Nashville, TN

Last night, I went out to “the old ballgame” at Greer Stadium for the first “Faith Night” of the season.

Faith Nights are sponsored by Purity Dairy and church groups can get a special ticket that includes admission to the game, a hot dog and a soda of your choice. I’ve been to Faith Nights in previous years out at Greer and enjoyed them–though the first time I went, I was a bit irritated that the pre-game musical act changed right at the last minute.

Last night, I arrived at Greer early to hear concerts by Adam Cunningham (who I’d heard before since he leads worship each week at a local singles group I attend) and Nate Sallie. Both acts were great, though I’ll admit I enjoyed Adam’s portion of the show a bit more. Part of it may be that I’m more familiar with his music since I hear it and sing along with each week as part of worship.

After the concerts and a nice testimony by former UT pitcher, RA Dickey (interestingly enough, he and I were in Dr. Reese’s Shakespeare class my freshman year at UT), it was time for the game to begin.

I headed up into the stands and took what was a great seat for watching the game, but not a great seat because it was near the end of a row with a lot of people coming in and out. There’s just something about going out to a baseball game in person that, honestly, the TV experience just can’t capture. I think a lot of this is the dizzy bat race, which is always fun to watch. The Sounds put on a good show–not just the game, but everything surrounding it.

Which is a reason it’s kind of bittersweet that the deal for the new stadium couldn’t be worked out. This was especially evident last night when I looked at the scoreboard out in center field. Not even Scotty could bring this poor thing back to life. It was so sad, flickering out there, lights burned out, half of it not working. From what I understand, the scoreboard is having some issues this homestand. I hope they’ll get it fixed but I do have to wonder if it’s like throwing a bunch of money into a really old car that’s on its last legs–you only band-aid the problem for a while, but another one is going to crop up eventually.

Like I said, I wish a deal for a new stadium could have been worked out. I enjoy minor league baseball a good deal and it’d be a shame if our city lost the team. I am not out there every night supporting the team, but I do follow what they’re doing and I would like to see them stay here.

And for those of you wondering–yes, there are more Faith Nights coming up. The next one is June 1st and the musical act is Jars of Clay. Then, on June 3rd, there is another Faith Night and they hinted the musical guest is “big name” who might have to peform out in the parking lot and not inside the gates (correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Jars of Clay kind of a “bigger name”?). I thought they said Michael W. Smith would be performing this summer at a Faith Night, but I have not seen his name on any of the promotioanl materials for Faith Nights..so putting two and two together, it might be very easy to come up with five there…