Spring is in the air

Here on this second to last day of February, there was something special in the air- to certain people, that is. With workouts well underway, the first few games have started in the Cactus and Grapefruit leagues. With that, baseball fans can walk with a larger spring in their step, knowing we’re that much closer to the start of the 2008 season.

Despite the snow on the ground here in Chicago, the Cubs played their first “game” today. And they won.

Now, everyone knows what happens in spring training stays in spring training. But no one wants to fail, let alone during this time of the year- the time when everyone seemingly has a shot at October. So when I turned on my radio during the 7^th inning to learn that we were up 11-4, it put a huge smile on my face. Will anyone remember this come the start of the season? No. Heck, some people may not remember it a week from now. But it’s so nice to see that baseball is back in our lives.

Every spring I wonder how we get by in the off season. For roughly four months, we have no games, rare news updates, and only hot stove reports to keep us satisfied. Then comes February, and the day we look forward to each year where pitchers and catchers report. Days later the whole team is in camp. The next week is Photo Day. A few days later, games begin to take place. And after some fine-tuning, the season gets underway shortly after. It’s a season that consists of 162 games that will toy with our emotions and make us crazy. We will be overjoyed, we will cry, and inevitably a remote or two will be thrown. Perhaps even all three will occur in one day. But this emotional roller coaster is a baseball fan’s high. We long for it throughout the off season, and once it’s here we cling to it with every ounce of our being. Those 162 games will take us from the hopeful summer, to the long and rigorous summer, and- to select few- all the way to October.

So tomorrow when the Cubs take on the Giants once again, I’ll listen intently to the sounds of spring knowing full well it doesn’t matter who wins. From the crazy line scores the game will produce, to the record-setting substitutions that will arise, I’ll savor every moment. The snow outside will seem non-existent, and the weather will seem slightly warmer, if only because the season is less than a month away. And baseball is here again.