最好的座位

You can have them，” my friend offered.

“No， that’s OK，” I replied.

“I’m serious，” he said. “They’re yours.”

“We’ll be fine，” I said. “We already have tickets.”

“But these are 20 rows behind 1)home plate. They’re perfect.”

“I know， but like I said， we already have tickets.”

“Did you hear what I said?” my friend asked. “Twenty. Rows. Behind. Home. Plate. It doesn’t get better.”

And so the conversation went the day I decided to take my 2)volunteer Little Brother to his first-ever professional baseball game.

It was a perfect night. The peanuts were fresh， the grass was recently mowed， the hot dog buns were soft. Ryan was 10 years old; I was almost 30. Without a doubt， going to the game was a big deal. Why? I wasn’t sure—I wasn’t even that big a baseball fan myself. But surely every kid should have a chance to go to a real baseball game.

To commemorate the event， we even went to the local sporting goods store earlier in the week to try on some baseball 3)mitts.

So now it’s the night of the game. The sun is about to set at 4)Camden Yards， the home of 5)Maryland’s beloved 6)Baltimore Orioles， and I’m ready to show Ryan how real baseball is enjoyed. I buy a hot dog， grab a program and even pick up a bag of peanuts. Sure， I want to give him the full experience， but I also don’t want to spoil him—which is why I 7)cringe when Ryan asks me the 8)all-important question: “Where are our seats?”

It’s a simple question. Where are we sitting? Are we in the 9)outfield? Along the 10)first base line? Back in the upper 11)decks? In many ways， where you sit affects your whole view of the game. Indeed， I thought the same thing myself when my friend offered me his 12)season tickets a few days earlier.

It was an incredibly thoughtful offer; Chuck’s seats were 20 rows behind home plate. As he said， they don’t get much better. But as I prepared for our visit to the 13)ballpark， all I kept thinking was: “If I take Ryan to those incredible seats， won’t I be sending him the wrong message? Won’t I be spoiling him， potentially ruining all of his subsequent ballpark visits?” Sure， I obviously was overthinking it， but I made my decision: It’s better to take him to seats in the14)bleachers， then slowly—after a few games—work our way up to the good seats in front. Teach him to appreciate the world.

That’s the better life lesson.

So there we are， walking up to our seats in far 15)left field. In truth， they are bad seats. We can barely see home plate， much less the infield. The only thing we are close to is the scoreboard， and even then， it’s on our far left. But as we find our aisle and make our way over to our seats， Ryan studies the view and 16)takes it all in. He looks at the bright-green grass—the glare of the lights—and all the people surrounding us. And then， this 10-year-old boy who never has been to a ballpark in his entire life turns to me and says， “These are the best seats in the whole place.”

I almost fall over right there. A wide smile takes his face. And mine. As I said， it was a perfect night. But somehow， it just got better.

你可以拿去。”我朋友提議道。

“不用了，沒關系的?！蔽一卮鸬?。

“我是認真的。”他說，“它們歸你了。”

“行了?！蔽艺f道，“我們已經有票了?！?/p>

“但這些票的座位在本壘后面的二十排，很棒?！?/p>

“我知道，但我說過了，我們已經有票了。”

“你聽到我說的話了嗎?”我朋友問道，“本壘——后面——二十——排。位置再好不過了。”

這場對話發(fā)生的當天，我決定要帶和我這個“志愿”哥哥認親的小兄弟去看他出生以來現場觀看的第一場職業(yè)棒球賽。

那一夜堪稱完美?；ㄉ缀苄迈r，草地剛修剪過，熱狗面包香軟。瑞恩那時十歲，而我差不多三十歲了。毫無疑問，到現場去觀看比賽是件大事。理由?我也說不準——我自己也說不上是個狂熱的棒球迷。但可以確定的是，每個孩子都應該擁有一次現場觀看棒球比賽的機會。

為了慶祝那件事，我們甚至在那周的早些時候就跑到本地的運動用品店試戴了一些棒球手套。

到了比賽當晚，太陽快挨著卡姆登球場落下。(卡姆登球場是馬里蘭州最受人喜愛的巴爾的摩金鶯隊的主場。)而我準備讓瑞恩見識一下該怎么在現場欣賞棒球比賽。我買了一根熱狗，抓起一張賽程表，甚至還抓了一包花生米。當然，我想給他帶來一次完整的體驗，但同時又不想寵壞他——這就是為什么當瑞恩問我“我們的座位在哪” 這個非常重要的問題時，我畏縮的原因了。

那是個簡單的問題。我們坐哪?我們的座位在外場嗎?在一壘那塊地方?還是在球場上層那些露天看臺?從很多方面來說，你的座位會影響你觀看球賽的整個視野?！?br>