No Fare at the Ballpark

You know the saying, “It’s American as baseball, hotdogs and apple pie.”  When I think about that phrase it all just says fat.  Americans are fat and the hotdogs and apple pie have not helped, but neither has baseball that is unless you are playing it a very high level, say at least AAA.  For most of us, baseball means sitting in the stands and watching.

I’m not a baseball fanatic.  I don’t know when the last time I watched a baseball game on TV.  If I had to guess it was when my Mima was still alive and even though she was legally blind from Macular Degeneration she would “watch” her beloved Atlanta Braves on TV.  That was fourteen years ago.  Despite my indifference to TV baseball I have enjoyed going to the Durham Bulls since they moved to the DBAP some thirteen years ago.  Russ and his business partner Rich decided early on that they needed season tickets for their company, which I have come to love.

A few times a season we go down to the ballpark and sit right behind the Bulls dugout and cheer on the local team.  I am regular enough in Russ’ seats that the promotions team members who do all the fun activities on the field between innings know me.  Those things like sumo wrestling or when a kid runs the bases against Wool E. Bull, our mascot, are what make minor league baseball so great.  This year they have a new one where 8 tiny little children are dressed up in  bull costumes and they chase Wool E. across the field.  It is called the running of the bulls and is about the cutest thing I have ever seen.

The only thing that is wrong with going to baseball is the food.  The choices at the ball park are, hotdog, peanuts and beer of course, bar-b-que, pizza, burritos, funnel cakes, cotton candy, ice cream, snow cones, lemonade and chips.  Food vendors come and go at the DBAP.  One year someone tried selling a salad and I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  At last something I could eat at the ballpark.  But I was much too infrequent a visitor to make an impact on salad sales and that offering did not last.

Years ago I could see how only offering unhealthy foods would appeal to the primarily male audience at games, but now even men worry about their physique.  I know I am not the only person who thinks about what I can eat before a game since I know there is nothing for me at the park.  If someone comes up with a healthy solution and lets everyone know it was available not only might they sell it, but also more weight watchers might come to the games.  I’m not suggesting that “It’s American as baseball, grilled chicken and a fruit salad” is the new slogan, but let’s widen the baseball circle to include the health conscious.  They might be fans that will live longer to cheer on the team.