Out of Rhythm

Life is about rhythm. Sunrise and sunset. Waking and sleeping. Living and dying. And for those of us who are blessed/cursed to be baseball fans there’s off season and baseball season. And during the season we develop our rhythms even further. Maybe we come home from work, make dinner, and switch on the game. Maybe we sneak peeks at the MLB At Bat app until our late shift or night class is over. But whatever it is, we’ve come to expect some Red Sox baseball around 7pm.

Aug 21, 2013; San Francisco, CA, USA; Boston Red Sox first baseman

(34) reacts after a strike against the San Francisco Giants during the third inning at AT

And then our team is snatched away from us and flung to the other side of the continent. West Coast road trips are great opportunities for Sox fans who are Left Coast-bound to see their team in person. But they’re a bit of a nightmare for those of us on the Right Coast. Our rhythm is all off. When 7pm rolls around and our Sox aren’t playing we’re all a little lost. Is it an off day? No. It’s the dreaded 10pm baseball game. Should you stay up? Should you go to bed and wake up in the middle of the night to find out the result of the game? What’s more important? You love the Sox, but you do have a job to do in the morning. But if they throw a no-hitter you’ll be kicking yourself in the morning for not seeing it live.

Thankfully, West Coast trips don’t last forever. Eventually our Sox will be back in the Eastern Time Zone where they belong. Can we fans survive until then?