>Well, that's a very generous offer. When next I am near you I may well take you up on it!

It was a sincere offer. A baseball game is always fun, a good way to return to the slower pace of an era that is disappearing. Probably not so much of an issue for you, living in New Zealand. (It was what I liked about New Zealand as well, along with the natural beauty and the friendliness of the people).

Everything now seems about speed. Twitter is a concept that would have seemed right at home in The Onion, except millions of real people are doing it. (MIddle aged people, but still). Football, basketball, and NASCAR have gained favor compared to stodgy old baseball. We have become temperamentally too impatient for it. I am a gadget geek, too, but think we have lost something we shouldn't let go.

The Brewers do something at home games on Sundays that is corny but impossibly cool. A local restaurant chain has a raffle deal where 9 kids (under 12, I think) are introduced before the game. They are announced by the real public address announcer and go to a position on the field. "At first base, Angie Mueller from Waukesha, Wisconsin." Then the real Brewers starters are announced and go out and stand next to the kids. You can see them making small talk, minor words you know the kids will never forget. Then the national anthem is played, the kids and the pros standing side by side. I love it.