Living the Dream, Bourne, Massachusetts, USA

Is that the full moon or a really big baseball?

The "boys of summer" played tonight on a perfect evening in Bourne on Cape Cod. The Bourne Braves and Orleans Firebirds, are two of the teams in the Cape Cod Baseball League.  The league is in its 128th year and showcases some of the country's top college players. The list of alumni who made it to Major League Baseball totals more than 830 former players from the Cape League. Some say the Cape League is the best amateur summer league in the country.  Each player hopes to shine under the watchful eyes of scouts and coaches.

Perhaps this is where the dream begins - father and son watching a game together.

Although seemingly dressed for soccer, perhaps this young man has already been seduced by the magical sound of the crack of the bat as a well hit ball sails into the sky.

And in a sign of the times,  both a "bat-boy" and a "bat-girl" suit up with the team to retrieve foul balls near home plate.

These are adults who consciously chose to continue to play the game of their youth into adulthood - all for the sheer love of the game and perhaps a chance to play in the big leagues.  Their passion burns strongly.  Most young boys of my generation had the dream of one day playing in "the show." Summer after summer we spent playing backyard games, role-playing our favorites players, certain we would play forever.  But few can last through the grueling competition that only increases in intensity as they move from little league to high school to college to class A, to double A, triple A, and MAYBE a chance on a major league team.  So many aspirants, so few successes.  So many dusty bus rides through America's back roads to play the next team, living on the cheap, playing, waiting, hoping, that one day, they will get a chance to play in " the show." 

Sometimes our culture disparages the money that athletes earn but, from my perspective, they earned it the old fashioned way - through years of hard work, dedication, focus, and consistently demonstrated performance. They deserve every penny the market can support. I'd rather see these talented and disciplined athletes be well paid, especially when compared to what the financial bozos and bankers have been receiving  for gambling with and often losing millions of regular people's hard earned money.

Pursuing and living one's dream - it doesn't get much better than that.