Why do men have nipples?

I hafta admit, I love that question. I saw it today and it actually made me stop and think. Those of you who know me at all know that making me stop AND think in the same day is a hard feat to accomplish. But it does beg the question. I know there is a scientific answer but who cares about that.

I actually have another topic for my little corner of the world today. Baseball. Not the game where pros take illegal substances, lie before thier friends and God, then get caught. I am talking about the game that boys play. I was emailed a wonderful article

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/31/opinion/31brooks.html?ex=1123819200&en=a92c185d1572be07&ei=5070&emc=eta1

This article says it all about the last several years of my family's existence. My oldest son and now my youngest too, both play for select baseball teams. By select, I mean that they had to try out and make the team. Now, this seems a bit harsh at 9 years old (my youngest) but he requested it. My oldest (13) is still in that world until he joins the high school team after next summer. But that article really describes the world that everyone lives in that shares the dream of being truly good at a sport that you love as a child. My oldest enjoys two things in life...baseball and the outdoors. If he is not playing or practicing baseball then he is fishing or hunting or swimming or something outside. He plays and practices baseball in the dead of winter too. So does my youngest. I will admit, I feed the desire. I am 100 percent behind my kids if they want to pursue something with this kind of passion. I do not push them, I do not live my childhood through them, but I do enjoy going and being part of an extended family of parents that love thier kids as much as I do. That statement may sound a bit harsh. I am not insinuating that parents that don't drive thier kids all over God's creation just to swing a bat for an hour in a cage with a retired minor leaguer love thier kids any less than I do but when you spend a couple of hours a day several days a week for more than 8 months out of the year spread out over several years with the same group of parents and kids, you definitely feel a sense of family about them. It just happens. And its good. My sons have made friends that they would have never made if they had not had this experience. The same with me and my fiancee. When we find out that one or more kids are leaving the team or that the team is breaking up (both of which happen over time, that part is inevitable too), it hurts. Maybe you keep in touch, maybe you don't. Either way, I feel that everyone is better off for the experience. There are two reasons why I went on this rant today, the first one is because of the article that I linked, the second is that my son decided not to return to his main team next year. Why is not important. The important thing is that we made a lot of friends, some that I would consider close. Those experiences and those relationships will carry with me for a lifetime and for that I can never be sorry. I will miss everyone. Some of them I will see again, either through continued friendships or at the baseball field by chance, but I will miss them none the less.