Altoona Curve

A real sense of normalcy on display at PNG Field

Welcome back ... to normal. It's been a long, long time coming.

From a local perspective, if you want to see the best example of life back to normal, head out to a Curve game.

Walk around Peoples Natural Gas Field for a spell.

Talk to folks (there were a season-high 4,201 on hand Friday night). Do some people watching. Enjoy yourself pretty much any way you want to.

You'll realize that, after more than a year of restrictions and precautions and masks and so on and so on, people here by and large have returned to their normal lives.

And my goodness, it's glorious.

Individually and as families, you may or may not have gotten back to your own sense of normalcy long ago. But in public, with COVID-related policies in place, we've all been reminded pretty much any time we've gone anywhere that, no, things are not back to normal.

That's all changed now at PNG Field, the largest, most public venue in Blair County and a cross section representation of the people's will.

In our little neck of the woods, the ballpark represents -- better than anything -- the light at the end of the tunnel.

Nobody wearing masks.

No social distancing.

Nary a sign of anything, really, even remotely related to the nationwide pandemic we've all endured since early 2020.

It's business -- and life -- as usual.

"I'm happy to say if you came to a game in 2017, '18 or '19, you wouldn't notice a difference," Curve general manager Derek Martin said during Friday night's contest against Akron.

"I think everyone's just ready to get back to some sort of normalcy."

Amen to that.

My favorite part of covering Curve games for more than 20 years has always been walking around the ballpark and shooting the bull with people. I don't spend much time in the press box because I'm always walking around the concourse talking to folks.

It wasn't as much fun the first few weeks of this season, because the crowds were limited by COVID restrictions, fans were spread out and things just felt sort of ... sanitized, for lack of a better word.

Not anymore.

"There are zero restrictions here at Peoples Natural Gas Field," Martin said.

Starting this past week, PNG Field could return to full capacity, allowing for larger crowds. Bad weather kept people away throughout the week, but Friday night's turnout was strong.

"It has definitely been different the last two nights," Curve manager Miguel Perez said of the feeling at the ballpark.

"Fans definitely make the difference in the game, and especially here they do a pretty good job coming to the ballpark to support the team. ... It's nice, and I'm looking forward to getting more and more to completely normal because that's a big factor in the game."

In essence, Friday night felt like -- for the first time this season -- nothing had ever really changed in our country.

It feels weird to say (or write) that. Because so many things have changed in major ways -- for many, many people.

But walking around PNG Field on Friday night, honestly, you would never even know that we have been and are continuing to make our way out of a pandemic.

"Things have changed pretty quickly," Martin said. "But I'm not surprised. It's been a long 18 months getting here, and everyone's done everything that we've been asked to do."

"It's wonderful to have everybody back in the ballpark," Curve marketing director Mike Kessling said. "It's a sense of normalcy."

A big part of the normalcy is simply having Curve games at all.

Minor league baseball was stolen from us locally and from all fans around the country in 2020.

It was awful.

So many things we've had to deal with over the past year and change have been awful.

It's no wonder that everybody just wants their normal lives back.

Now, is everything really back to normal in our society?

No.

Obstacles remain with COVID. And we will be dealing with those obstacles, in some form or fashion, probably for years to come.

But that doesn't mean we can't get on with life and return to doing many of the things we've always done and never given a second thought.

Like enjoying a Curve game, no questions asked.

Cory Giger can be reached at cgsports12@gmail.com