Commentary: Lighting Up Is A Home Run
11 Oct 2011
What could be better or more appropriate these days: I’m writing this as I listen to the call of playoff baseball on the radio, the game’s oldest form of electronic communication, via iPad, one of the newest.
I’m enjoying a cigar as the Yankees play the Tigers, whose late broadcaster, Ernie Harwell, noted in his Hall of Fame induction speech that the things that make up the game, include “cigar smoke, hot roasted peanuts, The Sporting News …”
Nothing seems to go together more than sports and cigars. And for most of the country this is a golden season, whether you are actively participating or simply observing.
For observers, playoff baseball is obviously hard to resist. Football at all levels is getting interesting. If you like to participate, in most places the weather’s great for golf, tennis, softball, fishing—just about whatever you like.
A cigar can make it even better, whether you are lighting up as you walk the back nine, choosing your favorite stick from the humidor before settling in with your friends to watch the big screen at a neighborhood B&M, or celebrating a win in any contest with a victory smoke.
Of course, myriad restrictions have made lighting up these days nowhere near as easy as it was in Ernie’s heyday. A stadium where you can smoke is about as rare as an unassisted triple play. Many other venues are off-limits as well.
But that doesn’t mean it is impossible to have a cigar while you enjoy or pursue sports. And cigar pleasure is worth celebrating, even if you have to go a little out of your way to do it.
So, enjoy the fall and your favorite sport with a good cigar. Or two.
photo credit:Â Flickr
Patrick Ashby
Co-Founder & Editor in Chief
Patrick Semmens
Co-Founder & Publisher
George Edmonson
Tampa Bureau Chief
I grew up in the late 50's and early 60's and lived within walking distance of Yankee Stadium. It was a golden era, Mantle and Maris, Yogi and Whitey and all the rest. I remember that whenever my Dad took me to a game, he made sure he had a couple of stogies in his pocket to enjoy that evening. It was such a bonding event for us and I'm sure contributed to my life-long enjoyment of cigars. Flash forward 35 years or so to Shea Stadium, where smoking had yet to be disallowed. I'm there with my oldest son to watch the Mets play. The team was not that good and there was nobody sitting anywhere near us. I lit up a cigar and the usher came down and told me the people above me by many rows didn't like the smoke. I let the cigar die out without protest, not wanting to be an a-hole. Different times they were back then, and definitely better times
Thanks for the memories! I grew up in Michigan and listened to Ernie Harwell and George Kell call the Tigers' games on the radio in the 60's. I can still remember exactly where I was during the '68 World Series. Those were the days!