BEST SPORTS DAY OF THE YEAR

Tomorrow is what I believe to be the best sports day of the year. First of all I'm usually pumped because the NCAA basketball finals will take place tomorrow night. However, this is the first year in my entire life that I've had a vested interest in a team in the tourney and now that they are out the championship doesn't sparkle quite like it did before. Fortunately for me there is another reason why tomorrow is important. That's right folks. It's opening day. So I'd like to take a moment to comment on what I consider to be the greatest of all the sports.

Spring Training:

I went to Rangers' spring training this year with my great friends Jaime and Ty.

I've never really considered a trip to spring training before and now I'll never consider not going. We did it over a long weekend this year and will make it a full week next year. To me it was the purest form of baseball that is played by major league ballplayers. No huge stadiums. No camera crews. No fancy pregame ceremonies. Just baseball. We were able to sit so close we could hear the players and manager talking on the field. It reminded me how much I love this game. It doesn't matter if my team stinks ... although I'd prefer they not. It was just baseball and it was great.

Bonds:

This guy is most likely going to break Hank Aaron's career home run record this year. They were talking about it on Baseball Tonight and I couldn't help but wonder what the collective reaction to this event will be. Everyone says it is tainted because he played in the steroid era and has all but been convicted of using. But I couldn't help but wonder if we're just using this steroid thing as a tangible excuse not like this guy and his breaking of the record when in reality we don't want him to break the record simply because he's probably the biggest asshole modern day baseball has ever seen. I honestly think that's why Bonds gets crucified in the media over the record and steroids. It sounds ridiculous to say we don't want him to break the record because he's a jerk. But we can all get behind putting an asterisk by his name in the record book because of steroids. It's actually some combo of both, but if you ask me the main reason why I will hate to see him break this record it's because I've known of Barry Bonds for a long time and there hasn't been one moment in that time that I didn't think he was a complete jackass that totally choked during his few times in the playoffs.

Joe Morgan:

Why is this guy still calling baseball games? I can't stand him. Would you rather hear him call a baseball game or Bill Walton call a basketball game? I know ... it's a close call.

Picks:

I know there is a game already underway, but I think it will okay to make some legitimate picks. I base these picks on absolutely no baseball expertise what-so-ever. Mainly because I have none of the aforementioned expertise. But I will throw some picks out there and totally rub it in your face when they are proved right in October. So here goes.

AL East: Boston

AL Central: Chicago

AL West: Angels

AL Wildcard: Cleveland

NL East: Mets

NL Central: Cardinals

NL West: Padres

NL Wildcard: Cubs


AL Champ: Chicago

NL Champ: Mets

World Series Champ: Mets

In closing I'll leave you with this quote from Tommy Lasorda.

"No matter how good you are, you're going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you're going to win one-third of your games. It's the other third that makes the difference."

~Tommy Lasorda



Here's to the third in the middle. Enjoy opening day!