baseball season starts this sunday. of course the greatest sports rivarly in the history of any sport will kick off the season sunday nite on espn. with a summer full of steroids and congressional hearings, i am ready for the season to get underway and leave all that crap behind.
growing up i remember baseball being a huge part of my life. from the afternoons playing catch with my dad to the hours i spent playing wiffle ball with the kids down the street. i amassed a baseball card collection that would put several kids through college. i collected the posters and autographs and newspaper clippings. i would sit in my room and listen to the rangers on the radio and keep score with an official score-book. i played little league and i was never really good. but i enjoyed it.
every year i try to make it to at least one baseball game, be it professional or little league or somewhere in between. when i lived in boston i was determined to go to as many games as i could and sit in as many different seats as possible. i can remember the smell and feel of the first time i entered the famed fenway. the sights and sounds were amazing. you could feel the history. drinking a cold one, watching the sox play, and enjoying an evening with good friends is hard to beat.
i looked up to the bash brothers. i remember my best friend back in the day, henry, had the posters of them on either side of his wall. i thought they hung the moon, or at least could hit the ball there. i pined for their rookie cards and mcgwires olympic card. i knew all their stats. i wanted to be able to hit and run, just like canseco. of course now all that is tainted. one sold his soul to get back in the limelight, and the other was crying in front of congress avoiding the questions that everyone wants answered.
just so everyone knows where i stand, fuck bonds. go away. you are the epitome of whats wrong with the sport. one day when all the kids of today get older, like i have, they too will be jaded and bitter towards the guys they looked up to, wanted to be just like. just disappear. i am tired of hearing how you are one of the greatest that ever played the game. just walk away. lord knows you are used to walking. i think spike lee said it best, do the right thing.
so as sunday gets closer, i become just a little bit more excited. dont plan on calling me sunday nite. i will not answer. and yes i already have my tickets for my game this year. september 2nd, red sox vs. orioles, green monster standing room only.
