“Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal.” – George Will

Tuesday evening Rebekah and I made our way to Tarboro’s Municipal Stadium to watch our local River Bandits take on the Oak Island Loggerheads in the playoffs.

This is classic small town Americana. So much so that if anyone from my former home in England wants to know what it means to be in the U.S.A. I’d say, “Don’t waste your time with New York or Washington or California or Disney or even the Grand Canyon, just come to Tarboro one day when there’s a baseball game on.”

They could stand in the 90-degree-plus heat, listen to a heartfelt rendition of the Star Spangled Banner, grab a hot-dog, a coke and some nachos from the concession stand, sit in the crowd on a slab of concrete and sweat for the next four hours.

The other part of it is that every two or three minutes someone you know walks by and they stop to talk. And you talk to the people you don’t know too because, well, this is community and the baseball – no offense, River Bandits – is only part of the story.

Oh there were flashes of excitement (if you didn’t miss them because you were “visiting” or in line at the concession). There was the inning where we gave all those runs away because one error was compounded by another error plus players not really paying attention to the game. Then there was the moment where one of our Bandits hit a three-run homer and the place went completely nuts. Or the interesting drama when it looked like the visiting dugout got into trouble with the umpires.

Baseball, sultry summer evenings, hotdogs, community, good people, playing hard… and – of course – beating the socks off the visiting team as an added bonus.

Seriously – and this is a hugely important observation right now – here in America we love The Game more than our team winning a game. It gets intense, we want our players to be victorious, we get upset at the umpires, we play hard and right up to the edge of the rules, and we trash-talk the other team….

BUT… the game is better when the other side is strong too, and it’s more fun to win when losing is a real possibility, and we understand that – win or lose – America is not just us it’s the whole thing.

America is The Whole Thing. America is The Game. The players, the stars, the bench, the umpires, the owners, the concession stand workers, the Republicans, the Democrats, the Libertarians, the Independents – but most of all the community, the crowd in the stands.

From the stands – DEREK

Take me out to the ball game,
Take me out with the crowd;
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack,
I don’t care if I never get back.
Let me root, root, root for the home team,
If they don’t win, it’s a shame.
For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out,
At the old ball game.