Rant #1,382: Coming Soon

The weather was again a disaster this weekend in my neck of the woods.

We had snow, rain, sleet, hail and heaven knows what else come down on Saturday, followed by a day in the 40s in temperature on Sunday, which made for maximum mush all over the place.

With temperatures plummeting again later today into the single digits, what we have on the ground will resemble an ice carnival, sorely in need of a Zamboni.

I have not stepped out the door yet, but with lots of existing snow and ice melting yesterday due to the balmy heat we had, I am sure that a lot of that stuff is still around in some form, ready to freeze later today and overnight, making for some potentially perilous driving and walking conditions in the coming days.

I will find out soon enough; my first foray outside will be to retrieve the morning newspaper, and I am sure it won't be too pretty.

But hope is on the way.

When I retrieve the morning paper, I will automatically turn to the back page, the sports page, as I have done for years, I will see stories about the two sports running full steam ahead right now, basketball and hockey, and I will read about how the Knicks, once again, and how they lost yet another game.

Then I will get to the real meat of the sports pages, and realize that this muck we have been dealing with will all be a memory in just a few weeks.

Yes, spring training has started in both Florida and Arizona, and once baseball begins, you know that spring, summer and nicer weather is just around the corner.

More than any other sport, baseball's pre-season is just so important, not just to pitchers, catchers and position players, but also to the fans.

Yes, hope does spring eternal, and even the worst teams have a chance in the spring.

As teams limber up their bodies for the six-month season, fans are also limbering up.

Yes, there is snow on the ground, and for a lot of us, snow on our temples, but when baseball starts, we all turn into little kids again, watching players who are--if you are my age--half as old as I am, or even younger.

Yet, even the most grizzled baseball fan becomes eight years old again, remembering his own experiences playing little league as he watches the professional players prepare for the season.

And yes, this annual ritual signals that tank tops, shorts, and flip flops are just around the corner, even as today, we battle the cold and ice.

That is why, in spite of what the doomsayers say, baseball continues as our national pastime. No other sport makes us kids again even as we watch it as adults. It is a six-month athletic soap opera that not even the WWE can compete with.

The other sports are fine, but when it comes to mixing nostalgia with the present, no other sport galvanizes us as much as baseball does.

So, with all the snow on the ground and the frigid temperatures at hand, and as I pass by the stories in my morning paper that signify winter, when I read stories about how the players are preparing for the coming season, it just warms me up all over.

Play ball!

Heck, I wish the season started today, I really do.