Teams like the Sacramento Rivercats are sources of such community pride and joy. For four hours, 72 nights per year, everything else in one’s world disappears in anticipation of the game. The attachment for some can be so strong that an individual becomes synonymous and identifiable with the brand. It is an immeasurably strong and faithful companionship for that individual as well.
These individuals can come in many forms. There are the fans of college sports teams who didn’t matriculate, but take a loss harder than those who did. There are the local school administrators who forge lifelong friendships with the aspiring ballplayers that come through a minor league town.
And then, there’s Pat.
Pat was an orphan, native to the Sacramento area, who did not have it easy in gold country as a youngster. So he enlisted to go to Vietnam – a subject about which he does not like to talk.
There was not much for Pat when he got back from southeast Asia either. He went down to see his VA man and managed to eke out $144/month on the GI Bill to go to school. He was able to turn that into some jobs locally, but his health quickly deteriorated.
His cataracts make it difficult for him to do much these days. It is getting more difficult for him to do his job let alone get there. The Rivercats are his only source of employment today. He is a parking lot attendant not just for baseball games, but concerts and all other events as well. He rides his bike 32 roundtrip miles to the stadium from his shared trailer in nearby Mesa Verde (possibly verified as Citrus Heights) for his team.
The double whammy though is that when his eyes go, the gig goes with them. The games seem to be going away too. He says the ‘Cats are cutting back* his game allotment. He worked all 72 games last year and says he will be lucky to get 60 this.
Perhaps the most unfortunate part of the story is that he says he can’t get the necessary healthcare (you knew this was coming, right?) from the VA for his cataract surgery. He also says he cannot get assistance from the state because he does not have a birth certificate. Getting one has proven difficult for him because he says California’s budget cuts have closed the office that makes them available (my research has not been able to confirm this) and he has limited (read: zero) resources to try to obtain the information online.
An ephemeral spirit, Pat had 16 miles to pedal in the 104-degree temps after today’s game, so I let him go. True or not, he had spun enough yarn for me to knit an Afghanistan-sized Afghan. True or not, what is he saying?
I asked him if the healthcare bill before Congress would help because I did not know. Neither did he. Looks like we both have some reading to do. However, he did point out that it likely would not matter because the cataracts were worsening faster than Congress plans to act.
Son, don’t you understand?
My teeth would have rotted out of my head 15 years ago as a below-the-poverty-line hard-working 26-year-old broadcaster, were it not for Oregon’s healthcare assistance program. I have also sat in pitch meetings and investor presentations listening to MBA’s – and worse yet doctors – talking about profiting on healing. Surely there must be a way to bridge the divide between making medicine worth the incredible cost to pursue and improve and giving everyone of our citizens the right (to) life – especially the ones that served.
Those smarter than I are working on that. I am just a cool rockin’ daddy with 20/10 vision that can’t see the way forward.
Pat may have a leg up on me there.
* The Rivercats were not contacted to determine the veracity of Pat’s claim on his assignments.
Quote credits: Bruce Springsteen, ‘Born in The USA’
Proud.