I Digress

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Pitchers and catchers reported to Red Sox Spring training. I love it.

First, it is the first real sign that spring is just about here. (sorry to all you robin lovers out there)

Second, it signals another season of hope. I don't want to imply that I am old, but the first time I remember watching the Red Sox, Ted Williams was in left field. In other words I have been a Red Sox fan for a long time. I grew up outside of Boston and everyone liked the Sox.

There were many years of disappointment for us Red Sox fans. 1967, 1972, 1975, 1978, 1986, 1999 etc etc etc and finally in 2004 the series was won. Then again in 2007. What more could you ask for?

I think baseball is the greatest game ever invented and I truly do enjoy it more than any other pastime. I am lucky in that if I want to I could watch all 162 games each year. I only get to see about 140 though. Oh, so now you want to know why I think it is the best game? I'll tell you

1. What other game has no clock? They play until everyone has the same number of outs and one team is ahead. Some games last 2 hours and some can last 5 or 6. Your team can never "run out of time"

2. Every field is a little bit different. No set dimensions, and places like Fenway have nooks and crannys all over the outfield that add to the interest of the game.

3. Baseball is also the only sport where the defense controls the ball. In all other sports it is the offense.

I know a lot of people don't feel the same way I do, and that is ok. I remember back a few years ago I was in Florida at the start of Spring training. We were on the east coast so we weren't near the Sox, but we were fairly close to Ft. Lauderdale where the Orioles have their Spring training facility. I took my son (B) to see them open up their camp. They had one refreshment stand open so we each got a coke and I got him a baseball. We went in and took a seat behind the duguot.

After about 20 minutes in the stands watching some batting practice I turned to my son and I said. "You know (B) it doesn't get any better than this. Sitting in the sun, warm weather, a cold drink and the crack of the bat. This is the life."

So he turned to me and in a way only a teenage son can say, (B) responds with "Your wierd dad".

I just love the game. James Earl Jones says it best in "Field of Dreams"

"The one constant through all the years, Ray, 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, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come."

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