From Her Perspective

Baseball season has thankfully begun and many nights, afternoons and weekends will likely be spent glued to the television, beer in one hand, channel changer in the other. Or if you’re lucky enough, you’ll be spending some time in the stands of Fenway rooting on the Sox.

Wherever it is you do it, by it I mean support your hometown team, one thing’s for certain — your girlfriend/significant other will only put up with this behavior for so long (unless she’s the rare but cool chick who digs sports). My prediction is two weeks, a month at the most.

And it’s only April. October couldn’t be further away.

With football, it’s a little more tolerable — 16 games on Sundays and Mondays and then playoffs with games. But baseball, ahh, baseball …a blissful 162 games on multiple nights of the week before playoffs. That’s about 162 too many in the eyes of some women.

For those 162 days, your attentions are turned towards the game, the players and the stats. Instead of cooing to your girlfriend when she’s sick, you’re more concerned about Curt Schilling’s ankle. And rightfully so.

But a non-baseball lover probably won’t understand. She won’t understand why you don’t want to talk on the phone while the game is on, why you can’t make plans for Saturday because there’s a double-header or why you’ve been wearing your David Ortiz jersey for the past three days (without washing it).

I’m speaking as someone who used to be a non-baseball lover. I know, I know, it’s almost incomprehensible. But it’s true. Not too long ago I couldn’t stand the thought of watching hours of baseball on TV. Now, I find myself constantly turning my head towards the game, wondering what the score is, who’s at bat, who’s pitching and ignoring everything else around me.

So here are a few helpful hints I think would get your girl to become more interested in baseball …or at least be able to tolerate sitting through it.
Hint number 1 — Leave a sheet with all the players head shots on the kitchen table. She’ll look at it simply out of curiosity and, well, because she’s a girl. Hopefully, she’ll find a few players she thinks are good looking and might sit down for an inning or two just to see him play. It’s sexist, I know.
It’s also a little stereotypical but I have to admit it’s how I started watching both football and baseball. I saw Tom Brady, thought he was hot, started watching football. Saw Gabe Kapler, Theo Epstein, thought they were hot, started watching baseball. Of course, the fights for the World Series and Super Bowl helped.

But then a strange thing happened — all of a sudden I was watching the games because I actually liked the games and what was taking place on the field. I even started following teams (football) that weren’t the Patriots. So far I haven’t gotten that crazy with baseball, but there’s still time.
The funny thing is that the same thing started happening to my friends. They also found themselves getting into the games, for far more than just a pretty face.

Hint number 2 — Explain the game to her. Now, I know this is a sacrifice on your part. The last thing you’re going to want to be doing during a game is explaining how it works and what’s going on to someone. But I encourage you to make the sacrifice. It just probably won’t be a Yankees/Red Sox game, maybe try a Devil Rays/Sox game.

If she actually understands what’s going on, she might be more inclined to watch it and, again, become more interested in the sport in general. It also gives you a chance to show off how much you know about the sport. She’ll be impressed by your knowledge.

Hint number 3 — Make it a social event. Invite friends over if you’re watching it on TV, have lots of beer stocked in the refrigerator and order a few pizzas. Going to the game can also be a social event. Start off hanging out at a bar with friends before the game, head over to Fenway, enjoy the game, and then go to the bar afterwards. She’ll be happy just talking and hanging out with friends. She might not even notice you haven’t spoken to her most of the night. You can make up for that after the game.

Who knows, in the end she could become a fan. Stranger things have happened.