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| Citi Field, 5/29/26 |
On Friday, I went to a Mets vs. Marlins game with my good friend, Laik Green, whom, despite being a New Jersey- resident and former part-time New Yorker, is a fan of the latter. "The Fish," he usually calls them.
To be sure, I'm a life-long Yankees fan. My father, upon coming to this country by way of Calabria in 1960, quickly became a diehard fan of the ole Bronx Bombers. He used to listen to games on his little radio. And that was when they sucked!
Anyhow, on Friday, I was, along with Laik, a Marlins fan, too.
Laik and I are baseball fans, so we we're pretty dialed in the whole game. In fact, most of our conversation consisted of strategy, play-by-play commentary, and other rank punditry.
Sure, we spoke about other things, but, for the most part, we were invested in America's Pastime.
The whole time, I couldn't help but notice the Zoomers to the left of us who were standing in a circle, talking, and facing away from the action for the duration of the game. Laik and I were confounded.
If socialization was the point, why do it at a baseball game and not at a bar?
Then, I thought to myself: Are we doing this wrong? Should this be a time for non-baseball-related banter? It just didn't make sense to me...
But then I reminded myself: Quality time with friends can be spent in relative silence.
I think there's a bit of a misconception about what it means to have a good hang, so to speak, that conversation must be flowing the whole time, like how a radio show isn't supposed to have any "dead air."
That is false. One need not be loquacious to have a good time with friends. Sometimes, just being in the presence of people whom you care about is enough. While the two of us were laser-focused on the game, we still exchanged the odd quip and took time between innings to get hotdogs and over-priced beer.
When it comes to conversation, sometimes less is more.
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