The game of second chances

It's fairly common to hear sports stars – after winning a championship – thanking the fans and crediting their support for its role in their victory.

That's sort of what happened at AJ's baseball game Monday night.

It was, once again, a miserable evening to watch baseball: windy and cold, and growing colder as each inning dragged on. (Seriously. The temperature dropped 10 degrees over the course of the game.)

The kids didn't mind. They were having fun. And were getting hits. Or at least hitting fouls.

There's the hit!

Made it to second...

And he's off to third...

Safe!

So back to the story about the parents being heroes... It was not a fun night to be a fan. And let's be honest, as proud as we are of our little darlings, these games can be brutally boring.

Sydney and I made a quick run home during the bottom of the first inning to grab jackets and a blanket. That made it a little easier to watch the rest of the game.

When the last out was made, the kids came back cheering, confidant that they'd won. Until the coach (Jeff missed that night due to work) calmly tallied the score and announced the other team scored eight, and they'd scored seven.

AJ was crushed! There had to have been some mistake! He looked at me and questioned, "Didn't they count all the runs?"

Just then, the other coach came over and, in front of all the kids, said, "Anybody mind if we play an extra inning? There's still a little time left and there's no game scheduled after us."

Instant cheers went up from all the kids as parents did their best to hide looks of dismay. Yes, we minded. We were miserably cold and wanted to go home. But how could any of us say that and disappoint our children? And so through clenched teeth we smiled and nodded agreement. And the game went on.

Thankfully, the inning went relatively quickly. (Though it lasted long enough for us all to practice saying "NO!" in unison in case they asked to play another inning.) We were up first and scored three runs. When it was the other team's turn to bat, we shut them down. Final score: we won 10-8.

And you better believe every kid on our team knew it. They didn't need the coach to tell them this time.

AJ ran off the field, straight to me with his arms out for a hug. "THANK YOU PARENTS!" He shouted. "YOU HELPED US WIN!"

As we walked back to the car, AJ continued to shake his head in wonder, talking with his teammates and giving total credit to the parents who'd allowed the game to go on so that they could come from behind and win. Later, by phone, he recapped the game for Jeff. "Dad, we were losing, but the parents let us keep playing, and we won!"

It warms my heart. Almost enough to make up for the chill in the air.