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Thursday,
April 8, 2004 |
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Nothing
could be better than the start of a new baseball season
Assistant
Sports Editor
John Ashley Menzies is a senior news-editorial major
from Aledo.
There
is just something about this time of year.
I don’t know if it is just something in the air or
a change in the weather.
But there is just something about this time of year that
gets something stirring inside of me. No, it’s not
the food I ate yesterday; its the start of a new baseball
season.
Ah. I feel complete again.
Last season left me in the excitement of seeing the Yankees
fall short of winning the World Series — again. The
next day I awoke, and it was gone.
I cried on the shoulder of the NFL, but nothing could
quite fill the hole left in my soul when the baseball
season ended.
B.J. Phillips of Time magazine once said, “In the
beginning, there was no baseball. But ever since, there
have been few beginnings as good as the start of a new
baseball season. It is the most splendid time in sports.”
There is just something about baseball. Maybe it’s
the remembrance of my first glove and how it was the size
of my entire upper body. Or that first hit in little league.
Forget the mess about steroids. Forget it. That isn’t
baseball.
The start of baseball season is about new life and a resurgence
into another chance to do something you’ve never
done before.
It’s a time of year when even the Milwaukee Brewers
think they have a chance to make it to the postseason.
And it’s a chance to see the Chicago Cubs screw up
for what seems like the 100th season in a row. But no
matter what, you’ll be there cheering them on next
season.
There is just something about this game that makes me
want to go the ballpark. To have a hot dog and a tasty
beverage of choice and to sit and watch. And the great
thing is, in theory, baseball could last forever. The
only thing that could stop the rally and the only thing
keeping you from going home is that third out. And if
it lasted forever, that’s just fine by me.
Baseball is like that. It’s like life. Baseball is
a game where when you screw up, sooner or later, you will
have a chance to do something great. It’s just a
matter of taking advantage of that opportunity.
I hear people throwing around the name of baseball in
vain. Criticizing and bashing it. They say it’s too
slow. They say it’s not exciting. To them I say,
“You’re not watching it right.”
As Art Hill said before, “With those who don’t
give a damn about baseball, I can only sympathize. I do
not resent them. I am even willing to concede that many
of them are physically clean, good to their mothers and
in favor of world peace. But while the game is on, I can’t
think of anything to say to them.”
Baseball is about the hatred between the Red Sox and Yankees.
It’s about the hatred for the Yankees in general,
for that matter. But those black pinstripes are as much
a part of baseball as the hot dog, the seventh inning
stretch and the 4-6-3 double play.
There really is something about this time of year. Every
team has that new player, be it young or old, it is leaning
on and hoping to ride to the promised land. The media
are abuzz about their local teams’ chances that season.
The hope. The love. The hurt. And the anticipation of
another chance.
That’s baseball.
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