And the I'm going to be. Welcome to Snuscast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep.

Find us at snooscast.com and if you enjoy our show, please share us with a friend.

This episode is brought to you by tagging up.

Tonight, for our nine hundred and first episode,

we'll read a newscast original titled Center Field.

In this story, the neighborhood boys play pickup ball games during the dog days of summer.

Cole Brooks spends most of his time in center field daydreaming.

A shift occurs when new slugger Rolo Flores wakes up the outfield with action at every play. In this story, Rolo hits a

dinger far beyond the boundaries of the field, launching a mysterious adventure. A pickup game is one spontaneously

started, unlike exhibition games. one spontaneously started.

Unlike exhibition games, there is no sense of obligation or commitment to play.

Pick up games usually lack officials and referees, which makes them more disorganized and less structured than regular games. Without formal rules and regulations, pickup games are often played with a less rigid set of rules. Let's get cozy.

get cozy.

close your eyes.

Relax your body into the softness of your bed. Now take a few deep breaths.

a few deep breaths. July was a sigh, but August had arrived like a bad fever, hot and mad. Of course, even in the dog days we still played. We always played. It was a great club. Those guys would have

played through anything. Rain, snow, hail, it didn't matter. But that August, well, each inning felt like a battle.

And every second you got in the cinder block dug out was a brief escape from the heat.

You didn't even mind when you were last in the batting order.

Anything just to have a couple more minutes in the shade.

It's funny how your early days always seem to remain the clearest.

I couldn't tell you what I had for lunch last week, but I can remember every crack of the

...