One Wish

Before this whole Germany thing happened with Nik, I told him the one thing that I felt I missed in his life was his baseball player experience. Nik has been a part of baseball his entire life. He lives, breathes and loves the sport. Since we have been together he has taught me so much about it and I myself have learned to appreciate it. I told him that I wish that I got to see him play baseball. At the time that seemed like a far fetched wish, but then Germany happened and we realized my wish of seeing him play was going to come true.

On Sunday I was fortunate to see Nik in action. I knew he was good, but when I actually saw him, I realized he was the staple of the team. Without him on the Paderborn team, this team would not and could not function. Nik is the catcher (the only catcher) and from the eyes of a novice a very good catcher at that. He played every single inning of a double header. He also was either the #1 or #2 hitter on the team, meaning he is one of the best hitters, so he was up at bat almost every inning as well. Not only did he get about 6 hits, but he made it home once, hit a triple another time and got a few people home as well. He also was nailed a few times by the ball, either catching behind the plate or running to first base (see below). I was so impressed with his skills and his abilities especially since he hasn’t played in 4 years. He was very modest when I complemented him on his talents and said he was much better a long time ago. I think it is safe to say I am his #1 fan whether it be playing baseball, coaching baseball, writing about baseball or just teaching me about the game of baseball.

The weather on Sunday was perfectly exceptional. So sunny in fact I had to be fully covered up (I did not have any sunscreen) because I did not want to fry my skin like I have so many times in the past. So in other words I was hot. I arrived early before the game to watch a little bit of a warm up. When the game started I was excited to see Nik in his uniform and to see how focused he was. As his girlfriend I can say he looked so handsome. The baseball field is small, but very beautiful. I was impressed with the turnout of people. Everyone had some sort of Untouchables propoganda on and there was a ton of little kids running around with baseball mitts to catch the fly balls. Not much different than the US. The announcer was funny, because most of the time he would speak in German, but a lot of the plays and calls he would say in English. I appreciated that. I happily sat by myself because I was there to see Nik, not really to socialize, but I did have a few visitors. The groundskeeper for the field is Serbian and absolutely adores Nik. He doesn’t speak a lick of English, but would come up to me and smile at me, pat me on the shoulder and talk to me in either Serbian or German, like I understood him. I would smile back, laugh and nod my head. He was very sweet. He sat behind me with his wife and another couple. They were so excited everytime Nik came up to bat and they would chant, “NIKO, NIKO, NIKO, NIKO!” It made me very happy to see that Nik had his very own fan club.

I think Nik was a little worried I wasn’t having fun, so he would check in on me from the dugout every now and then. I was having a ton of fun though, I found myself being the loudest cheerleader out there. Whenever Nik or Danny had a good play I would shout out some phrase or sentence I thought would be appropriate. At the end of the day, they had won both games. The first one they beat the team by ten, so they stopped the game in the 7th inning. The second game was much closer, but they still won 2 to 1. After the game, it is customary for the team to sit and have a few biers before they leave the field. I was a little worried I would be imposing by joining in, but Nik assured me it was just fine. I think he was proud that I was there, but I could tell he was very tired and hungry from his long day. So, afterwards we headed to a restaurant by his house and enjoyed a delicious bowl of goulash.

Nik, I am so proud of you and so impressed with you abilities as an athlete. I am so fortunate that my wish came true.