By Jennie
This Monday, April 5, marks a sacred day for baseball fans – it’s Opening Day! Like blooming flowers and looming tax bills, Opening Day of Major League Baseball is an important rite that signals that spring has at last arrived. Football is over (until fall, anyway), basketball and hockey are winding down, and it’s time for the national pastime to take center stage, once again. Time for hot dogs and beer in the sun, the seventh-inning stretch, tense low-scoring pitching gems and ridiculous blow-outs.
Every year is a fresh start for baseball fans. Maybe because the season is so long, and there are so many games, there’s feeling with baseball that anything can happen. Teams that look great on paper and in spring training may tank, and bottom-feeding teams with no superstars may put together a good run and find themselves at the top of their division, at least for a few days. All but the worst baseball losses (ohmygod Game 6 of the 2002 World Series!!!!!) can be, need to be, shaken off, because there’s another game tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that. (Though baseball players do get days off, occasionally. I hate that.) Average pitchers may end up going out for a routine start and throwing a no-hitter (like the Giants’ Jonathan Sanchez did last fall; he came within a hairsbreadth of throwing that rarest of pitching feats, a perfect game). Baseball is so awesome because (among other things) it represents hope. If the Boston Red Sox can come back from a three games to zero deficit in a 7-game series against the New York Yankees, as they did in the 2004 American League Championship series, well, then, anything really is possible. Maybe the Cubs will actually get back to the World Series this year!
My team is the San Francisco Giants. Who do you root for? What’s your favorite thing about baseball?
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Comments
6 Responses to PLAY BALL!
Love Opening Day. Another sign of renewal and hope.
I love the Giants too, Jen. Imagine that.
I honestly haven’t paid that much attention up to this point. I am not sure who is expected to be “good” or “bad” this year. I am sure the Yankees have spent more money than Obama’s healthcare package is anticipated to cost. To me, the Yankees just don’t have heart.
Heart is the Cubbies. I would love to see them make to the World Series if the Giants don’t. And I am not just saying this to get on Jeff’s good side…!
I want a pitcher, not a belly itcher.
Of course I predict that the Phillies will take the National League title again. In a perfect world, it would be a year of vindication….Phils and Yankees in the series and the Phillies take the title back. After that, I’m ready to let another team have it (welll…..maybe not)
Hahaha!
Erin
I took the day off and watched bits and pieces of 11 games (I have 5 tv’s in my living room) and loved every minute of it. I belong to 3 fantasy teams and told my wife that I will see her in November (after my Cubs win the World Series for the first time in 101 years). I cannot explain the hold that baseball has on us fanatics, but I try to explain it this way: It’s like going to a new play every day on Broadway. The seats and sets may be the same but every day has a new ending and a new story. I cannot imagine a summer without baseball. go Cubs!!
All five of the TVs were fired up tonight and they all had a baseball game on. I am a baseball widow. It is my least favorite sport to watch on TV. Love pro Football, baseball not so much. I do enjoy going to Wrigley field and watching the Cubs. I love the whole atmosphere there.
Five tvs – that’s impressive!
The Giants are 3-o. I’m predicting they won’t lose a game this season. Who is with me?