I noticed that when I touched the ball on the field, you could hear this shrill noise in the crowd with all the birds screaming like at a Beatles concert.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
When people in stadiums do the Wave, it's the group-mind collective organism spontaneously organizing itself to express an emotion, pass time, and reflect the joy of seeing the rhythms of many as one, a visual rhyming or music in which everyone senses where the motion is going.
There is a special sensation in getting good wood on the ball and driving a double down the left-field line as the crowd in the ballpark rises to its feet and cheers. But, I also remember how much fun I had as a skinny barefoot kid hitting a tennis ball with a broomstick on a quiet, dusty street in Panama.
The crack of the bat, the sound of baseballs thumping into gloves, the infield chatter are like birdsong to the baseball starved.
I try to call the play as quickly as I possibly can and then shut up and let the crowd roar because, to me, the crowd is the most wonderful thing in the whole world when it's making noise.
But, at the moment, when I step on the pitch, when I have the ball I know it's mine. It's just a feeling.
When cars honk and hoot and drunks squeeze out of car windows and scream, you can be sure that football is in the air.
No matter how loud the stadium is, once you're on that field and that offense walks up to the line, it's silent. You can only hear the guys on the field. It's amazing how much concentration you can have when it's required and how powerful your mind is to give it to you.
I think there's something strangely musical about noise.
Lots of ballplayers have their own personal music blasted by the sound systems in modern ball parks.
All you could do was to see them. We were backstage when the Beatles were on and you could just about hear a noise. It was just literally screaming.