Baseball Star

Angels Baseball.  I'm not really a huge baseball fan, but going to one game per year is almost always entertaining.  The energy of the diehard fans, the food, the music blaring through loudspeakers, the wave.  Especially when you're accompanied by a little girl who simply refuses to not have a good time. Ever.

We headed out to a Sunday afternoon game where the weather started a little blustery with rain threatening in the morning.



Of course Rally Monkey joined us.



We arrived so early it felt like we pretty much had the entire park to ourselves (I never thought I would meet someone who grew up arriving even earlier at events than my family.  Boy, did he prove me wrong.  Love it.)



The requisite tattoo in place, we were ready to root, root, root for the home team.



The weather warmed up, jackets came off, and we got into our groove.



Throw in a little cotton candy......................


[Classic look on Philip's face]

And you were left with one gap-toothed girl having the time of her life.



I brought my good camera to capture some of the game highlights, but a much larger, really good camera quickly found its way to our girl, and broadcast her on the Jumbotron for some several thousand fans to see.


[That's me on the left taking of photo of the giant screen while Lauren squeals in delight]

Just when we thought our baseball watching experience couldn't get any more exciting, it did.

Oh Did It Ever.

Following the first inning, during a particularly lengthy break, a maniacal dancing man was featured on the Jumbotron.

Next thing we know, the screen was split, with him shaking his thang on one side, and our very own  Lauren Jade on the other side.  The instructions sprawled across the bottom of the screen left no doubt:

DANCE OFF!!!!!



Was this really a fair battle?  Let's take a look at the facts.  A sweet and innocent 7-year-old in a ponytail and ruffly tutu vs. a rabid middle-aged man in full Angels regalia (including a rather large foam hat on his head).

Clearly, those Angels broadcasters had no idea what they were in for.

Sister worked it out.





After at least a minute of dancing, including several well executed spins and leaps by Lauren, the split screen disappeared to reveal the winner:



Oh yeah.  Poor guy didn't stand a chance.

Honestly, it was one of the funniest and most entertaining things we have seen in forever.  I was laughing so hard I'm surprised I could hold the camera straight.

Within seconds, I received a text from Lauren's PE coach at school, whose son Sam is in Lauren's class.

"Wow, Lauren was awesome in that dance-off!!  Way to go!!!"

Once she read that, we were off in search of Sam and his family.  Turns out they were all the way across the entire stadium.



Even so, what should have been a 15-minute detour away from the game for us turned into more than 30.  Why?  Because Lauren kept getting stopped by people who recognized her from the Jumbotron.  High-fives and compliments were flying all around.

And how did our modest child react?  "Mama, I'm really popular, aren't I?!"

Coming up next:  lessons in humility.

We made it until the sixth inning before calling it a day.  All that excitement (not to mention hot dogs and peanuts) left us drained and ready for home.

The most memorable baseball game we've ever attended.  Lauren has already decided that next year she is going to don her Angels gear from head to toe.  We are more than certain that additional screen time (not to mention a dance-off rematch) is in her future.