A Newfound Love of Simplicity

Tonight, I got to spend some quality downtime with one of my very favourite people, my 20-month old son. After his bath, the two of us sat down in front of the Jays game, and much to my surprise, he did all of the teaching.

As Jo-Jo Reyes took to the mound, I found myself wondering which Jo-Jo I'd be seeing.

My son watched the same, and proudly proclaimed: "Ball!"

Well, yes... that is a ball.

In the second inning, Adam Lind came to the plate, while Pat Tabler and Buck Martinez spewed advanced statistics about how Mitch Talbot fared against left-handed batters. Lind promptly stroked a single, and I marvelled at how much he had turned around since last year.

And my son? "Hit!"

Why, yes son, that was a hit.

And as we watched Aaron Hill work the count full, the entire time me worrying about a double-play ball,  my son would watch in awe and announce "Throw!" with each pitch.

This game is far from over, in fact, since my son has gone off to bed, the Indians have scored twice to make the score 3-2, but suddenly the Jays pre-allstar break record doesn't affect me as much. The lack of 'options' the team has on Jo-Jo Reyes no longer appeals to me as a topic of debate. OPS almost seems trivial.

With a ten word vocabulary, my son was able to teach me the real reason to love this game is simplicity.

"Ball!"

"Throw!"

"Hit!"

"Miss!"

"Throw!"

I can't add any better analysis than that.