Throughout the spring and summer, I have often used my column to rant about the issues I see with changing baseball, a game that has been played for hundreds of years.
While I stand by all my comments about making too many changes to the sport, this past weekend has taught me there is room for an alternative.

This summer, I celebrated our nation’s birthday in Harmony — a small town along the Root River in southeast Minnesota, and apparently home to one of the largest 4th of July parades in the region.

 
Growing up in Rhode Island, community festivals weren’t a major part of the summer.
Instead, there were a couple spread out throughout the summer months, including the Gaspee Days Parade, held in my hometown, which commemorates the bloodshed of the American Revolution.
Most summer days, when we weren’t playing baseball or training for other sports, were spent at the beach.

It has been an interesting month for me. I started the month at Saint Marys Hospital, where I was scheduled to have an aortic heart valve replaced.
To begin with, hospitals are not a place I have spent a lot of time at. It’s always either to visit someone or a little bit more when my parents were hospitalized when they got older.

For those who follow my column, you know I am a diehard baseball fan.
There is only one MLB team that I will ever love or cheer for — the Red Sox, but I love going to games any chance I can or watching it on TV.
But one thing I can’t stand is how ridiculous the rules in baseball are getting.

Every week this newspaper puts out countless stories about the good, bad, and indifferent happening across Dodge County and in Byron.
Some stories the newspaper naturally covers: school board, city council, county board, and other government meetings.