#129 - Don't Like Covid Baseball

A Late Start

After a long delay, baseball started up this week. Dr. Fauci threw out the ball on opening day.

A year ago, who would have ever expected to see an image like this? It made me smile.
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Opening Day in Houston

I'm not a crazy huge fan of baseball, but I've cheered on the Houston Astros since we moved to Texas. I first saw them play at the Astrodome, 1998. I was curious to see them play, last night at Minute Maid Park.

This was the only kind of ticket that was available, for Opening Day. We watched from Section home, in Row couch.

​Empty Stadium

It was eerie to see Minute Maid Park, with no fans.

If it felt odd to me, how did it feel to the players, preparing to play? 

Reminder of the Times

It was impossible to forget about the pandemic, when we saw the empty seats and the mask-wearing players.

But it was even more powerful, watching most of the players kneel and clutch a black ribbon, before the anthem. Seeing the letters BLM, stenciled on the pitcher's mound was a powerful reminder of how many have come together in recent months, to support the Black Lives Matter movement. 

Sounds in the Stadium

It was nice to hear good old Texan, Lyle Lovett's voice singing the anthem. 

But it was just his face on a screen. That seems sad.

Fans
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The fake sounds of cheering fans, was a little unsettling at first.

But maybe not as weird as the fake people who filled one section.
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Astros Fan Cutouts

I guess if we'd paid up, we could have had some seats in the stands, after all.

We couldn't have actually occupied those seats, but cardboard images of our faces and shoulders could have attended!

I wonder how some of the real die-hard fans reacted to the game, last night? Will more people than ever watch the shortened, 60-game season... because of boredom? Or will some refuse to watch pandemic baseball? I'm afraid I probably won't be watching much baseball this summer.