A Great Start

Enjoy this statement, because it's a rarity: The Rangers are undefeated in the regular season!

Granted, major league season is all of one day old (and the Rangers actually started the year at home for once), but the Rangers started off in fine fashion by trouncing Cleveland, 9-1 (on a 50-degree day, no less). Even if their record "falls to .500" on Wednesday, we can enjoy this day for what it is (which, among other things, is the first Opening Day victory for the team in five years).

I always do a baseball post on Opening Day, which, as I said, has often been on the road for the Rangers in seasons past (perhaps starting out in The Ballpark, with their former owner--you can call him "Dubya" now--throwing out the first pitch, helped rally the team today, or maybe this year is different). In the early years of this blog, I waxed philosophically about baseball and the good things in America, and I've also compared it to jazz. And just like on every Opening Day, I'll link those two posts and talk optimistically about the upcoming season for a moment (and today's win gave us an extra little jolt of said optimism). I never get to go to the day game, since skipping school doesn't work so well when you're a teacher, but I'll be out there soon, thanks to the free tickets I get every Christmas.

And in a few weeks, when the team finally travels to the West Coast for a late-night (Texas time) start, I'll get to experience one more early-season tradition: I'll turn on the radio and fall asleep to the game, and for a little bit, I'll be a kid again. Baseball's good like that.

Play ball!