A few weeks ago, I was with a group of girlfriends who were discussing an upcoming event they would be attending. One expressed mild frustration at having to work around her boyfriend’s schedule since he had plans to watch playoff football. She was clearly annoyed at the timing and did not understand why he needed to watch it. This struck me as odd, as my plans are often centered around things of this nature, so that both my boyfriend and I can watch the games together.
Our relationship is very sports-oriented and began over a mutual love for baseball and the Yankees. My senior year of college we lived on the same floor, and when baseball season started, I would usually have the game on if I was in my room. We started talking more because he would hear it as he returned to his room, and would stop by to chat. For the first six months of our friendship, all we would talk about was baseball. We discussed our favorite players, prospects we were looking forward to seeing, and how we were excited at the direction the team was heading in. One of the things I love most about sports is its ability to bring people together, especially when you root for the same team.
Although the dynamic of our relationship has obviously changed, our mutual love of sports has not. We spend many evenings watching games and our days updating each other on trades, player injuries, and anything else we may get an ESPN notification about. We have even made it a goal of ours to see the Yankees play at all the different MLB ballparks across the country. We now have a tradition in place where once a year we take a trip to a different stadium, to see a game and explore the city. Oddly enough, the idea began when he proposed to travel to Chicago to see the Yankees play the Cubs before we even started dating. Now one of my favorite things is the release of the schedule each season so we can start planning our next adventure. For the holidays this year he even bought me a large wooden map of the country with a little baseball where each of the 30 stadiums are located. Each time we visit a new location, we get to put a pin in it to track our progress.
My boyfriend and I have a lot in common, but one of the things I love the most is that we grew up watching the same teams and idolizing the same players. It is nice not having to fight over what team to root for and there is never even a discussion over whether the other one would mind watching the game. We are fortunate enough to live close enough to the stadiums to be able to see a ton of games and have some great date nights. I know that whenever I am in the mood to go to a game I will always have someone sitting next to me, cheering just as loud.
