Two datapoints from the past few days:

I biked past a field at a school and saw a half dozen kids (age 10 or so) with bats and gloves, playing what appeared to be unorganized, perhaps even pickup, baseball. I had just watched this video, which was heartwarming but also reminded me that kids don't actually do this very much anymore. Or maybe they do. Best part? The kid in the Andrew McCutchen shirt.

At the game last night where, despite a pretty small crowd (15,555, not bad for a Monday, except that it was absolutely magnificent weather), the fans were really into it. There were repeated fan-driven chants, which I've seen from big crowds (where there's a critical mass of drunk dudebros to start them), but it was pretty awesome to hear them in a half-empty ballpark. Honestly, it felt more like 1997 than I can remember at any game in years. Instead of the "How will they lose this one?" feeling, it was, "I just know they'll score/get the DP."

I'm starting to hope that the NFL season does get delayed, to buy this exciting young team another month with the local sports stage all to itself. If we get on a little roll and get above .500, this town could go a little nuts.