Baseball, the greatest game

Well it's almost time for baseball's regular season to start up again, it's just around the corner and I can't wait for our Cubs to take the field and start that march into the post season. Like the rest of Cubs fans, I hope that we make it further than we did last season.
I have always been a baseball fan since as long as I can remember. My Dad was a huge Astros fan and hated the Dodgers with a passion....lol. Growing up in Texas I was an Astros fan as well, still am to this day, but once I started watching the Cubs on WGN, I was hooked.
One of my fondest memories of baseball was when my buddy Rob and I were coaching a little league team called the Blue Jays. We had two second year players, the rest were first year right up from tee ball, and since we were the so called rookie coaches, we got last pick of players so needless to say we were more like the bad news bears. We had to teach the kids the basics, you could say we had to start from scratch with all of them.
I had a blast coaching, it was fun and the kids loved learning how to play the game. Our season was 13 games long, we finished 1-11-1 the first season. Not the best record I know, but the one win was like that out of a story book.
It was our last game, a night game, we were playing the Padres, they were 12-0, big favorites to win, they had all the best players and had a great offense. Before the game, I got a call from Rob, he was going to be late, so I was going to have to fly solo until he got there. So I went to the field, set it up, got all our equipment set out and ready to go for the game.
I went to sit in the bleachers and work on my lineup and just think about the game, who I would start, when to make subs since we had to play all the kids and what positions to have them play. So this guy sits next to me, introduced himself as the Padres head coach. He asked what our record was, I said we are 0-12-1, he said oh, we are 12-0, we will be 13-0 after we beat you guys today and walked off.
I blew it off, but inside I was like "what an arrogant bastard". Well the game started, we held our own, our kids played great defense, especially at 3rd, SS and 1st and our pitcher was in the zone, he was throwing strikes and baffling their batters.
The other team had a big crowd there, parents, friends, they had balloons, they had bbq grills going, big banners in the outfield. They were all set for a big victory celebration.
In the last inning we were up 5-4, they had a runner on first and moved him to third on two ground balls.
So now they have a runner on third, two outs. I'm signaling to my catcher Ian to make sure and block and pitches in the ground and telling my pitcher to keep it low and away and tell my infield to go to first if it's a ground ball.
Well their batter fouls off a few and takes a few, then he hits a grounder back to the pitcher, the runner takes off, our pitcher throws home, our catcher Ian blocks the plate, tags the runner, the Ump calls him out. WOW! talk about a big win for us, they way we ran onto the field yelling and screaming, the kids and parents going crazy, you would have thought we won the World Series......lol.
We were throwing hats and gloves in the air, jumping up and down, it was great. Rob got there just as the game ended so he got to partake in the victory celebration as well. I lost my voice that night, but it was well worth it.
The last I heard about some of our players, a few of them went on to be all stars on their high school teams and some even made it to state playoffs, that was good to hear, I hope that we had some positive influence on them and that they learned to love the game of baseball.
I will never forget that game, I can picture it like it was yesterday, I still get goose bumps when I think about it. The times that I have been back home to Texas I drive by the old ball field and remember that evening, it always brings a smile to my face. I have to agree with those that say that baseball is the greatest game ever played.......Go Cubs!!!!!!