This past weekend I picked up Olivia, my nearly 12-year-old daughter who lives with her mother in the Midcoast region, and brought her down here to spend the weekend with me.
It had been about six years since I had taken her to a Sea Dogs game, so she barely remembered anything about it. It was supposed to rain but we had good luck on Saturday. The sun was out strong for the first hour or so and the rain never came. Our seats were great, fourth row from the grass in left field.
Growing up in the Midcoast, she has not been exposed much to big venues. Hadlock Field was big from her perspective. When I told her how large Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park were, she said she didn’t want to go to anything that big. She’s a small town girl and doesn’t like crowds, noise or lines. Neither do I. She’s Daddy’s girl, at least in that respect. Although I must admit the power of 60,000 people in one place with one purpose is thrilling at times.
Yet there is something very different about live sporting events, live music, live poetry readings, theater ”¦ live. It’s not the same as watching it on television or a computer. There’s something quite powerful, even primal about it. There’s nothing like live. And Olivia got it. She got the thrill of seeing it in person.
As a singer-songwriter performing for more than 45 years, I can tell you that for me the exchange of energy between myself and the audience ”“ that’s the juice. It’s thrilling, it’s intoxicating.
I look forward to attending games at Old Orchard Beach, which the new minor league baseball team The Surge will call home. My understanding is that their first home game will be in June. Check out our sports section for updates or contact our sports editor, Pat McDonald: pmcdonald@journaltribune.com or call 282-1535.
See you at the game!
Mega egocentricity
Twice this week I have been told from local business owners of an alarming phenomenon that is happening more and more. That is folks coming to the local business for their expertise but making the purchase at the national big box store. I have seen this before, as have many business owners, but it seems to be happening far more often.
My objection should be obvious, but for those who are clueless, it is incredibly self-centered to think it is acceptable to pick the brains, availing ourselves of the expertise of local professionals, and then take that information without paying for it and use it at the big box stores. Let’s think about it logically: If we all would do this, then the local business folk, the experts, would go out of business, leaving the rest of us without anyone with any expertise when we need to purchase tiles or TVs or carpeting or…
If we want to buy something at the cheapest place we can find, fine, but we can’t expect expert advice. We have to go it alone. If the advice is valuable, and most of us know it is, that’s why we seek it out; then we have to be willing to pay something for it. That usually means purchasing the product from the expert, perhaps paying a little more, but getting the advice we desire and find valuable. Nothing valuable is free. Somehow it must be paid for. ‘Nuff said.
Thanks for reading, for staying informed and engaged in our community, by reading every day. Please drive safe, be kind, hug your children and have a wicked awesome spring week!
— Bruce M. Hardina is the Publisher of the Journal Tribune, a singer song-writer, a philosopher, a student of life and the human experience, a columnist, a loving neighbor, friend, father, son and brother. Please feel free to comment on my musings with a Letter to the Editor by emailing jtcommunity@journaltribune.com or mail a note to Journal Tribune, Attn: Editor, 457 Alfred Street Biddeford. ME 04005.
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