Episode 5: A Tale of Two Seasons – Baseball and the MTV Buzz Bin

The Suburban Abyss

Some say hitting a baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports. I’m not sure I agree with that, but that’s only because for nearly a decade of my life, hitting a round ball with a round bat came easily to me. Until it didn’t. Stepping into the batter’s box that spring felt like stepping into quicksand. I couldn’t find my footing, and it literally felt like I was sinking. I swung above the ball, I swung below the ball, and most of the time when I swung, I felt like I was going to fall. My batting average certainly did. After hitting .343 my freshman year, I ended my JV campaign barely above the Mendoza Line at .224. So what the hell happened? My vision changed slightly from ages 15 to 16, but I was still seeing the ball well enough to draw 14 walks in 64 plate appearances. You couldn’t blame booze or pot or a bad home life either. But it’s possible you could blame the MTV Buzz Bin.