Play Ball

Could be anything, right?

A new supermarket. A car dealership under new management. A lot could come to mind.

But in the United States, it means one thing. Professional baseball is back. And considering everything that MLB has gone through in the last few years, this year seems like a re-birth. At least to me.

The Mitchell Report is old news now and it is more than time to move past it. Yes, steroids are, and probably will continue to be, a problem in MLB. But they're also a problem in the NFL, NHL, NBA, colleges, high schools, and even among the general population. But that's another story for another time.

In my opinion, there is nothing like Opening Day. Spring has just begun and everything seems clean and bright. Sure, up in Detroit it was cold today. You could barely see the field at Wrigley, because of the fog. And the Yankees had to postpone their opener because of rain. But those are minor speed bumps. Baseball was still played today. Fathers sat in the stands with their sons and explained the finer points of the game, even though the youngsters were probably more interested in anything but what was going on down on the field. Granddads held their namesakes in their laps and reminisced about games long ago, when they were the ones sitting on the knee. Families actually sat down and ate a meal together. Granted, it was hot dogs and Cokes, but it was still family time. Boyfriends and girlfriends, arm in arm, spent a day at the ballpark. And I spent the day in front of the TV, totally engrossed in all the excitement.

I've talked to some today who wanted to do nothing but point out baseball's faults. "Pitchers should bat", "The season's too long", "There's too many teams", "Players are overpaid", blah, blah, blah. They fail to look past all the faults and enjoy one of our rites of Spring. Sure, you can look at the glass and see it as half empty. But why? There are countless stories about inner city kids who marvel at the site of a ballpark, it's deep green grass glistening in the sun. But many have seemed to have forgotten that sense of wonderment. They've been jaded by the scandals and the money involved.

But I think Opening Day is the one day that all those bad points can be, and should be, put aside. It's the one day when baseball is simply baseball. Everything else in our life is so stringent nowadays. Baseball is that escape. That chance to sit with friends and enjoy a day out, or off.

George Carlin once compared baseball to football and said, "Baseball begins in the spring, the season of new life. Football begins in the fall, when everything's dying."

He also said, "In baseball, during the game, in the stands, there's kind of a picnic feeling; emotions may run high or low, but there's not too much unpleasantness. In football, during the game in the stands, you can be sure that at least twenty-seven times you're capable of taking the life of a fellow human being."

Everyone knows of James Earl Jones' monologue in Field Of Dreams -

"The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again."

That is the beauty of baseball. It may have it's faults. It has had it's scandals. But truth be told, it's just a good time. All the bad points are outweighed by the good ones. The best times of my life were with my father at the ballpark. I didn't care about the designated hitter, the 162 game season, or the wild card. I was at a baseball game, cheering my heroes! Many might have forgotten that feeling, but I haven't, and never will. My father may have passed. But when I go to a game this year, he'll be there, if not physically, spiritually.

So next Tuesday, I will be in the stands, cheering on my Texas Rangers. Do they have a chance this season? Absolutely not. Do I care? Not a chance. I will be there, a beer in one hand and a jumbo hot dog (with grilled onions) in the other. I will place my cap over my heart during the national anthem. I will catch a bag of peanuts thrown by the vendor. And if I feel like it, I might even break out a pencil and keep score.

So to the rest of you, feel free to sit at home and complain. Me? I'm gonna go enjoy a day at the park.