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In December, espnWs weekly essay series will focus on family.In college, when I began dating the man who would become my husband, he told me that his family loved baseball.Okay, I said, treating the news as if hed said they all liked the color blue -- a fine distinguishing characteristic, but nothing that had anything to do with me.No, you dont understand. My brother plays baseball in college, he insisted. I spent my whole life going to baseball games and tournaments.I nodded.Growing up, my father was the only one who liked sports, hed rush us home from church on Sunday so he didnt miss his religious programming. A Dallas Cowboys game.?The importance of my sports knowledge didnt sink in until my then-boyfriends father, Gary, started greeting me at the door on my visits to their house with a baseball trivia question.You cant come in until you tell me what number Kirby Puckett was.Ill answer your question when you can name five Faulkner novels, Id say and duck under his arm.To understand us, you have to understand baseball, Dave once told me over a dinner of burgers at our favorite diner. I shrugged.Whats to understand?The second year we were dating, I started my senior year of college. One of the classes I signed up for was on Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner. I loved Faulkner, whose wild characters and dense prose often made me laugh out loud. But I cared nothing for Hemingway. I hated his female characters and the cold feel of his short sentences. But I couldnt take a class on one without the other, so I signed up.We began that semester with Hemingways short stories, starting with the collection The Snows of Kilimanjaro and then moving onto?In Our Time. I was surprised at how often sports were on the periphery of his writing -- the depressed prize fighter in The Killers, the match fixing in Fifty Grand and hunting in The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.It was something Id never noticed before, how consumed with physical action his characters were, how sport gave them an identity, whether real or imagined, that could in turn devastate and define who they were.I told Gary I was reading Hemingway.Oh, hes my favorite author, he said on one of my visits. I was shocked. I didnt think he read anything besides books on management and Mickey Mantle biographies. He told me his favorite book was Old Man and the Sea, and I rolled my eyes.Hey, I guess Im not an English major, he said, so I cant tell you why I like it, just that I think it means something to me. He smiled, but I could tell he meant it. When I picked up In Our Time, I decided just to read it like Gary would, without prejudice.The Three-Day Blow is everything I hate in a story -- boys going into the woods to talk about women and get drunk. But when I read it that fall, I was 21 and in love with a boy who loved baseball. Reading the story again, I saw baseball in a way Id never seen it before. Upset over a breakup, Nick Adams, a character who became an alter-ego for Hemingway, goes to a cabin with his friend Bill. They get drunk on whiskey and talk about women, but that topic contains mystery and heartbreak. So, they talk baseball. Alternating between love and disillusionment for the sport, their words become metaphors for the other things they cant bring themselves to say. When Nick declares ...baseball is a game for louts he might as well be saying love is a game for louts.Baseball is more than a metaphor in this story. It is a thing wholly and completely on its own, a series of events, small stories, with characters and plot, which give the two boys a common language and experience.When all else failed, baseball was a way to be part of something together -- some way to touch and connect with something great, to believe that whatever else fails, here is a thing that mattered, a place where winning was possible, and hope always prevailed. After all, win or lose, the only guarantee is that there will be more games and another season, another chance.That same semester, during Thanksgiving break, as I began to write my final paper for the class on baseball, Hemingway and love, Dave asked me to marry him under the stars while we danced as Carole Kings Far Away played from the CD player on his Mazda. We went back to his parents house and told them.After hugging me, Gary and my soon-to-be brother-in-law took me to the basement to watch the Twins 1991 World Series video. I laughed, but I watched the whole thing, listening to their analysis and finally memorizing Kirby Pucketts number, 34.Lyz Lenzs writing has appeared in The Washington Post, The New York Times, Marie Claire, Pacific Standard, Buzzfeed and the LA Review of Books. She lives in Iowa, but you can find her on Twitter @lyzl Air Max 97 Mens Sale . There was no hesitation from the 40th-ranked Pospisil, from Vernon, B.C., who admitted that he cut back on his training sessions over the last few days to conserve energy as the long ATP season finishes next week at the Paris Masters. Air Max 95 Sale Cheap . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. http://www.wholesale95airmax.com/ . "Trying to breathe," he said with a grin. Bernier stopped 42 of 43 shots on Monday night, including all 22 in a hectic middle frame, his heroic performance propelling the Leafs toward an undue point in their final game before the Christmas break. Nike Air Max 95 Wholesale China . Mitch Holmberg added a goal and three assists. Connor Chartier also scored for the Chiefs (3-0-0). Luke Harrison spoiled Garrett Hughsons shutout bid with a power-play goal at 13:17 of the third period. The Spokane goaltender finished with 28 saves, including a Brandon Fushimi penalty shot in the second period that would have tied the game 1-1. Air Max 95 Mens Sale . It was hard for Luck to pull off another comeback, or even get into the end zone, while standing on the sideline. Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. WASHINGTON -- On a night when the Washington Nationals learned four of their players are headed to the All-Star Game, the accomplishment was marred by the teams uncharacteristic performance in a loss to the Milwaukee Brewers.Gio Gonzalez gave up a tiebreaking two-run homer in the sixth inning, and the NL East-leading Nationals showed very little spark in a 5-2 loss Tuesday night.Aaron Hill went 3 for 4 with a home run and three RBI for the Brewers, who will attempt to complete a three-game sweep on Wednesday.We were flat today, made some mistakes, manager Dusty Baker said. We didnt play very good baseball. Right now theyre taking it to us, versus us taking it to them.Daniel Murphy, Bryce Harper, Wilson Ramos and Stephen Strasburg were selected to play for the NL in San Diego next Tuesday. Strasburg didnt pitch in this game, and the three position players probably wish they had the night off, too.Harper struggled with two fly balls to right field, both of which fell for doubles. He also struck out with the bases loaded.Murphy was guilty of a baserunning gaffe, and Ramos went 0 for 4.Its just part of the game, Harper said.Murphy violated two of baseballs basic rules as the leadoff hitter in the eighth inning. After running slow from the batters box on a liner to right, he was thrown out at third base trying to stretch the hit into a triple.That was a terrible play, Murphy acknowledged. I didnt hustle out of the box, I didnt hustle to second and tried to save it by going to third and made the first out at third base down three runs. It changed the whole complexion of the game.Milwaukee was 1-8-4 in its first 13 series on the road, defeating only Atlanta in May.Feels good to get any win, but especially against a team like this, Hill said. We just took advantage of some of our opportunities and our pitching and our bullpen and our closer did a great job for us again.Zach Davies ((6-4) allowed two runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings.dddddddddddd The rookie retired 10 in a row before giving up three straight singles in the seventh.Washington loaded the bases with two outs for Harper, who looked at a third strike from Will Smith to end the threat.Hes facing the best hitter in the middle of the lineup on the other team, manager Craig Counsell said. Obviously, Harper is one of the best. Doesnt get in a bigger spot in a baseball game than that.Jeremy Jeffress worked the ninth for his 23rd save.Milwaukee improved to 4-1 against the Nationals with one game left. Its the Brewers first season series win against Washington since 2010.Hernan Perez put Milwaukee up 3-1 in the sixth with a drive off Gonzalez (4-8), who is 1-7 in nine starts since May 18.Hill added a two-run drive in the seventh off Blake Treinen.Neither pitcher had a perfect inning until Davies put down the Nationals in order in the fifth. Heading into the sixth, the teams combined for 11 hits and four walks but only two runs.Washington used an RBI single by Anthony Rendon to take a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Milwaukee tied it in the third with a run-scoring single by Hill.TRAINERS ROOMBrewers: OF Domingo Santana (elbow soreness) is not nearly close to coming off the DL, Counsell said.Nationals: Baker was nursing a cold and acknowledged that everyone was dragging during Mondays 11 a.m. game. It didnt get any better in this one.UP NEXTBrewers: RHP Matt Garza (1-1, 3.74 ERA) makes his fifth start of the season in the series finale Wednesday. Although Garza is 1-4 with a 7.01 ERA lifetime against Washington, he beat the Nats 6-5 on June 25.Nationals: Tanner Roark (7-5, 2.93) is 2-0 lifetime against the Brewers. He pitched seven shutout innings on June 26 in a 3-2 win. ' ' '