Fields Of Dreams

With the recent passing of Ray Liotta, there were a lot of tributes that went out to him for his work as "Shoeless" Joe Jackson in the film Field of Dreams. Admittedly, that is one of my favorite films of all-time, but the actual field does exist in a place called Dyersville, Iowa. I've never played on the field, but I will make a pilgramage to that ball diamond at some point before my time on this planet is up. Just to kick the same dirt as James Earl Jones, Kevin Costner, Ray Liotta, and Burt Lancaster would be a movie maven's dream, but there's something more in seeing the cornfield in the outfield, the chalk on the lines, and the smell of freshly-cut grass on the field.

I'll be out on a few ball diamonds today as I'm umpiring a tournament. While the fields I'll be on don't have the same mystique as the one in Dyersville, the tournament will be raising funds for the community center where the ball diamonds are located. With a forecast for sun and temperatures in the mid-20s on the Celsius scale, it should be a great day for ball!

I'll have sunscreen and bug spray in tow as it appears it'll be a long day on the diamonds, but it's always a good time at this tournament and I'm happy to see it return after the pandemic had sidelined it for a couple of summers. The teams that play know they're not winning the World Series, so they come out and have fun which, in turn, allows us to have fun as umpires. The calls still matter, but there aren't any managers running out of dugouts to tell me how wrong I was on a close play.

Because of my commitment to making calls today, I am making a call here and telling you that HBIC is closed for the day. Game Two of the Stanley Cup Final goes tonight in Denver, so there's a big enough hockey event generating stories to keep everyone happy. Will we see Tampa Bay bounce back? Will Colorado grab a 2-0 lead heading to Florida? We'll know after tonight's game!

My hope is that I'm home in time to catch the game without a sunburn and without too many bug bites. I do know that this tournament is always a good time, so let's hit the field and play ball!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!