The Last Game

Tuesday night was our last game of the season. Our tournament started Monday night and we won that game so we got to play Tuesday evening. We only lost by 1 run. The kids did a good job last night, they were hitting the ball really good, but couldn’t get on base. The other team’s pitcher was a good little player. Actually, to be completely honest, the kid got on my nerves. He always stopped the ball and was able to out run our kids to first base. After sitting through 3 innings of seeing the same thing happen I was tired of it. Occasionally, if we could hit the ball past the pitcher, we’d do really good because the rest of the team was just so-so. You could tell the team was built on that one kid and if he didn’t have the ball, it was chaos. I’m sure we’ll be meeting that little boy again over the next few years.

Last’s night excitement during the game, at least for our family, revolved around Cheetos. Papa Kerry came to the game with a sack of them. Before the game started Cade saw the Cheetos and took a handful. During the first time at bat he came back to get more. Papa Kerry, being a grandpa, told him just to take the whole sack. I knew it wasn’t a good idea, but I was defenseless against it. As Cade was running off I did yell out “Your Daddy isn’t going to like that”. Right before Cade got up to bat he ran the Cheetos back to us. He was afraid someone would steal them while he was batting (like he’s around a bunch of criminals). As soon as the annoying pitcher tagged him out, he ran back and got the Cheetos. I figured since Jay hadn’t said anything yet, we were safe.

In the second inning things changed with the Cheetos. It was Cade’s turn to bat and Jay saw him slowly walking towards us with the Cheetos. Jay yelled at him to get back. Cade slowly turned around and sauntered back, licking the yellow cheese off of his dirty fingers. Not only was Jay’s head about to pop off, he was grossed out. Jay confiscated the Cheetos.

Down on our end Jim looked up and saw Jay with the Cheetos. At first we assumed Jay was eating them. Then I saw him put his phone to his ear and I knew what was coming. About 5 seconds later I heard my familiar ringtone. When I answered, all he said was “Come get the Cheetos”. I made the walk of shame in front of all the parents to collect Papa Kerry’s Cheetos. Jay gave me a somewhat irritated look and then said the Cheetos were driving him nuts.

After we got home Jay told me the part of the Cheeto story that we couldn’t see from our seats. I guess while Jay was trying to get the kids to sit on the bench in their batting order Cade went down the line and gave each kid 1 Cheeto. There was some begging so he went down the line again, only distributing 1 Cheeto. Then he told the kids that was all they could have, the rest were his and then he proceeded to shove handful after handful in his mounth. He would stop only long enough to lick the yellow processed cheese powder off of his grimy disgusting little fingers. When Jay saw Cade getting ready to bring the Cheetos back to us, he lost it. That’s when I got the phone call. We all had a good laugh once I got back to my seat with the bag of Cheetos. The story probably is funnier when Jay tells it, because he can demonstrate Cade sucking on his fingers. I noticed this morning that there are yellow finger prints on his ball pants. Note to self (and anyone else attending Cade’s games) – no more Cheetos at baseball games.

As for the sharing part – I don’t feel much sympathy for Jay. Cade limiting the kids to one Cheeto apiece is not that much different than his father. I see that look of irritation and the blowing out of air whenever I ask Jay if I can have a bite of his dessert. The apple hasn’t fallen too far from the tree in our family.