Color Radio

I grew up in rural Kentucky and my only connection to big cities was through their sports teams.  I remember hot summer nights sitting in the backyard with my grandfather, star gazing and listening to the Cincinnati Reds on the radio.  The radio became my eyes and ears for what was happening in the big leagues.  I imagined Ted Kluszewski, partly because I had seen pictures of him in the newspaper, strolling to the plate to perform some Herculean feat.  I fantasied about the blazing fast ball of Jim Maloney and the slick fielding of Roy Mcmillian.  I had been to very few baseball games so the sound of the announcer's voice painted a vivid picture in my mind of what it was like to be at Crosley Field.

To this day when I go to a game I think back to those summer nights in my backyard with my grandfather, learning about life and baseball.  Not all of my lessons where for the best like which beer or tobacco product I should choose, but the stimulation of my imagination from the radio are still with me today.

Now I complain because a game is not in High Definition, or that I have to push the DVR button between innings.  All of us seem to sit with a high tech device in our hands even while we are watching the game.  While I sit in my home looking at big screen television in full stereo, I wonder if this was ever as good as those summer nights, sitting in the backyard with my grandfather and my imagination, listening to color radio.