Looking down on Marin Catholic’s perfectly manicured field, the view from the scoring box lends a unique perspective to watch the games.I understand what it’s like to be a player on the field, as well as a fan, but scoring while watching a game is something new to me. Constantly leaning my head one way or another to see the plays, the physical constraints of the window make it a sport in and of itself to watch the game. Aside from constantly moving around to see impeded plays, the view from the box is otherwise quite good. Unlike the grandstands the box seems to be an extension of the home dugout which allows for a participatory role; among other things you can see the dugout interactions between players and hear the fantastic echo of bull pen pitches.

While being a spectator is fun and leisurely, score keeping requires a certain amount of active participation. As the score keeper you have a duty to keep track of every pitch strike or ball, outs, the inning, runs, hits and errors. Doing this correctly takes a bit of attention, one moment of distraction can lead to an umpire stopping a game to check his clicker or a befuddled coach asking for a change to the scoreboard. In other words on every pitch there is a button to be pressed to keep the scoreboard current and accurate, and if not the whole stadium knows your mistake.

Participation as the scoreboard guy allows for greater recall of the game. Often times as a spectator I find that I watch a game and cannot remember much of went on, this is not the case with the games I score keep. Because of the frequency of participation it is easy to pay very close attention to the game and this adds a new element to the game. It transforms the experience from being a passive viewer to an active viewer, which is neither good nor bad, rather a preference.

Lastly it is really fun being a part of the game. The score keeper adds to the viewing experience of the fans at the game. For all of us who got kicked out of little league because of poor performance but still has a desire to participate, this is a fantastic job to do. While we are not spot lighted like the players and the coaches, subconsciously an active fan really appreciates an accurate scoreboard. It does not make or break anything but makes it easier to come and go as a fan and keep closer track of what is going on in the game. As the season goes on I look forward to many more games at the scorers table, doing my part behind the scenes to sustain the great game experience of the California Warriors!

Written by Julian Bloch. Julian is an intern in the 2013 Intern Summer Program.