There was always something different about the ride home after a game. Sometimes the whole car was loud. Windows cracked open. Music playing. Parents smiling after a big win while kids replayed every moment like it was the World Series. Other times it was quiet. Really quiet. A missed shot. A strikeout. An error in the field. The kind of silence only sports can create when your heart is still sitting somewhere back under the lights. But even those rides mattered. Maybe more t
