It's Opening Day

Or at least it was recently. I'm not good with deadlines. I remember them- I just don't ever really meet them. I should know better than to do a cheesy Opening Day post, mostly because Alec will probably question my sexuality for it, but it's hard to resist, and it wouldn't be the first time he insinuated I was gay. I love baseball. I wouldn't be making an ass of myself on this blog if I didn't. And Opening Day is great, don't get me wrong- it's a beautiful celebration of the return of our great game after winter; it wipes away the slog of the winter months and the unreal nature of spring training in some far-away sunshiney state and gives us the concrete reality of games being played in familiar stadiums again. And I, like every other baseball fan, celebrate and enjoy Opening Day- I've been to a lot of ballgames, but an Opening Day is something I've never done and would love to do. But Opening Day isn't what really does it for me. What I love and treasure as the real indication that the game I love has returned is the day after Opening Day- the second game of the season. There's so much pomp and circumstance associated with the simple reality that we're playing real baseball games again that the game itself falls by the wayside. Day 2 is what it's really about- just baseball. (Sans beer, if you're unlucky enough to be in Toronto...shouldn't they give you beer just for having to live in Canada?) Day 2 is the beautiful reality of a 180 day, 162 game season setting in- baseball is back, and it's here for the long haul. It's like Opening Day is too beautiful and perfect to be true, and the day after is baseball telling you "Relax, I'm back. And I'm not going anywhere." Nevermind that it left us to face the fall and winter cold and alone, as the former Comissioner Giamatti said, the game has returned, and will be our comfort and our friend through the long, lazy summer days for which it is so perfectly suited.