Every chilled to the bone Detroiter is filled with new hope today.
It’s Opening Day for our Tigers. And even though it will probably be in the 40’s, even though the forecast is for rain and even though we already have players out with injuries, spring is in the HOUSE!
It’s not easy to get tickets to opening day so I’ll be watching the game on TV. And while I watch the boys take the field, I am sure to be transported through space and time to a warm seat in the sun with a cold beer in my hand and I’ll immediately get a craving for a hot dog.
I grew up with Tigers baseball and I remember days at the old stadium with fondness. It was a great place made greater because I always went with my dad.
Now I have fond memories of the new park. In April 2000, our first spring back in Michigan, Brian and I got tickets to a Tigers vs. Mariners game. Our two home teams. It was cold, it even snowed. It wasn’t easy to get food, (the vendors were still getting used to the brand new park), but I felt like I was in heaven. It wasn’t heaven, it was baseball.
We eventually got to take the whole family to a game. We bought eight tickets and “gave” them to my mom for her birthday.
My parents came, my sister Karen, my Brother "in law" Steve and the fabulous, then pre-teen, niece and nephew, Ali and Jason, all cheered through a game in the bleachers in the sun. We were in the right outfield, right behind Magglio Ordonez. And even though my dad was already feeling the effects of Alzheimer's disease, he beamed through the game, I hope I will never forget that day, even though he did.
So here’s to the games, past, present and future. And here’s to the fans and the team and the roars of the crowd. Here’s to the all the memories of afternoons in the sun.Here’s to everything that the new season brings to this baseball fan.
Here's to you. The Beer is on me
4 comments:
Mike has been going to opening day all long as I can remember...until this year. Try getting a ticket now...not! :) As much as it is fun to watch them win, it was great to be able to got to a game, get great seats, and decide to go on a whim. All these fair weather fans are messing it all up!
Cant wait to sit in the stands, drink a beer, and get a sunburn on my face...
Oh baseball. Matt's working on my dual baseball citizenship as both a Tigers and a Dodgers fan. We're going to a Las Vegas 51s game on Thursday and, unlike the Tigers opening dayers, we will be enjoying 70+ degree weather and sunshine in the sky. It's kind of neat because people in LV tend to keep their home team pride since there aren't any pro teams in NV. In preparation for the season we've been watching Ken Burns' documentary on the subject...9 "innings" at 2 hours each. I know a LOT more about baseball. For example, the original balls used for the major leagues were made by Spalding and not Rawlings. Another interesting fact, the Brooklyn Dodgers were originally called the Brooklyn Trolley Dodgers because of the people who dodged the trolleys to cross the streets of New York. End history lesson. It had been too long anyway.
Hope you're enjoying the snow. Only a few more months of it. Around July maybe it will melt and the next day it will be 90 and you can complain about the heat. ;D
How I have missed VEGAS! Let the lectures roll...
ah yes the song of the migratory snow bird. "it's so warm here, it's so warm here" don't you just love it?
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