Ahhhh! Never mind the ice and the biting winds of New England. The first pitches have been thrown and the sounds and sites of baseball are in the air. Can Spring and Summer really be far behind? Okay, so I did watch it snow on May 18th last year...but never mind that. Here are some thoughts from Opening Day 2003:
- George Bush the Elder threw out the first pitch at the new Great American Ballpark in Cincy. Did you see the arc on that throw? He was tossing it like it was a cruise missile avoiding surface-to-air missiles. Does it make you ever wonder that we have had 6 years of Bush presidencies and 4 wars? Of course, nothing says baseball to me like the fine tradition of the Bushes and ballparks....right Texas taxpayers?
- Ya gotta love over paid players stinking up the joint. I am a huge Braves fan and love Glavine and Maddux, but when the guys with the two highest salaries in the game suck wind on opening day, you do have to giggle and dance a jig of joy. Kudos to the fans at Shea for booing Tommy off the mound. An Atlanta pitcher hasn't seen that much vitrol since John Rocker rolled in on the 7 train. Welcome to a real Major League ballpark, my boy!
- Speaking of the Braves, there will be no Skip Caray on the TBS games this year. Boy, do those folks at AOL make sound decisions or what?
- Finally a reason yesterday to suspend a game to the elements and the umps blew it. It snowed in Baltimore and they kept playing...for a few hits at least. Now I am one who thinks this game should be played in the rain, the wind...whatever...but snow is different. Snow is white. The baseball is white. If the baseball was orange I would have a different opinion...however the power plant near my place does give the white stuff an orangish tinge sometimes.
- The Expos are on the road for almost the whole first month...sort of. They get to play a few "pseudo-home" games in Puerto Rico before going back to Montreal. The question is will anyone go to watch up there? I feel sorry for the players in sort of the same way I feel sorry for the people who show up at shopping malls around the country to see the losers from American Idol.
- Thank goodness the Red Sox nixed those false hopes in the first game this year. Last season they started off so strong and fooled everyone in New England into believing again. Don't worry Old Town Team faithful, there is still a slight chance they will dredge up the Babe's piano this year.
*cross-posted at brianlewandowski.com
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