These two guys captured my attention and then my heart at the Tiger Game on Saturday. They were sitting in front of us along with several wheelchair fans and their caregiver companions.
The Two Fans shook hands and made friends up and down their row. The Blue Fan (wearing the "cheer, cheer for Old Notre Dame" shirt) jumped up and down when the White Sox scored so he was visibly in the minority. The Navy Fan cheered for the Tigers. Both were good natured and, at times, pleasantly loud with their enthusiasm for baseball.
Departing the game, we chatted. The Navy Fan, it turns out, is the dad of the Blue Fan. "He grew up here and I raised him, " Navy Dad said. "I don't know how he turned out this way, but we always have fun at the ballpark."
So here's a guy who grew up in southeast Michigan and is a Notre Dame and White Sox fan. He's at the Tiger game, expressing his Sox loyalties. In some parts of the world, this would be unheard of. But, in true American democratic tradition, we can go to the ball park and cheer for the team that we like. We call this free speech and on a Saturday afternoon, expressed as fan fun at a baseball game, it is a wonderful part of being a citizen of an incredible country.
Copyright 2011
Wanda Hayes Eichler
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