Game On! (again)

Wanted to post an addendum to my posting yesterday about the start of the baseball season. When I got in my car this morning, the first thing I did was turn on WEEI. Because I'm not much of a football, hockey, or basketball fan, I hadn't listened to the station at all since last August. And over the course of the hour that I could tune in, I just found myself becoming happier and happier. It wasn't just the fact that I really enjoyed what the guys on The Baseball Show were saying. It was the whole idea that baseball was back.

It got me thinking: Do Patriots fans get this excited about the start of football season? I seriously doubt it. Which is not to say that baseball fans like their sport any more than football fans do. It's just that the start of baseball season has more significance and has a greater impact on me and, I'll bet, Bostonians in general. It signals the start of spring and nicer weather, and football season indicates that the weather is getting worse. It's because there are more games in a baseball season than in a football season, so there's more to follow on a day-to-day basis, and thus, it's almost an entire lifestyle change. Maybe there's more to it, something about father and son relationships, something about hope and rebirth and second chances and the American Dream being symbolized by the sport, and something about long-standing passion and devotion and tradition — all things that I just don't see to the same degree with football. Maybe it's because the Sox play right downtown and the Patriots play all the way out in Foxborough. Maybe it's all those things. But even in cities where the team isn't very good — the guys on the radio specifically mentioned Kansas City, and not just because that's where the Sox begin their season — the opening day game is not just a game, it's an event.

So it is for me with the Sox this year. Not sure I'm adequately expressing my thoughts here, but I'm just really excited to have baseball back in my life. I'm hopeful that this season will end on a better note than last season did. But that's at least four or five months away — or seven, if we're lucky and all goes according to plan. For now, I'm just ready to go along for the ride, and looking forward to the late nights I'll spend watching games on NESN, the time I'll spend listening to 'EEI, and the inches of Globe and Herald coverage I'll read. Bring it on. Bring it all on, even the extra congestion on the T on game nights. It's been a long, long winter since I followed this sport. I wholeheartedly embrace its return. Let's go Red Sox!