Let's Go Bucs!

I realized last Friday, as I was sitting there enjoying the Bucco game at PNC Park with my family, that the only true point to doing "The Wave" at a baseball game is merely an indirect form of the crowd expressing their complete and utter boredom and disinterest in what is going on in the game at that point.

It started off a little weak at first, late in the top of the 8th inning when fans began to realize in between yawns that the score was still 0-0 and hopes of anyone scoring anytime soon were looking slim to grim.

Then, from a far off corner along the 3rd base line we saw a glimmer of hope in shaking off the sleepers about to form in our eyes, the slightest hint of The Wave was forming. Yes, some calisthenic entertainment was about to come my way. This was even better than the seventh inning stretch. I got to stand up and sit down while flapping my arms gracefully through the air countless times and then got to sit down and watch the effects of it swirl around me like a funnel cloud before it made its way back to where it was my turn again to take part in the oh-so-strange, yet oh-so-entertaining tradition.

For a second there, I had my own "wave" of nostalgia wash over me when I began flapping my arms for the second time as if I were auditioning for a part in Angels In The Outfield. And for another second I almost found it a reasonable gesture to be flapping my arms as if calling for angels to come save the Pittsburgh Pirates from yet another horrendously embarrassing season. (Don't get me wrong, still love you guys and will keep going to the games.)

Not only does The Wave give me the opportunity to stretch my cramping legs, but it also gives me the chance to exercise my vocal cords a bit. Since Lord knows the last few innings have been so dull that I have only muttered a few words to a family member to the left or right of me, when the wave comes curling my way, this means I get to also make that little "Woooo" noise that the rest of my seating section chimes in with me.

It's typically a shame when The Wave dies down, there are usually a few dedicated souls, God bless them all, who try and savor the last few bits that are left and continue to do it for at least five more extra rounds than need-be. But hey, whatever it takes sports fans, keep on waving.