A side of Kraut
by
Casey K rautkramer Reporter
Yearning for a warm baseball birthday
It’s only a little over one week until my birthday on Saturday, May 6, and I’m hoping the weather warms up considerably more than it is right now so I can wear a t-shirt while watching a local varsity high school baseball game.
The weather on Monday night for the Athens varsity baseball team’s home game against Rib Lake literally gave me the chills while I was there. I was not prepared for this cold baseball game with the temperature only at 36 degrees. I had mittens in my coat pocket but they were too thick for me to take photos of the game, so I was forced to wear my gloves and then take them off every time I wanted to take a photo of the baseball action.
My hands were a discorlored red and purple by the time I left the baseball game to go inside and cover the Athens Board of Education meeting.
While warming up my hands before the meeting began, I told Athens Elementary School principal Joy Redmann, who is also a friend of mine, about my cold experience taking photos at the baseball game. She jokingly told me “You know, Casey, there is a thing called mittens.”
She told me that I was just like a young student in her school building, whose teacher needs to remind them they need to wear their mittens outside in cold weather. I guess that I still have a bit of a child left in me.
I remember a more memorable time covering a varsity baseball game in Athens. It was a very warm Friday afternoon on my birthday many years ago when the Athens Bluejays played against the Edgar Wildcats. I fondly recall former head varsity baseball coaches, Bill Coker of Athens and Dave Schuett of Edgar, both wishing me a happy birthday while they were coaching third base and I was outside the third base fence taking photos.
Right now it appears I’ll have another chance to cover a local varsity baseball game on my birthday for The Record-Review, if the weather allows it to still happen. Marathon’s varsity baseball team plays at home against arch-rival Edgar at 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 6.
The Marathon area garage sales are happening this week and I do remember it also being very cold this same week last year. Last year I recall stopping at a garage sale on Marathon Road to chat with my dad and his friend, Bernie Dick, before heading to Buffalo Wild Wings to watch the NFL Draft with my buddies.
I’ll need to catch some of the Stratford versus Marathon varsity baseball rematch at 4:45 p.m. this Thursday before going to watch the NFL Draft to see who the Packers select at pick number 13.
