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Pensacola Pelicans bring couple together
Love of game, support for local team adds spark
By Franklin Hayes Splash! Magazine
 | | Submitted photo Danny and Theresa Roberts, avid baseball fans, met each other at a Pensacola Pelicans game in 2004 and became engaged at a Florida Marlins game in 2005. |
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In today's world, when most couples talk about "getting to first base" they aren't referring to America's pastime. However, for Danny and Theresa Roberts that phrase could spark a million different conversations about Atlanta Braves' Out Fielder Andruw Jones or the Florida Marlins' Third Baseman Miguel Cabrera.
"We're baseball fanatics," explained Theresa, who met her husband at a Pensacola Pelicans game in 2004, and became engaged at a Florida Marlins game in 2005.
Theresa was invited to attend a regular season game at Pelican Park with a coworker, Teena Easter, who told Theresa she would bring a visiting relative, her nephew Danny Roberts. Danny was visiting Florida while on summer break from taking classes at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
"There are not many young people who work with us and I thought they would enjoy each other's company," Easter said.
Little did Easter know that bringing the two young adults together for a pleasant evening of watching the Pensacola Pelicans would blossom into a loving relationship and their eventual marriage in 2006.
 | | Submitted Photo The Roberts married in 2006 and say their ultimate goal as couple is to visit as many major league ball parks as they can. |
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"I asked Danny, do you know what the backwards "K" stands for?" Theresa inquired, referring to the "K's" many baseball teams place along fences to indicate a pitcher's number of strikeouts. "Danny, not knowing me well and not knowing that I was an avid baseball fan said 'I think it means like every third one they do a backwards K,' and I was like NO! Actually it means that they were caught looking," Theresa said.
That simple exchange lead to courtship and eventually a marriage inundated with a love for the game of baseball.
"When she pointed out to me what the backwards K means in baseball I fell for her right then and there. I love baseball and never would have thought that she is as big of a baseball fan as she is. That is something that we really enjoy together," Danny said.
That evening after dropping Theresa off, Danny told his aunt and uncle emphatically "I've got to marry that girl! She likes baseball and she's catholic."
Unfortunately for Danny, Theresa was dating someone at the time, but Danny smartly followed his uncle's advice: "Don't let that stop you, I don't see a ring on her finger."
Danny's persistence paid off as they soon began dating. Their connection strengthened and Danny decided to take a semester off from school in the fall of 2004. Danny returned to Chattanooga to finish his degree in January of 2005 and the two lovers decided to continue their relationship despite the 400 miles that lay between them.
"It was a very conscious decision to get through it. I was sacrificing and taking extra time off, working extra overtime so I could have extra time off to make long weekends to see him. We spoke on the phone constantly. We even bought him a cell phone that was on the same service as mine so we could share our minutes and keep in touch. Even if I was calling to tell him something totally inconsequential, we talked all the time to make it feel like we weren't 400 miles apart," Theresa said.
Danny finished his degree in exercise science, health and leisure studies in May 2006 and the couple married in July.
The couple said their goal is to hit as many ballparks as they can in our married life, and their ultimate goal would be to watch a playoff or World Series game.
"As we like to say, it really is more than just a game," commented Pensacola Pelicans Director of Media Relations Jason Libbert.
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