Color Me Red: The Field

Growing up as kids we tend to idolize certain people in society. Some of us idolize our parents, while some of us idolize someone who we look up to from our families or friends. But more often than not, we tend to idolize celebrities. Although usually we don't become those 'celebs', we try to emulate them in certain ways. For boys, especially like me and some of my friends when we grew up, it was sports stars. Greats like Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Johnny Bench, Griffey Junior, Boomer Esiason, Joe Montana and others were some of the faves we dreamt of being.

Such dreams would come to life in the old neighborhood I used to live in. The one place where we would act out these "fantasies" was a place called "The Field" which we had nicknamed as kids.

"The Field" was an aptly named place. It was a flat grassy vacant lot at the back end of an apartment complex lying between two houses. The area was quite huge, and it had its own natural settings, somewhat like what old vintage ballparks did. It also had its part as a "multi-purpose" type venue where we would play Football, Soccer, and most importantly, Baseball.

The dimensions were quite unique, somewhat borrowing the look from Fenway Park in Boston. The fences, although not of white pickets, were of the chain link type. The right field fence was short and lengthy, while the left and center field fences were about 12-ft tall. We had nicknamed the left field wall the silver monster (in comparison to the Green Monster at Fenway).

And as summer came, we would play our baseball games with our Louisville Sluggers and aluminum bats with tennis balls. We also kept track of our individual stats, boasting upon who had hit the most home runs, triples, and most wins as a pitcher. We never knew if one was telling the truth or lying, but everyone was given the benefit of those 'bragging rights'. Other than home runs, the other bragging right I had was maybe I was the first and only person of Indian-origin to play at "The Field".

We even at times had spectators who generally would be the two neighboring house owners from both sides of "The Field". They would put out their lawn chairs just to watch us play a game of ball, and even be our secondary umpires.

As time went on, we grew out of our 'games', having other things to do especially when we got into high school. But the tradition continued, with a new breed of neighborhood kids playing their sports like we used to. And funny enough, it was still being referred to as "The Field". But since then I had moved.

Just the other day, one of my very good friends who I grew up with in that neighborhood, asked me if I had seen the "the Field" since the last 4 years, with some feeling of disgust in his voice. I certainly knew what he was talking about.

"The Field" supposedly belonged to the apartment complex, and kept it for future expansion. But since it was in an awkward place, they left it alone. They were also fully aware that the place was a playground for kids, and for them it was fine.

Well the apartment complex got a new ownership, about 5-6 years back. Knowing that the lot was empty, they proceeded to build an incommodious 2-building condo set. Due to corporate greed, "The Field" was no more.

I sometimes still drive past that area, reminiscing the days of 'past glory' having witnessed and played them. Seeing the two ugly buildings making up the new landscape makes me feel sad and angry.

If I had the money, I would buy that plot of land, move those tenants out of the condos, raze the buildings to the ground, redevelop the field, and give it back to the neighborhood kids who can use it to be their "heroes" for the day.