How in the world did it take spring so long to get here? Again! In case you can’t tell, this is always my favorite time of the year. College basketball is winding down with the Final Four, and baseball’s Opening Day is being celebrated in parks big and small around the country. The sun is out more, the temperature is climbing steadily, and the scent of grilled and smoked meats begins to encompass neighborhoods large and small. In a week we’ll know if Kentucky completed the quest they began, in part, by kicking the Kansas Jayhawks around pretty good in November. I imagine every Notre Dame fan will agonize over each Wildcat bucket the rest of the way. Yeah, Notre Dame played well enough to win for 36 minutes or so, but credit The Undefeated with doing just enough to pull it out. A week from now, the Cubs and White Sox will likely have opened the 2015 season against the Cardinals and Royals, respectively. (Hopefully, winter won’t rear its ugly head and April showers will hold off long enough to get the games in.) Those first few games aren’t likely to tell us anything of significance, barring an injury, but hope for the 2015 season abounds on both sides of Chicago. I can honestly say, after Kansas City’s run last October, that this is the most excited I’ve been for a baseball season since 1994. I’m still not a huge fan of the business of baseball, but the game remains a part of my heart. The purest forms of baseball are getting underway, in local parks all across the nation. Kids who are playing the sport for the fun of it always puts a smile on my face. What creates memories better than a kid hitting the ball, looking around for it while transforming otherwise level-headed adults into temporary screaming lunatics, “run, run, ruuuuuuun!” Fifty feet away, another group of converts are yelling “get the ball, tag him! Tag him Tag him Tag him!” It does a heart good to hear those adults cheer in unison at a great play. The sight of a kid staring down a pitcher, squinting in concentration and maybe a hint tongue sneaking from the corner of a month is always great, even if the pitch comes from a machine. Once the weather warms enough to no longer need a jacket, baseball only gets better. Even if you don’t have a kid in a game, go watch anyway. Stay in your car if it makes you more comfortable. Or take a lawn chair and sit directly behind the backstop, in youth ball’s Switzerland. We’re always talking about getting kids out of the house, and what’s good for the kids is good for grown-ups, too. Summer is grand, fall is colorful and winter is what it is. Basketball makes winter tolerable, but spring is the best. It brings out the best in everyone, and can never come soon enough. Play ball!
