Baseball is Back

Despite what happened at U.S. Cellular yesterday, I am glad baseball is back.

It makes me happy to be able to turn on the TV at night and see a fast ball being thrown. It brings me joy to watch Sportscenter in the morning and see something other than basketball or hockey. Something I care about. Something I have a stake in. A sport where anything can happen--and over the next 161 games, it will. Heroes will be made. Some will fall. And underdogs will have their day.

The drama is unfolding again. The Royals are creaming Curt Schilling. A-Rod is making errors. Santana is Santana. It could be anyone's season.

I've been so excited for this baseball season that I bought myself two late birthday gifts that came in late last week.

The first is a flashback to my childhood. When I was in junior high and high school, I had two favorite teams: one in each league. The AL team was of course the White Sox. But I was also really in love with the St. Louis Cardinals. And it was for one reason really. His name is Ozzie Smith. He's probably still my favorite baseball player of all time. So, I was so excited when I discovered this amazing new McFarlane figure of him online. It's The Wizard of Oz doing one of his trademark backflips. I simply love it.

What's interesting is that I found the Ozzie figure because I went to the MacFarlane toys site to buy a figure of my current favorite player, Scott Podsednik. I also love this figure of Scotty sliding into second. He's now perpetually sliding in front of my computer monitor here at the office.


I have to admit that I got Scotty for two reasons: 1) Because it's cool. 2) To try and reverse the curse. We all know that I am a jersey curse. Thus, I am responsible for Pods' bad year in 2006. So I thought that if me buying a jersey of his caused him to tank, maybe a second purchase--of an action figure--would turn it around.

We have yet to see any hints if my purchase will indeed ring in a Pods Re-Awakening because Scotty didn't play yesterday. He sat in favor of Pablo Ozuna who has a good history against Indians pitcher C.C. Sabathia. So we can't tell yet if Pods will indeed return to glory thanks to my action figure purchase. It's something to watch.

Speaking of things to watch for, there were some good things to come out of yesterday's complete disaster at the hands of the Indians. Here's my Glass Half Full report:

#1: We don't have to worry about Conteras being overworked after yesterday.

#2: Darin Erstead and Paul Konerko are each on pace to hit 162 homeruns.

#3: Bobby Jenks is still Bobby Jenks.

#4: AJ is still funny: "I saw the Cubs lost, too, so I guess the baseball season is over. Get ready for Bears football."

#5: According to Sox broadcaster Darrin Jackson, everything is fine. Watching the replay of the game last night, I heard Darrin say, "Other than the huge lead Cleveland has, the Sox are looking good." Thanks, Darrin.