Wakefield stretching while [broadcasters] Don Orsillo and Tom
Caron stretch to find words to fill the empty action.

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Ok, now how hard up do you have to be for baseball to tune in for two hours to see a bunch of PITCHERS jogging around a field and stretching?!

I have to laugh, because I KNOW that unless there were some RedSox fans watching somewhere, this would not be televised.

So, just remember the next time your spouse, (female OR male), says that you are "obesessed" with your hobby or sport, just remind them that at least you are not watching pitchers excercising for several hours.