Rant #3,297: Summertime

It is February 23, there is still snow on the ground, and all I have going through my head is ...

BASEBALL ...

BASEBALL ...

And more BASEBALL.

I am still wearing my brace and still can't walk without some assistance, and yet, I am thinking about our national pastime.

Teams have assembled in Florida and Arizona in spring training--even though the season of spring doesn't actually come for about a month--and this weekend, the New York teams are going to have some of their earliest spring games televised.

These games don't count at all--except for those players working on things and/or trying to make their respective teams--but to me, it means that my favorite sport's 2024 regular season is right around the bend.

And even though I have suddenly become increasingly busy--mainly due to physical therapy and my increased mobility--I hope to actually watch some of these games, and dovetail right into the regular season.

I have loved baseball as far back as I can remember, and to me, not only does it represent my favorite sport, it also signifies the coming of summer ... warmer weather and all that goes along with it.

I wasn't a very good player as a kid, but when I played as a kid, I just loved it.

I got that from my father, who loved the game, was my coach, and influenced me to become a New York Yankees fan.

Maybe I loved getting dirty, but when we had a game, I couldn't wait to get to the field and get the game going.

I tried to bring that excitement to my son as his coach when he played Little League, and even though he was like me, not the greatest player, he played for seven years, so maybe he got what I was trying to impart to him.

Baseball is the only major game without a time clock, and to me, every game is at least nine innings of fun and excitement, whether it takes two hours, three hours, or more.

Some games are better than others, the game has been refined to its detriment--that "ghost runner" thing in extra innings has got to go--but the game is the game, and it keeps on going with new stars being created each and every year.

I know, people knock bsseball for being too slow, and the four-to-seven game Workd Series will never have the almost unhealthy magnetism that the single-game Super Bowl has--but baseball is the most nuanced of the four major team sports, and the day-in, day-out 162 games in 180 days is a marvel of team sports each and every year.

Sure, the spring training games are often time to take a snooze, but for me, what they portend, both on the field and in general, is just so exciting to me--and might be even more exciting to me as I sit here with this bum left leg.

No, I will never be able to run out on the field again and play a game, but baseball to me represents the youthful vim and vigor I once had, when I would play all day and  all night if I could.

No, I can't do that anymore--bum leg or no bum leg--but watching these games makes me young again, and makes me believe, once again, that anything is possible.

And that is baseball, plain and simple, and no other sport brings you back to.your younger, carefree days like baseball does.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.