{"id":52,"date":"2011-02-12T21:22:28","date_gmt":"2011-02-12T21:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/popcultureroadtrip\/2011\/02\/for-the-love-of-baseball.html"},"modified":"2011-02-12T21:22:28","modified_gmt":"2011-02-12T21:22:28","slug":"for-the-love-of-baseball","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/popcultureroadtrip\/2011\/02\/for-the-love-of-baseball.html","title":{"rendered":"For the love of baseball – and especially my son"},"content":{"rendered":"

This 2011 baseball season, the Anaheim Angels turn 50 years old. <\/p>\n

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We’re huge Angel fans in our household, and have been since the early 1990s. My son and I have experienced hundreds (thousands?) of amazing moments at Angel Stadium. Some, of course, have to do with the 2002 World Series title the team won. <\/div>\n
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Other moments, while smaller, are no less impactful.<\/div>\n
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This season, the team created three commercials featuring three separate fan memories. After writing an essay about ours and going in for an interview, my son and I learned that we’d made the cut and would be featured in one of the spots.<\/div>\n
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It starts airing here in Southern California in a couple of weeks – but  here is an early look. <\/div>\n
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It’s hard to express how much this means to us. Our son graduates high school this year so soon it’s off to college – an emotional year for all of us.  <\/div>\n
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He discovered his love of baseball at so many Angel games, and he still loves and appreciates the game.<\/div>\n
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This commercial, to me, is a celebration of all the wonderful conversations, all the peanuts, all the hugs, and all of the laughs he and I have shared at all those games. Teaching him how to keep score. Watching him chug around the bases after those Sunday games. Answering all of his wonderful questions. Watching him chase down autographs.<\/div>\n
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All of the growing, learning and dreaming I watched him experience while our favorite team played out before us. <\/div>\n
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Talking about life. <\/div>\n
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Watching an adorable little boy become an exceptional young man.<\/div>\n
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Thank you, Anaheim Angels.<\/div>\n