[dropcap]Y[/dropcap]ou know you’ve been missing baseball when hearing the voice of John Sterling comes as a relief.
As a die-hard Red Sox fan—and, more importantly, someone with ears—I have no great love for the bombastic Yankees radio man, but even I was happy to hear John and Suzyn Waldman on the airwaves last week.
Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age, or maybe I’m just pumped that spring is finally here.
Spring Training games kicked off last week, marking the beginning of a wonderful time for fans of our national pastime. I, for one, couldn’t get enough.
Sure, I love Opening Day. More often than not, I’ll fire up the MLB.tv app and veg out on baseball for the better part of two days until I lapse into the sort of couch coma usually reserved for post-Thanksgiving lounging.
But those first couple of days of spring training? Those are special.
All winter long, I’ve got to scratch and claw just to get my baseball fix. I mean, on Feb. 11, I spent an hour-and-a-half watching a World Baseball Classic Qualifying Game between South Africa and New Zealand. Yankees-Red Sox it was most certainly not, but getting the chance to watch actual baseball on my television in the dead of winter? It’s like Christmas come early for a baseball nut like me.
Of course, Major League Baseball doesn’t make it easy—at least early on in the spring. Only a few games last week were televised and a few more had radio broadcasts. As a result, I spent an inordinate amount of time glued to MLB GameCast, watching little colored dots that (probably) correspond to MLB players circle around the diamond.
It may not be a box seat at Citi Field, but it is certainly better than watching the New York Knicks.
Do I plan on tuning in to each and every game for the remainder of Spring Training? Of course not. I’ve got a life, a job and plenty of other things to do with my time. March Madness is starting up soon, which provides a much-needed respite from the doldrums of winter, but the knowledge that baseball is back still warms my heart.
Right now, everything is perfect. The Yankees haven’t won the division, my Red Sox haven’t begun to underachieve, and, for the Mets, the sky is still the limit with the heaps of young, talented pitching they have locked up.
That might all change by mid-May, so right now, I’m simply enjoying the moment, and dreaming of a pennant race.
