Bro Bonding

I haven’t touched a baseball since playing in the MSBL World Series Tournament last October… and I really miss it. So when I found out that some of my former teammates were having a baseball practice on Sunday in Mission Viejo, I decided I had to go.

When I say “I miss it” you probably think I mean playing baseball, and I do miss playing baseball. But what I really miss most is seeing my friends and hanging out with my buddies. For guys, baseball practices (and most sports for that matter) are typically a combination of bro hugs mixed with good natured ribbing. I know it might sound funny, but sports are a way for guys to compete against each other, yet still be rooting for each other at the same time. It’s like giving each other a hard time has become a major art form for most athletes and some of us are even better at trash talking than actually playing the sport!

All of us had such a great time on Sunday. But I have to say that the conditions weren’t so great. The fields were still super muddy from the rain, guys were slipping and falling all over the place, and throwing a wet baseball was a real adventure. But that just made it more fun because it gave us more reasons to give each other a hard time. One of the guys even messed up his knee and ended up having to go to see a doctor afterwards, but since it wasn’t a super serious injury, we still gave him a bunch of crap about being such a big baby! (Truth is he was really tough about it and wouldn’t leave the field to go see a doctor until practice was completely over.)

I don’t know if women bond the same way as men. Maybe they do, but for some reason I kind of doubt that women kick mud at each other on purpose like we men did on Sunday. Yeah, we kick mud on each other, and we laugh at each other a lot, but we would also go to war for one another. It’s our way of bonding and it creates friendships that last a lifetime.

Like I said, I don’t know if women bond the same way as men do. But what I do know is that when I told my wife I just had to go to baseball practice on Sunday, she said, “I thought you gave up baseball?” I answered her back immediately in my deepest, male, testosterone filled voice, “Yeah, but I ain’t never giving up on my bro’s!”

Only your real friends will tell you when you’re your face is dirty.

~ Sicilian Proverb