For the past 3 years I have been going to the Clovis Area Recreation batting cages with my baseball playing friends. No, not Fresno State baseball players, but friends who play adult league baseball.

We would spend our cash day after day, getting hot and hitting blistering line drives to the ping of our favorite baseball bats.

We would walk up to the cages together and go for the adrenaline rush of hitting a hardball at 80 M.P.H. It was therapeutic.

Stress, worries, fear and apprehension were all crushed with each swing of the bat. But not everyone shares my addiction.

For now, the batting cages are closed. There aren̢۪t enough people paying for pitches and the belts on the pitching machines need to be replaced.

The closure of the batting cages and general lack of baseball reflects a change in seasons.

The crowd had been thinning at the batting cages since the school year started, and the hours of operation cut back.

According to staff at the Clovis Area Recreation batting cage, it̢۪s the slow season.

“We will still be here, we just won’t be open,â€Â a batting cage staff member told me. “The cages will be open again on January 12,â€Â he said. I pleaded with him to let me in despite the closure, and was denied.

So I think I̢۪ll hibernate until January. I have to find a way to stay warm.

There must be something I can do to get my mind off of this dreadful season. The summer fun is over, and it̢۪s the time for catching colds.

What to do?

Friends say we can get together and hit baseballs at Clark Intermediate School, just around the corner from the batting cages.

But it̢۪s cold, the grass will be wet and I want the ball coming in fast.

Daylight disappears too soon, and there can̢۪t be any hitting after dark.

As the seasons change, baseball fans like me tend to lose out on a lot more things. I think I may have lost my mind for good in 2004 when the Giants were eliminated by the Dodgers on the final Saturday of the season.

Right now I̢۪ve lost the ability to sweat under the hot sun while hitting baseballs for hours upon end. Any exercise only reminds me of how good it feels to watch or hit baseballs instead.

Memories of the Fresno State baseball team are more distant now. Sure, we can shift our focus to the college football season.

And sure, we all went crazy over the Wisconsin game, but the grim reality set in that night.

With a bit of bad luck manifested by a kicker, the Fresno State fling with greatness was over.

It̢۪s cold now, and losses to all of my favorite football teams are mounting.

So what can I do if the summer is over and the fall and winter won̢۪t take care of us? Well I figure to drink a lot more whiskey.

I̢۪ve got to keep warm.

Adam Criswell is a senior at Fresno State majoring in mass communication and journalism with an emphasis in print journalism. He hails from Tarpey Village, a place he has officially proclaimed as “the baddest.â€Â