Still here

It's Opening Week here at my house; only the second I can remember paying attention to. When Opening Day broke last year, I was a baseball neophyte. I was getting reacquainted with the team, the players, the stadium and nearly everything else about this new version of the Pttsburgh Pirates. There was also a metric ton about the game itself that I was ignorant of. 

To my surprise, I had the good fortune to re-discover the game during the best season the Pittsburgh Pirates had had in two decades, getting all the way to October before falling to the very skilled, and very determined St. Louis Cardinals. I have the good fortune to know a fiercely loyal Cardinals fan through my work, and I spent much of last year, and have started this one, with an enjoyable mixture of friendly rivalry and mutual respect.

All through last year, and through the winter I expected the love for baseball to disappear, only to be replaced by something else. My typical pattern is to be captivated with a subject like, say, Star Wars, for a brief and intense period, only to see it slowly diminish, and be replaced by other subjects. For some reason, I always kept expecting that to be the case with baseball — "last year was fun, but I'm kind of over that; that was then, this is now."

Brother, is that not the case.

This year, I seemd to have graduated from neophyte to acolyte. For the first time, I watched Spring Training, and actived the MLB At Bat 14 app the morning it was released. I followed the Bucs, not through just a few spring training games, but through the entire 30 days — a period that another vastly experienced fan at work disdains as "practice." By doing so, I got to know some of the players in our future, and was even sorry when some were sent back to the minors. Last year, I was somewhat amused by fans who knew minor league prospects — now, I are one.

Last year, I was timid about started my subscription to At Bat, worried that I'd never use it enough to justify it. This year, I am eyeing both the MLB.tv Internet streaming service and the MLB Extra Innings package on TV. I doubt my finances will allow me either, but if money were not a factor, I would do it in a heartbeat. 

So, here I am, grateful to still find myself a fan, and for the second straight year, looking forward to the new season with a sense of optimism and excitement. Let's go Bucs!