Opening Day!

I can't believe it's here! Real, live baseball that I haven't already seen, on my TV - tonight! From today until October I can say "there's a game on" almost every damn day.

Aside from the joy of seeing my boys of summer back in action, this carries with it so many other seasonal and metaphysical implications. Baseball equals Spring. The end of cold and darkness. The beginning of joy and warmth. As of today, it will never be winter again.

It's funny how entities as unsurprisingly cyclical as Baseball and seasons can still sneak up on me. Even now as I write this I am still not quite to terms with the fact that in only a few hours I will sit down and put "The Game" on. You'd think that almost 30 years of living in New England would have been enough for me to figure out how to anticipate these things.

At the same time as I lightly mock myself for the apparent inability to interpret a calendar, I have to say just how great I feel. I am as giddy as a school girl. I quiver with glee. I take off my thick socks with reckless abandon and sentence my winter coat to the closet to serve out its' long term for the crime of being associated with the cold.

I am so happy for the breaking of the weather that on Friday I spent 3 hours raking leaves and I LOVED IT. All my life I have hated raking leaves with the burning intensity of one thousand suns. It represented everything wrong with the world. Such a useless pursuit I could not find elsewhere in the rituals of human beings. So when my plan of using the lawnmower to dispatch the fallen bits 'o tree failed, I reluctantly resigned myself to that most tortuous of tasks. Much to my surprise the combination of gentle sun and ever unexpected tunes on my iPod carried me out of my loathing of the rake and into a state of satisfying appreciation of the fresh air.

The oddest part of this for me is the fact that as an angry teenager I was completely opposed to professional sports of any kind. I don't know exactly how it started, but over the past eight or ten years I gradually got sucked in to the delicious drama of Major League Baseball. It could have been the influence of the cranial proximity of the Red Sox cap I wore in support of my home town (if not necessarily the team itself at first). It could have been the time I spent living and working near Fenway Park and all the summer nights where one could see the lights and hear the roar of the crowd. It could have rubbed off from my friends who were already hopelessly addicted, but regardless of what started it, "Sox Fan" is now tattooed on my DNA.

Baseball is a contagion. A longtime hater of the sport, my girlfriend bemoans the fact that she now knows the players' names and cares deeply about the outcome of the games to the point where she no longer questions my bizarre-o rituals and superstitions.

And what grand superstitions they are! I think that is a concrete part of what makes being a Baseball fan so perfect a fit for me. I have such fear/respect for notions of Karma and universally interlinked chaos theory, that it is an easy step for me to see that my actions or inactions are critically tied to the end result of a day's match.

In the end I would like to offer my undying gratitude to the supernatural forces who govern both meteorological cycles and the infield fly rule for this wonderous annnual rebirth. I finish this unsolicited essay and go to give thanks to the Passion of the Centerfielder.

Thank you

P.S. Go Sox

Yes! Well said, and Thank GOD Baseball is back.

And just because I'm feeling sentimental, I'll re-post this that I left in MissTyrios's journal. I should point out that I'm not even a Sox fan or anything...



So yesterday I'm flipping channels and I come upon that Red Sox documentary that they did last year and then had to put on the new ending because they won. Reverse the Curse or something... Anyway, so I flip it on right at the end when all the Sox fans are talking about what the WS meant to them.

And they cut to this family of people at the parade with a big sign that says "Our (late) parents and grandparents thank you"... And I LOST it. I start sobbing like a maniac. Then they go to families in front of gravestones with "Go Sox" on them and stuff. Hell, I'm even tearing up right now when I'm writing this.

But yesterday I was just a freaking WRECK.

God I love baseball.

I dont really care about baseball, but I like how saying 'baseball season is starting' makes me feel summer is about here

I officially want to marry both of you.

I am so giddy and jittery and joyful right now - my schedule can begin to revolve around 7:05, I can start obsessively checking stats, I can call my dad the instant that Ortiz hits that game-winning homer or Millar gets that amazing out...my mood swings will not depend on my normal female hormones, but on whether the Sox have won or lost.

I love Fenway Park. I love Jerry Remy on NESN. I love the Red Sox.

I fucking love baseball.

wow...that is hot.

I want my fucking hockey back...sigh...

Ha ha! I'm glad I'm not the only one. I cry like a baby when I watch those things. I bought one of the documentaries for my Mom for Xmas and when we watched it together after the wrapping paper had settled we wept and screamed and gripped the amrs of the chairs with white knuckles. We scolded each other for potentially jinxing the outcomes to games that had already happened.

What fun!

Thank you

Indeed, well put. Every year I get a little more into baseball. And I have four fantasy teams this year.

Don't Sox fans get sad by the fact that the very identity of their team and their city has crumbled? Now they're just like like, say, the Anaheim Angels who after years of futility won a World Series, only to crash and burn in the following years. And I ask NOT to get into a fight with any of the fine members who happen to be Sox fans, I seriously want to discuss that.

So, uh, *reads baseball cards* is Zach Day going to have a better season this year, with fewer injuries? Willhe throw the third shutout of his career?

(I have no idea what the hell I just said. )

Forget the guys MARRY ME! (and since we'll be in MA it is an option )

I have 2 teams, on AL that I grew up with, the other NL that I found my way to back in 97 or 98. I can't wait til interleague when they play eachother!!! Sox vs. Braves. My World Series hopes.

I can't wait to actually GO to the games. 2 years of no live MLB can take its toll.

Baseball, does it get any better than this (though football comes close)

Honestly, no. This city is so filled with pride and optimism right now, along with the hardcore love of baseball that has always pervaded it. There was no identity crisis about suffering or reveling in misery...it's wonderful, pure and simple. We won, and we're going to win again, and if we don't...we beat the Yankees, we were world champions. (And we will win again).

Yes! Thank you for bringing up two points. It is such a great feeling for me to call my Mom and ask "Did you see that?" though I know damn well she did. And Jerry Remy rocks. I love our announcers. The radio guys too.

I *hate* when the games are on other channels like EPSN where the guys are boooooring, or Fox where they are obnoxious. During the playoffs, I tried the old trick of muting the sound on the TV and putting the radio on, but nowadays there is a 1 second delay on the TV signal. The radio would be calling stuff before we saw it on TV and that proved to be too weird for me.

A friend of mine produced a commercial for "Eastern Clothing of Watertown" and got to meet Remy and Orsillo and tour all of Fenway.

Speaking of which, I hope to go to one of those tours this year. I think it would be a lot of fun to see what it is like to look up at the stands from the grass of right field. Have any of you guys done that yet? The brochure says they are offered year round.

Thank you

1 world series ring in 90 years > 3 super bowl rings in four years?

Yes. For me and for a lot of other people. The Pats wins have been fantastic, but nothing compares to the SOX winning the WORLD SERIES.

I believe that there is room in your heart for one sport. Mine is baseball. Other Bostonians have football there, so they would argue that the dynasty overtakes the world series. But even those people are few and far between.

I'm just trying to figure out the drive, the passion, the general mindset of a Sox fan.

I'm from the midwest, surrounded by awful, awful baseball teams. The only team I can compare the Sox to are the Cubbies, obviously. Die hard Cubs fans strike me as almost apathetic about their teams success. It's good if it's there, but they still roar and cheer and fill Wrigley even when they're a sub .500 team. The Cubs don't have a true nemesis, aside from the Cards. And it's nothing like Yankees/Sox rivalry (the second biggest rivalry in sports).

Seems to me the two defining aspects of the Boston Red Sox, in the big picture, is constantly losing, and constantly losing to the Yankees. Now that they've pulled off the greatest achievment in team sports, that's not an issue anymore.

BC THE RED SOX KICK ASS SON! ^ ^

We only get two games a week in the UK, and they're broadcast live, so I have to do all nighters (shame!), but I'm totally hooked – i'm so excited, we've got Yankees v Red Sox on tonight, and I can't wait! I've been counting down the days, and now I've got the beers in and it all kicks off at 12.30am UK time.

Baseball rocks, although it took me ages to get my head around the rules and stuff when I first started watching it, but it was so worth it. It's now my second favourite sport after soccer – I just wish it was bigger in the UK, and that I could go and watch it in a bar – or ideally a stadium!

Think I may be going to Vegas later this year, but I don't think there's any major league anywhere in Nevada (please feel free to correct me here) so I doubt i'll get the thrill of a live game on this visit.

Any other hardcore UK baseball fans out there???

Oh yeah, and I reckon the Sox to win 6–3 tonight.

I've never heard that before. Why do you think that?

Thank god for Spring; for the smell of freshly-cut grass; crisp, clean, white uniforms; and the renewed hopes of millions. Baseball certainly is the most majestic sport. And since dreams are coming true, how about another Sox World Series victory, but this time from my beloved White Sox. It has been 88 years. And btw, negative, brilliant post!

*Braves suck!*

Boston's a baseball city. Always has been, except for the couple of years in the mid 80's when Bird ruled.

Conversely, SF's a football town. Always will be. Thankfully, I don't care much about the Niners.

SuperNintendo, to put it in terms closer to home... If the Wings had just won that one Cup, don't you think that would supercede anything the Pistons have done?

OK. You get extra points for this one. Because I know what you're calling #1.

You quite obviously have never been to Boston in October.

Even out here you could tell who was from New England just by going into a Bar game 4 of the ALCS. MAN you should have seen it during the WS!

I love the Pats, and I love the 3 rings in 4 years, BUT you can't deny how thrilling it was for the Sox to win the series!

1 ring in 86 years most certainly trumps the 3 in 4 years.

What's bigger? Celtics/Lakers?

A common question, but I'd say the vast majority do not look at it like that. The joy was so overwhelming and palpable. All winter long you could feel it. For months after the World Series, the city was filled with random outbursts from happy fans. Visitors to our area or non-baseball fans would be confused to see a sudden Torrets-like shriek of glee from some guy on the subway, but it was (ususally) because he just remembered that the Sox had won it all. Even the worst day could be tempered by repeating the mantra "World Series Champion Boston Red Sox".

That is not to say that there will be no change in the demeanor of Red Sox nation. Though it may have been what we were dealt, nobody really wanted the "perpetual loser" role. Public gestalt of our state of affairs has changed. Now we are no longer the city with no new rings for 86 years, but rather the crew that came back from insurmountable odds. I do not think it is inaccurate to say that more than just Sox fans wanted to see them win it.

I'm sure there will be some predictable side effects. Certain annoying chants will probably become more obnoxious. It will be even harder (if that can be believed) to get tickets from now on. The riots at colleges will continue to sadden and confuse rational minds. So far those things have only momentarily distracted my enjoyment though, so hopefully it will go on that way.

Thank you