Best night ever...

I've just had it.

Let me preface this by saying that I was matched with my little brother, A.J., last week and just as I suspected, he is an awesome kid. We hit it off right away and things are already going great.

So, tonight I took him to go see the Durham Bulls play a double header against our hated division rivals, the Richmond Braves. The kid had never been to a baseball game before (WHAT?), so I knew it would be a good time all around. What I didn't know is that it would be one of the best nights of my life so far.

At the beginning of the game A.J. was having a blast running through one of those huge ass blow up mazes with slides and stuff and after he did that about fifty times, we got some food and found our seats. I was having a great time explaining the game to him and telling him about all the players and how since we were sitting so close that he'd have to be ready to either catch or duck any foul balls that came our way. Well, about half an inning after that, Johnny Gomes (SS, Bulls) hits a screaming foul ball right at us, or rather, at the old lady's head who was sitting next to me. So I reached over and bare-handed it with my LEFT hand, non-chalantly handing it to my little brother while simultaneously acknowleging the cheers of the crowd and trying to ignore the searing fireball of pain that was now inhabiting the space where my hand used to be. Suffice to say, I was having a lot of feelings all at once.

Now, understand that I have never once, in all the thousands of games that I have been to, glove in hand, caught a foul ball. I dug one out of the seats once in Oakland about five years ago, but that was the closest I've ever come. They have fallen just inches from me and I have even had one brush my finger tips as it fell gently in to another fan's glove. It is definitely an "always the bridesmaid" kind of situation. Or was. Because tonight, was my night. I was an instant hero to my little brother, the crowd dug it, and the old lady next to me was grateful that she still had a face. Just made me want to look up and say "thanks". So that's what I did.