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JUST FRIENDS — Dating is tough.
I’ve been out of the single life for 15 years and so happy I don’t have to deal with the dating life — this isn’t meant to gloat to those still in the mix. There’s always the awkward first dates, everyone trying to set you up with a friend that will be “perfect” for you, and all the weirdness that comes with meeting someone new.
There’s nothing easy about it.
But there’s always one aspect of dating that hurts worse: when only one person wants in on the relationship.
It’s a tale as old as time: There’s two people who do everything together and have built an incredible friendship over a certain amount of time. Without fail, one of them starts to have romantic feelings (Hallmark has built an enterprise on this) for the other and there becomes awkward tension in the relationship, especially if the other person just wants to be friends.
This is called the friend zone.
Getting friend zoned is just a punch to the gut, but at least most of the time it isn’t broadcast to thousands of other people to see.
During a Major League Baseball game between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Milwaukee Brewers Monday night, someone named Mike got put in the friend zone hard. On the video board at American Family Field, Mark’s suspected love interest had the following posted next to happy birthdays and congratulations:
“Mark – Your friendship means the world to me – let’s not wreck it.”
Ouch!
The not-so-subtle message was on full display to all in the stadium during the eighth inning of the game, when the Pirates held a 5-3 lead. Fortunately for Mark, the Brewers had his back and came back to win the game 7-5.
On Tuesday morning, Brewers left fielder Christian Yelich tweeted: “Down 2 in the 8th inning, the dugout looked up, saw this, and said ‘let’s win one for Mark’. We got you man.”
At least Mark knows the Brewers feel his pain.
Also, to whoever asked for that message to be posted, you better hope Mark is a true friend because that’s tough to overcome on that stage.
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