Texans are a mighty proud race of people
All of us seem to be that way. At least those of us who are actually from here and a few others who have married into the family. Yes, some are louder and prouder than others, but even the quiet ones have a sense of pride in just being a member of the club called The Great State.
Take my own wife for example. She was born in Saigon, grew up in Arizona, lived ‘back east’ for a while, and now you couldn’t pry her out of Texas with a crowbar. And in a week that saw the collapse of the Longhorns, the Cowboys, and other favorites (no, not you Horned Froggies, We’re still way proud of y’all) Sometimes we just make up stuff to be proud of.
We don’t have to make up anything to be proud of our Texas Rangers.
I haven’t been prouder of a baseball team since the Big Lake Owls challenged coach Jimmy Morris and brought about the movie ‘The Rookie’. Course there were a few friends of mine that really taught those boys how to play baseball including Roy Levario, Mario Martinez, Mike Jenkins, Brad Armstrong, and a few others. Those guys were some of the Little League coaches in Big Lake back in the day before Jimmy Morris came to town. And back in those days, baseball was popular in small town Texas. We didn’t have video games or Wii’s or PS thingies to waste time and keep kids indoors. We had baseball in the summertime and we played our hearts out.
Baseball fever is back in Texas! The Texas Rangers have excited the entire state and believe me, all attention will turn to the World Series just like back in the old days. For people of a certain age, I am talking about listening to the ballgame on the radio. If you went into the Service Station (we had those back then) or the feed store, or even the coffee shop, and if there was a big game being played, it was on the radio. And people commented on the game. And cussed and discussed the game at length.
A quick check of StubHub.com told me I could buy a ticket to the World Series in a price range from around $575 to $2500 a ticket up to $10,000 per ticket.
Maybe I’ll catch the Rangers there next year. If I do, I’ll take Mr. Juan with me.
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And my wife! 🙂
Claws and antlers to you, Dave!
Awesome article. RIP MR. BASEBALL My Grandpa.
We are going to miss you Grandpa(Juan Ruiz Levario)!!! He loved the game and coached it well.. I recall playing a few innings of Semi-pro baseball when I was 13 years old. He would always tell us baseball was the best sport ever. I wish you the best on your journey and when we meet again I can’t wait to play catch with you adios Welo te quiero mucho!!!!!