I realized that, theoretically, today I am flying back from a weekend in London. In an alternative universe, had I not travelled to London, I would have headed to the north side of Berlin for a Berlin Flamingos Baseball Game against the Hamburg Stealers.
For reasons that I’d rather not explain too clearly, I became aware of the Berlin Flamingos because of Papa Scott. OK—I’ll explain a bit more: his McDonald’s sponsor the Dohren Wild Farmers. When he mentioned this, I started doing some research, where upon I latched onto the Berlin Flamingos.
This is despite the fact that I live 14.5 kilometers from Flamingo Field.
It takes me about an hour to get from my apartment to the field – a journey through the heart of Berlin, through Mitte, Reinickendorf, and up to Wittenau. Call it a chance to catch up on my podcasts…
Of course, it takes me a whopping 5 seconds to get from my bedroom to my living room – which is, not counting my early morning constitutional, among the longest distances I will travel on Sunday. I guess living-room to kitchen is the longest distance; maybe 7 seconds? I don’t listen to podcasts while moving between rooms at home.
But that is off topic: I’ve adopted the Flamingos as my favorite baseball team.
Last year I got to witness the team demolish virtually every single opponent. My first game, I believe, was May 25, 2019, when I watched them playing the Leipzig Wallbreakers. When I arrived, in the bottom of the third, the score was 17-0 in favor of the Flamingos. I remember thinking that the scoreboard must be broken, but then the Flamingos scored 2 more, the scoreboard went to 19-0, and the announcer announced the score as well.
Of course, last year the Berlin Flamingos were in Germany’s second league – but their outstanding performance resulted in the team being promoted to Germany’s first league, including competition against the Wild Farmers and the Stealers.
Given how the Flamingos so totally dominated their second league competition, I had high hopes for their team this year, even though it is their first year in the first league – plus the team spent part of the winter installing lighting that would allow for night games!
Sorry… I ramble now.
When I see the hat sitting on my side table, it reminds me of baseball and the warm fuzzy feelings I have for the sport – as an observer. I certainly lack any personal sporting skills – terrible hand-eye coordination. As I noted Friday, I once went to Japan, just to watch the Hiroshima Carp play baseball.
I hope that I can see at least one or two games this year, but I have my doubts.
During the Covid-19 crisis, I am going to try and make a point of writing a blog post about an object in my home.
We’ll see how long this lasts.
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