Opening Day 2017
Baseball seasons underway Well you better get ready for a brand new day Hey Chicago, what do you say The Cubs are gonna win today
April 2, 2017. One of my favorite days of the year. It's opening day of the baseball season.
I love sports. Football, hockey, basketball, golf, even bowling. But they all are just killing time until baseball starts each April.
I have so many great memories of baseball openers: Ernie Banks hitting a game tying three run home run with two outs in the 9th inning. Willie Smith's 1969 walk-off again the Phillies. Ditching chemistry class to listen to Billy Williams walk-off home run to beat Bob Gibson and the Cardinals, in 1971. Going to a Cubs and White Sox openers on the same day. A Dodger opener in LA followed by Wrestlemania with Hulk Hogan. Dutchie Carey singing Take Me Out To The Ballgame two months after the death of her husband, Harry. Way too many brutally cold openers at Wrigley...shivering in the bathroom trying to warm up a little.
It's not just the games that makes the opener special. I always considered Opening Day as the official end of winter. Sure it will still be cold in Chicago, but not -25 degrees cold. And we still might see snow but most likely it's flurries and not a 20 inch blizzard that paralyzes us for weeks. Baseball means it's Spring and we all can end our months of hibernation and head outside again for the next six months.
More importantly, opening day gives every team and city a fresh start. No matter what happened in the past, win or lose, everyone starts with a clean slate. On this day, every team's record is 0-0. It's a day of hopes and dreams, from Seattle to Miami. It's a day of reminder that anything is possible....in baseball and in life.
So bring it on! The first pitch in St. Louis is at 7:35. The World Champion Cubs vs their century long arch rival the Cardinals, just as it should be.
Those are words that are still hard to believe. I told you...anything is possible on this day. Hopes and dreams can come true.
Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today.
The words in italics are from Steve Goodman's song Go Cubs Go. Too bad Steve didn't live to see last season. Didn't come close. Here's a piece I wrote about the Cubs two days after the World Series win. I'm still in shock!
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