It's Officially Baseball Season

Slugger Field. This time of the sporting year, it's easy to think that there's nothing interesting to watch in the Bluegrass except horse races and recruits' Twitter feeds.  Both of those things can be exciting in two-minute increments, but after a while you need something else to take your mind off of the terribly long and unnatural silence that is the college basketball offseason. If spring football doesn't strike you, and you think the NBA playoffs are looking more and more like a Spanish soap opera, might I make a suggestion?  When I was living in Charleston, WV, I developed a love for minor league baseball, and would recommend checking it out to anyone who is looking for some local sports action. Minor League baseball is an absolute blast, and we happen to have three teams around that make it easy for you to find a team to root for.  With squads in Louisville, Lexington, and Bowling Green, you're likely to be close to a ballpark. Minor League Promo Nights When I was in Charleston, the Appalachian Power Park would have "Buck Night" on Thursdays, where tickets, hot dogs, and fountain drinks were all a dollar.  To a broke college student, that's a veritable jackpot.  You can have five dollars and have yourself an evening, which is just something that's increasingly harder to do anymore.  The Louisville Bats have an entire page on their website devoted to promotional activities at Slugger Field, and most parks do something entirely similar.  They really make it hard to find any excuse not to go, especially on nights when there are fireworks(!) after the game.  Whatever your interests, there's probably something on the page that would appeal to you. The Guy Who's About to Get Called Up This is where the actual baseball part of it gets good.  If you go to a lot of games, you may occasionally be lucky enough to see a guy who's clearly, well, out of his own league.  This is either a pitcher who can smoke guys up without breaking a sweat, or, my personal favorite, some guy who can absolutely crank it every at-bat.  For example, I'm a big Louisville Bats fan, and if you went to any of their early games in 2007, you may have seen a few games from current Reds first baseman Joey Votto before he got called up.  Those games right before a player makes that leap are ridiculous, because those guys want to put on a show every night, and have all the skills to be able to do it.  It makes for a pretty lopsided game sometimes (it wasn't uncommon for some of the games I watched in Louisville and Charleston to be 11-0 by the fifth), but you weren't really there for the solid competition anyway.  At least, I wasn't.  I was there to see some guy make everybody else look silly. Trying to Catch a Foul Ball I spend way too much time doing this at games.  First base line is where all the action is, so set up shop over there.  Also, any baseline where the sun is in your eyes is going to give you a good shot, because nobody wants to sit there.  That's professional foul-ball-catching advice, right there.  You're welcome. The Ice Cream in a Little Helmet Thing Seriously. Look at it.   If you're looking for things to do this offseason, in the cavernous abyss between the end of basketball and the start of football, check out a baseball game.  This month, there are still some Wildcats home games through the 13th of the month.  Do yourself a favor, and go watch some baseball.  Or The Sandlot.  That's just about as good.