Here we are at the start of another season of Friday Night Lights, and here we are providing you with overnight coverage of our Kendall County high school teams.
Good luck to our Chargers, Greyhounds, Eagles and Bobcats.
But wait. This column is not about football. …
Earlier this month, Major League Baseball turned back the clock and brought a little magic to the game.
And it was eerily wonderful.
My Chicago Cubs played the Cincinnati Reds in a regular-season game in Dyersville, Iowa.
Dyersville, Iowa?
Yes, at the Field of Dreams.
If you’ve been as ostrich with your head in the sand for the last 30-plus years, Field of Dreams is the baseball field built in the middle of a cornfield that was the centerpiece of the 1989 movie of the same name.
The movie is described as a sports fantasy film and is based on the 1982 novel “Shoeless Joe.” Joe is Joe Jackson, the Chicago White Sox star who was accused, along with seven other players, of throwing the 1919 World Series … to, coincidently, the Cincinnati Reds.
The film stars Kevin Costner as a farmer who builds the field in his corn that attracts the ghosts of baseball legends, including Jackson.
Briefly, troubled by his broken relationship with his late father, John Kinsella, a devoted baseball fan, Costner, or Ray Kinsella, fears growing old without really achieving anything. He hears voices, including the famous line “If you build it, he will come,” and he follows its advice and builds the field.
That leads to a series of events that includes Jackson, the other “Black Sox” and additional players coming to the field.
Kinsella’s father also comes, and father and son “have a catch” on the field.
And then, everybody comes.
It’s a heartwarming story, albeit far-fetched.
Anyway, the Cubs and Reds battled at the Field of Dreams earlier this month, and the magic was back as my beloved Chicago Northsiders actually won a game during an otherwise dismal season.
Yeah, I know, I’ve been a glutton for punishment my entire life – except for 2016 when my boys broke the 108-year-old curse and won the World Series.
That was my first year in Texas, and I’ll never forget my phone lighting up as friends and family texted and called after the magical moment when the Cubbies – those loveable losers – were crowned baseball’s best.
Anyway, the Field of Dreams is a magical place, and if you’re a baseball fan it’s a place well worth checking out. I’ve been there twice, and I’d go back again in a heartbeat.
You see, I’m a true, diehard baseball fan and have been my entire life. Born and raised in Northwest Indiana, I grew up with the Cubs and legendary players like Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins and, of course, my favorite player of all-time, Ernie Banks. Through the years, other superstars have donned the Cubbie blue and I’ve treasured them all. I suffered for decades as failure after failure resulted in disappointment after disappointment – until 2016.
I actually have some t-shirts that exclaim “Just one before I die,” “I ain’t afraid of no goat” and “The greatest baseball game of all-time was played on a Wednesday in Cleveland.”
If you don’t get the meanings, well, just read on.
OK, back to Field of Dreams.
My wife and I first visited in the fall many years ago when the corn surrounding the field was tall and ripe. We walked around the field and the farm – me carrying my baseball glove and a ball. It was a weekday so there were not very many other folks there.
It was just … cool.
I bought a couple of souvenirs, and it simply was a great day.
A few years later, we returned with our daughters in tow. My oldest daughter is a sports fan and she was old enough at the time to really enjoy the special atmosphere the Field of Dreams created.
And, yes, we had a catch together on the field, and I must say it was a pretty special moment as the two-generation Domke duo created the magic the field supplies.
But we took it one step further.
A game actually was being played there that day. It was a “pick-up” game, meaning people would show up, wait their turn, then enter the game when a spot opened. So, my daughter and I did just that. We played in a baseball game on the Field of Dreams, goofing around with complete strangers and reliving the magic of “Going the distance.”
It was a special moment I’ll never forget. It was an awesome daddy-daughter experience.
But before we left, I just had to do one more thing.
Yep, I walked into the cornfield from centerfield.
I wouldn’t say I was nervous, but being the baseball traditionalist I am, it was a little, well, surreal.
I wanted to go by myself, so I did.
As I reached the outskirts of centerfield, I thought about the Black Sox, the other players and “Terence Mann” from the movie, played superbly by James Earl Jones.
I reached the corn. I extended my arm to touch a stalk and then pulled it back. I turned around and smiled to my family.
I took a step. I took another.
I continued to walk deeper into the cornfield until I disappeared from sight.
Poof. …
“Is this heaven?”
No, it’s Boerne, Texas.
As always, thanks for reading.
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