About those Mets:

A few days ago, I blogged about how ashamed I was to have lost interest in Major League Baseball. I’m making a great effort to do better. Here’s a progress report: It’s going to be harder than I thought, and for unexpected reasons.

I’m making time to follow the Mets’ games, especially when they aren’t twenty innings long. But that’s not enough. I have to know the players, and the team dynamics. So I’m reading ink on the Mets, and I’m listening to a good Sports Radio station, WFAN, which covers the Mets a lot.

But that’s not enough. I can’t just view the Mets’ opponents as a dreary stream of faceless competitors. I have to know them, know their stars, know the injuries and coaching issues that make them vulnerable or threatening. In fact, I have to follow Baseball. I’m reading game results, learning about new stats, reviewing schedules...and it’s taking up my time.

I know I’m on the right track, because I enjoy doing all these things. In my life, I’ve known so many oldsters who continue to relish baseball. I looked forward to becoming one of them. But I can’t help noticing that I have to give up other activities to make time for this sport. Baseball is cutting into my new, busy life. In fact, it’s likely that baseball fell out of my life because I didn’t have time to follow it properly any more. I’m going to try to keep up my interest for a while, but maybe I’m just forcing it; perhaps baseball and I deserve an amicable divorce.