Opening Day: A Baseball Tradition

Today was Opening Day for major league baseball.  As much as I truly enjoy the other sports throughout the year, baseball is different.  Basketball, football and hockey each have their supporters and detractors.  Beyond that NASCAR, boxing, MMA, soccer are relegated even further into narrower niches, although their fan base is expanding.  But baseball is universal; for young and old, male and female, across the racial and ethnic barriers and back, baseball lives in our hearts.

Just in time, National Review has a new sports blog called Right Field that began today.  Here is how their opening post began,

The facts of life are conservative, and in no sphere is that truism more manifest than in the world of sport.

In the games we play, the same rules are meant to apply to all — and we are outraged at the injustice when they are not. There are winners and losers, and we don’t agonize over the self-esteem of those who do not prevail: we expect them to learn from defeat and improve. Sports train the body and mind, and channel what might otherwise be destructive energies toward an affirming purpose.

Not your normal sports blog, it will bring to mind hearing George Will expound on the virtues of the Green Monster in Fenway Park.  Perhaps you remember  the SNL sketch George Will's Sports Machine.  Funny stuff.  This might not be your cup of tea, but I like it.

As for our Opening Day in St. Louis, it was not a successful day.  Without Adam Wainwright, there is a tremendous amount of pressure to win every game Chris Carpenter starts.  Losing his first one is not promising.  The game did go into extra innings, so the fans, as they always do on Opening Day, got their money's worth.

No other team in any other sport does a home opener quite like the St. Louis Cardinals.  I can't help but imagine the jealousy of the players on the opposing team as they see how St. Louis treats its baseball royalty.  The Cardinals will never be able to outbid other teams for the services of the top players in baseball, but opening day is worth more than money in the eyes of a lot of players. 

I hope our 'el Hombre', Albert Pujols doesn't forget that as the season goes on.  The difference between $25 and $30 million a year is probably less than what he will pay his agent for his next contract.  Here, he knows where he stands with the Cardinals and with Cardinal Nation; in the unknown there, not so much.  The distance between here and there may not be worth the journey - even for a few million a year more.

To everyone else, I say find someway to participate in baseball this year.  Playing, coaching, umpiring, keeping score and even working the concession stand at the local little league field should never be jobs that go looking for someone to fill them.  There are way too many memories and moments of exhilarating joy awaiting you at the ball park.  Don't miss them.

Play ball!

Ruminations from the Void

Not a teacher

First, I would just like to apologize to anyone who was offended by my post wherein I may have compared teachers to Jason Vorhees.  The comparison was not meant literally, with the exception of one teacher in particular, and she knows who she is (right, Mrs. Applebaum?).  It was only a metaphor.  Still, I would not tempt fate by taking a school field trip to Camp Crystal Lake anytime soon.

Two issues that won't help the public unions.  McIver Institute estimates that the protests have cost the state $9 million.  Also a scandal is developing because several doctors were writing fake sick excuse slips for protestors.  These slips enable workers to be paid while not working.  Where does my union sign up for the benefit where management pays us to strike against management? (h/t Gateway Pundit)

I'm thoroughly enjoying "Omar's Krazy Komedy Show".  If anyone needed it, Colonel Qaddafi is showing us how the term "crazy third world dictator" came into being.  FDR had his Fireside Chats, Qaddafi has his Umbrella Talks.  I can only imagine what other youtube videos exist that involve an umbrella and the front seat of a van, but something tells me they are will not often be made by heads of state.  Although, Qaddafi may not be the head of state since he concluded that he had no position from which to resign.  Check out Allahpundit at HotAir for more.  Real question is why is he still just a Colonel?  I think if I was going to live in a militant dictatorship I would want a General leading it.  Now all I can think of is Woody Allen in Bananas.

Did anyone watch Chuck last night?  I think Peggy was killed in the first scene.  You know..."Hello, this is Peggy with Prime Credit" but it's a bearded Russian man.  It's good to see his successful transition from a 30 second commercial to a 45 second TV appearance where he's killed off immediately.  It's like making it onto Star Trek's Enterprise crew, but you have no name and are immediately volunteered to shuttle down to a strange unknown planet.  "Come in, Enterprise, Crewman #2 is down...I repeat...Crewman #2 is down."

Running away from your problems is never the answer.  It solves nothing and simply makes the problem worse while those you left behind are forced to act.  So, no matter the issue, if you are an elected official who belongs to the minority party, please call for help.  Don't run out on your constituents, because the truth is, you need them more than they need you.  Just listen to this recent Wisconsin based runaway Tim Cullen, "I didn't run for Senate to spend the rest of my life in Illinois."  We're here to help.  Please call today.

Going in to work at 3pm as everyone else is leaving, the sun is shining and spring is in the air, is the absolute worst part of my job. 

For my fellow Cardinal fans out there, don't rush to judgement on Albert Pujols yet.  While he may have chosen not to sign an offer from the Cards, he is still under contract and has expressed a desire to remain in St. Louis.  The chance of him resigning after the season is high.  Over the past 10 years, no player in baseball has been more underpaid that Albert, so is it wrong for him to expect this contract to compensate him for those years as well?  As long as he ultimately signs a 10 yr contract for less than $300 million and he continuews to produce consistently, at the end of the contract he will underpaid again.  That said, the Cards will not go broke with him or without him and Albert will be well paid no matter where he signs.  With Albert, the Cards are happy.  Without Albert, $30 million a year opens up a lot of cash for some new pitching.  Win - Win.

Yesterday was, of course, President's Day.  I will save my usual diatribe on the washing out of our history by celebrating one day for all rather than just the birthdays of notable Presidents. Suffice it to say that today is Washington's birthday which was what we celebrated when I was a child.  A new Gallup poll rates Ronald Reagan as the greatest president in history.  My favorite MSNBC psychopath, Chris Matthews was visibly angered by this.  Newsbusters has the video.  Naturally, I have no problem with the poll, but if we didn't persist in trying to erase the past, these polls may come out differently.  C'mon, would celebrating Washington's birthday really be unfair to Jimmy Carter?