Opening Day

It's official. The 2009 baseball season is open for business. Lots of games. Wins, losses. Extra innings. Night games. Hot dogs, popcorn, nachos and cold drinks.

Why is it I - a declared non-sports fan - embrace a sport that stretches from the snows of April through the chill of October? Basketball, hockey and football last way longer than necessary, a blurry blob of indecipherable rules and men disguised in helmets and pads so that they all look the same. But baseball. It feels good. It sounds good. The players are distinct people with personalities.

The return of baseball is like an old school friend who's back in town for a fun visit.

Does our taste in sports come from our parents? My dad loves football and always did. But I never "got" football. My brothers followed baseball, as did my mother. She joked that she became a baseball fan in spite of herself. When World Series games were played in the afternoons, my brother instructed mom to keep box scores until he arrived home from school. So as she ironed on October afternoons, she kept the stats with pencil and paper at the end of the ironing board. This exercise thoroughly hooked her.

Baseball is a thinking man's game. This fact occurred to me when my son David played on the dusty field at the local park. His face knotted in concentration, David strategized all possible plays while his teammates picked dandelions in the outfield. It was then I finally "got" baseball.

Baseball is relaxed. Really relaxed. My father calls it "watching a glacier." But I find the game so very soothing on a hot summer night. In fact, it's one of the few sports that is enjoyed outdoors in warm weather. And right now (it snowed in Ohio today), a baseball game in warm weather sounds mighty good.

Take me out to the ballgame. And you can buy me some peanuts and crackerjacks, too!