A recent Twitter poll from ESPN's "His & Hers" asked the question, "(Is it) OK for a grown man to bring a glove to a baseball game?"
Grown men get paid millions of dollars to play a kid's game played by children around the world, and you're wondering whether I can bring a ball glove to the game?
Let me ask a different question: Is it okay for people to dress up as their favorite superheroes at a comic book convention?
Is it okay for grown adults to go into the woods and play "War" with paintball guns?
Is it okay to wear a jacket that looks like a NASCAR driver's uniform?
Is it okay to sing along in the car?
Yes, yes, yes, and yes. You should be able to do what makes you happy, and if that means taking a baseball mitt to accomplish a childhood dream, then godspeed, little slugger.
So I tweeted back, "Absolutely! Every boy dreams of catching a big league ball. Every man who says he no longer wants to is a damn liar!"
Or he's so boring that no one wants to be around him, let alone take him to a baseball game.
We all still remember our childhood dreams. Not what we wanted to be when we grew up, but those tiny hopes and far off wishes, like catching a big league baseball and meeting your hero to have it signed. Like sharing the stage and jamming out with your favorite band. Like growing up and getting a real job so you could buy as much candy and pop as you could fit in your rocket race car.
If we didn't remember those dreams, then things like baseball fantasy camp, karaoke, and Type II diabetes wouldn't exist.
But we need to do the things that make us happy, even if they're the far off dreams we had when we were little kids. Because playing baseball with your heroes when you're too old to bend over and field a grounder is fun. Because singing along in the car with your favorite band from high school is still a blast. Because going on Saturday errands by yourself so you can sneak a chocolate malt is fun.
Think back to what you loved as a kid. Does it still appeal to you? Do you get excited when your favorite childhood TV show is on? Do you smile when you see something you loved as a kid? Or do you frown and say, "that's all behind me now" because you believe life is meant to be endured, and not enjoyed?
Paul the Apostle wrote to the church at Corinth, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." Except the other apostles called him Captain Bringdown behind his back, and he wasn't invited to very many parties, so there's a lesson there for all of us.
Too many people place too much importance on being an adult. I've been an adult for a long time, and frankly I don't see what the big deal is.
Adults work at jobs they hate. They buy houses they can't afford. They put themselves in debt to buy things they never use. And then they stress about losing it all.
I would think if this was your life, you'd want to have some childish fun just to get a break, because being childish and laughing at something immature is sometimes the only way to cope.
Nothing beats nailing one of your kids with a Nerf dart gun. Or watching reruns of your favorite 70s sitcoms, and being reminded of what made you laugh when you were 10 years old. It's a great stress reliever, and it reminds your Inner Child that all is not lost.
I recently posted on Twitter, "If you don't smile, even a tiny bit, at a clever booger joke, I don't think we can be friends." I had some great responses from several people who let me know that, despite their adultness, we could very definitely be friends.
It made me feel good to know there were other people who could still have a good time, despite pressures by our stuffy society to conform to unsmiling standards of blandness
It also made me glad I picked the friends I have, because I can't wipe them off on the couch.
You can find my books Branding Yourself
(affiliate link), No Bullshit Social Media, and The Owned Media Doctrine
on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million, or for the Kindle or Nook.
Grown men get paid millions of dollars to play a kid's game played by children around the world, and you're wondering whether I can bring a ball glove to the game?
Let me ask a different question: Is it okay for people to dress up as their favorite superheroes at a comic book convention?
Is it okay for grown adults to go into the woods and play "War" with paintball guns?
Is it okay to wear a jacket that looks like a NASCAR driver's uniform?
Is it okay to sing along in the car?
Yes, yes, yes, and yes. You should be able to do what makes you happy, and if that means taking a baseball mitt to accomplish a childhood dream, then godspeed, little slugger.
OK for a grown man to bring a glove to a baseball game?
— His And Hers (@HisAndHers) April 12, 2016
So I tweeted back, "Absolutely! Every boy dreams of catching a big league ball. Every man who says he no longer wants to is a damn liar!"
Or he's so boring that no one wants to be around him, let alone take him to a baseball game.
If we didn't remember those dreams, then things like baseball fantasy camp, karaoke, and Type II diabetes wouldn't exist.
But we need to do the things that make us happy, even if they're the far off dreams we had when we were little kids. Because playing baseball with your heroes when you're too old to bend over and field a grounder is fun. Because singing along in the car with your favorite band from high school is still a blast. Because going on Saturday errands by yourself so you can sneak a chocolate malt is fun.
Think back to what you loved as a kid. Does it still appeal to you? Do you get excited when your favorite childhood TV show is on? Do you smile when you see something you loved as a kid? Or do you frown and say, "that's all behind me now" because you believe life is meant to be endured, and not enjoyed?
Paul the Apostle wrote to the church at Corinth, "When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things." Except the other apostles called him Captain Bringdown behind his back, and he wasn't invited to very many parties, so there's a lesson there for all of us.
Too many people place too much importance on being an adult. I've been an adult for a long time, and frankly I don't see what the big deal is.
Adults work at jobs they hate. They buy houses they can't afford. They put themselves in debt to buy things they never use. And then they stress about losing it all.
I would think if this was your life, you'd want to have some childish fun just to get a break, because being childish and laughing at something immature is sometimes the only way to cope.
Nothing beats nailing one of your kids with a Nerf dart gun. Or watching reruns of your favorite 70s sitcoms, and being reminded of what made you laugh when you were 10 years old. It's a great stress reliever, and it reminds your Inner Child that all is not lost.
I recently posted on Twitter, "If you don't smile, even a tiny bit, at a clever booger joke, I don't think we can be friends." I had some great responses from several people who let me know that, despite their adultness, we could very definitely be friends.
It made me feel good to know there were other people who could still have a good time, despite pressures by our stuffy society to conform to unsmiling standards of blandness
It also made me glad I picked the friends I have, because I can't wipe them off on the couch.
You can find my books Branding Yourself
(affiliate link), No Bullshit Social Media, and The Owned Media Doctrine on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million, or for the Kindle or Nook.