By Eric White
My thoughts about one of the best friends UL baseball will ever know.
The fan I wish I could be. I saw a post on Facebook today from an ole friend of my dad, Dale Hazlewood.
“Good morning. Made an eventful trip around the sun. Woke up to another Ragin Cajun Baseball season. Thank you, God.”
If you have spent time down the right field line at a baseball game, in the endzone at a football game, or in the stands in basketball, you have probably seen this tall, lanky, Red Headed gentleman. God knows umps, refs, and our coaches have heard him. I have verified, but I think his blood type is fleur-dis-lis in Vermillion and White.
Dale is one of the pitmasters in the Cajun Cooking Club, this club provides meals to the visiting teams at The Tigue at Russo.
I met Dale when I was five or six when my dad would play golf with Dale and others on the weekend. At one point I remember making bus trips with groups Dad, Dale, and others put together. If you have ever heard my rant about McNeese and getting beer poured on my head in a bathroom urinal in Lake Charles as a kid. Dale was there that night and had to be restrained when I pointed the guy out.
I have had many conversations with Dale over the years, but I just like sitting next to him at a game and watching.
So to my Friend, “Red” thank you for making that trip around the sun, and Happy New Year. Today is as good as my birthday, Christmas, Easter, Fourth Of July, well maybe not my anniversary. There is a reason we got married in the fall and not in baseball season. Cajun Baseball is here. See you at a game soon.
Cajuns open their season against Rice this evening at 6:30 PM before coming up on Wednesday to the Tigue at Russo.
