Allison Hagen: It's a Day-to-Day Existence.

15th January 2012

Text reblogged from Old Time Family Baseball with 23 notes

Allison Hagen: It’s a Day-to-Day Existence.

Having spent the majority of my late teens and twenties in a relationship of some sort, I decided it was time to be alone. After a particularly dragged out and painful breakup, I began a self-imposed break from dating of at least one year to figure myself out. Despite the fact that I’d been in my current city for a couple years, I had almost no friends. I was lost after being so dependent upon my ex for an identity. A couple weeks into the break and I knew I was going to have to find a hobby, otherwise I’d go crazy. I craved solitude; but it got really hard at times.

I started to hang out with my parents more, and got to talking to my Dad about baseball. He grew up a lifelong Tigers fan and it was passed down to me. The game had always been in my life, a small connection he and I shared. My attention to it would come and go, but I always enjoyed it. The 2009 season was about ready to kick off and I decided I would throw myself into baseball in a way I never really had before. I had no idea what I was in for.

I spent every free minute re-familiarizing myself with rules I wasn’t completely clear about anymore, and researched what was going on with the team’s roster. I came home from work every day, parked myself on the couch, and watched every minute of every game that year. It alienated the few friends I had, but it brought my Dad and I closer together than we’d ever been. Most of all, I learned a lot about myself and couldn’t be bothered to associate with anybody who wasn’t really worth my time.

I went to more games and taught myself how to photograph baseball. I formed bonds over Twitter and in forums with other fans and writers that would eventually lead to me contributing on a popular Tigers blog, as well as one of my own. I suffered the heartbreak of Game 163 at the end of the ‘09 season, even though the intention of this baseball immersion was to avoid just that.

That year of immersion has turned into a few years, and it will continue indefinitely. Baseball is my life now, though I’ve managed to fit in a job and I’ll miss a few games here and there for other activities. It’s given me the chance to meet countless amazing friends that are spread all over the country, and more recently, the love of my life. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Allison Hagen resides in South Texas and can be found contemplating baseball & other nonsense at No Run Support, wrangling commenters for Bless You Boys, and making lame attempts at witticism on @norunsupport - all while consuming a fair amount of Irish whiskey.

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My Groomsperson > your groomsperson. If it wasn’t for baseball blogging, Alli and I would have never met, and she would never get the opportunity to rock a Confederate grey dress come this late October.

How can anyone look at this game and not call it romantic?

Tagged: baseball

4th and Short

Allison Hagen: It’s a Day-to-Day Existence.