Play Ball!

Today, February 25, 2009 is a great day! Today, the past becomes completely irrelevant. Today, everyone gets a chance to start over. Today, marks the official beginning of the 2009 Major League Baseball Season! Yes, it's true that Spring Training started two weeks ago, but it's never really official until two teams square off in Florida or Arizona in late February. Spring Training is its own animal - third color jerseys, guys wearing numbers north of 50 on their backs, rookies taking the field with or against the guys that they idolized growing up, catchers lined up 12 abreast catching bullpens, and hundreds of fans coming out to see the game. It brings a feeling of a fresh, new beginning each spring that you won't find in any other sport. Players are gearing up for a grueling marathon that will consume their minds for the next 6 months, and only those that are determined, committed and even lucky enough, will be playing in October for eternal glory.

It's baseball. Our national pastime. The only game in the world where the ability to endure failure and rise above it is truly a daily occurrence. This season will no doubt be remembered for it's own version of drama - walk off homers, maybe a no-hitter or two, perhaps we'll see the last 300 game winner ever?

It will also be remembered for another thing. America is at a crucial turning point in its history. Unemployment is the highest it's been in a long time, people are going to jail for tax fraud, insider trading, cheating the government, and banks are disappearing over night. What was once the leading, free market economy in the world is now a hollow shell that makes the "good old days" seem light years away. Baseball represents a return to simplicity. A return to what is...normal; an example of what has carried us through the tough times in the past, and it can do it again!

As Americans usher in a new beginning in this baseball season, I can't help but feel we'll also usher in a new sense of hope. Not because of our President, not because of a ridiculous stimulus package, but because of the grit, determination and pride that this great country was built on. We all come from a long line of brave, proud, old-school people that are responsible for weaving the tapestry of this country that has represented strength and the ability to achieve anything to the rest of the world.

We all have a decision to make, and I hope we all decide to roll up our sleeves and get tough. We need to remember who we are and that it's up to us to own our future. Be positive! Be confident! With all that said...PLAY BALL!