Tuesday, April 3, 2007

Hope springs...

"Hope springs eternal..." is a phrase that is constantly used to describe the opening games of the Major League Baseball Season. It has been used for as long as I can remember and you know what? It's perfect.

The most beautiful time in sports is the first day of games in the MLB. The hope that exudes from the stands is truly amazing. Everyone believes that this could be the year that his or her team makes it to the top. Especially in recent years, with seven different teams winning the World Series and a good number of them being wildcard teams. Go to any city and you will get a different World Series prediction. There are people out there right now who think that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays have a chance to make it to October! Hope and faith like that is so rare in this world. It is a beautiful thing.

I guess I am going to keep this post short because the message is a simple one. Before the other 161 games make us forget what makes baseball so great, just remember the hope and excitement you felt on April 2nd. Before Barry Bonds tarnishes one of the games most hallowed records, before another player is found to be taking steroids, or before we get wrapped up in the stats and drama that come with every season, just reflect on the amazing feeling of innocence and purity that comes with opening day.

To put it the best way I can,

Hope springs eternal in the human breast;
Man never Is, but always To be blest:
The soul, uneasy and confin'd from home,
Rests and expatiates in a life to come.

-Alexander Pope,
An Essay on Man, Epistle I, 1733

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