It’s finally here ~ Opening Day! I’ve always advocated it should be declared a National Holiday. Close the schools and free hot dogs for everyone. A few years ago at Christmas, my son gave me game tickets for Opening Day. It was just really a wonderful gesture and I appreciated it very much, even though I knew I wouldn’t be going to the game. I’ve been in one of those godawful professions that prohibit anything fun, or any kind of life really, for so long I can’t remember. I’ve never been able to go to Spring Training or Opening Day but today I finally put my foot down. I closed the office, shut the blinds, turned on the TV and pulled up the easy chair. I’m a tax preparer. And a Giants fan.
So today when Madison Bumgarner took the mound bottom of the 1st inning against the Braves in Milwaukee I was stoked. But the feeling of euphoria didn’t last long. It had already been announced that Bum had a really bad case of the flu and had been flown by private jet, not with the rest of the team, so he could get some extra sleep along with his dose of flu meds and other gunk that might help him get his wits about him before game time. Poor guy, I was thinking as I watched him sweat it out, and wondered how an athlete in another sport might handle it. In baseball, every pitch is a close-up, magnifying the sweat on his face the twitch in his eyes, and those pesky snot rockets, with no place to hide. And almost immediately, the Giants were behind 1-0.
And then the phone rang ~ my sister. She’s a Mariners fan from Seattle so didn’t understand the urgency of this drama I was going through. We finally hung up and I backed up the recording so I could start over again. The phone again ~this time Jake, my grandson, who I knew wanted to talk politics and that great Warriors/Trailblazer game over the week-end.
About an hour later I looked up at the score and it was something like 8-3 Giants. Glad I recorded the darn thing. I excitedly told Jake about the Giants going ahead and he said that’s what he was calling about – the game was already over (I know for sure Pat and I hadn’t talked THAT long) and Giants won 12-3. So I unplugged the phone and started the recording all over again. But I’m telling you it really takes something out of the drama of the game when you already know the ending.
Next year I’m going to the game, I don’t care where it’s being played, and I’m turning off that pesky phone. And then I’m petitioning Manfred and Congress to declare Opening Day henceforth to be April 16th, a National Holiday.
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