Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and chevrolet

One Spring when I was a kid, I kept a scrapbook of the Atlanta Braves. I had cut out the pictures from the Atlanta Constitution of all the players. It turned out to be a good year to keep a Braves scrapbook. It was the first year the Braves won the Western Division. Of course, they got eliminated early by the accursed Mets, who then turned around and beat the Orioles, who I liked also. No justice. No justice. I hate the Mets.

Back then, I liked the Braves even though they didn't win very often. One may remember that the Braves had a tremendous talent for picking up players who tanked right after they became Braves. Or they gave away players who became All-Stars immediately after they found their way to a new city. The fact that the Braves always got eliminated early ultimately wore you down to the point where you might watch them for a month or two, but quickly lost interest when football season started.

Football has always been our family game. Look at the family tree. Granddaddy played quarterback on the football team for Branham and Hughes in Spring Hill, Tennessee back in the teens. Dad played fullback and center for Clarksville High School in the 40's. Frank and I always wore his jerseys and his letter jacket when we were kids. It might be the last time where I really liked the color purple.

Then there were Frank's and my years in Pop Warner for the Atlanta Colts, followed by Dunwoody High School and, for me, on to Washington and Lee. We all played other sports. Dad played American Legion baseball, Frank did the shot and discus for the Dunwoody High School track team and I tried to play basketball at Dunwoody. But football was always the game. That's why it is so easy to immerse yourself in Fall and lose your interest in baseball in our family.

Baseball is fun. It is a pastime. There is drama and excitement. Just when you get used to nothing happening, all of a sudden, some one gets a hit or steals a base. Then there is the drama between pitcher and batter.

But football is religion. And we have been football adherents for a long time. All other pursuits pale in comparison.

I don't know why I decided to write about sports. I just got in the mood.