This is your Opening Day Eve Post

I think there’s a lot of reasons why we as Americans really get excited for Opening Day. It reminds us of our childhood when things were simpler. There’s that association for you of those summer bike rides to the mom and pop Dairy Treat and going in the general store across from it as you devour your footlong hot dog to see what your favorite players did in the box scores the night before. It was before the internet. Before blogging and access was everywhere. That innocence. You were young and didn’t have a care in the world; and baseball was right by your side.

Beyond the nostalgia that baseball brings to fathers and their sons; there’s just hope. Hope really comes in a pertinent situation right now. Hope for the country. Hope for things to turn around. Hope for better health in the coming year. Hope for your favorite team to make a surprise run or stay as one of the elite guns in the league. It can come in all forms, but this is the time of year when hope is at an all-time high. And you make that association with America’s past time.

Opening Day in Major League Baseball is our favorite day of the entire year. It’s because a world of possibilities exist. How many times can you hear that everyone is in first place for a day? When you arrive at the ballpark and smell the hot dogs and the beer for the first time this season, take it all in. Really take a second to enjoy the moment and realize that life is beautiful. Take in all the colors, the sights, the sounds. There is a purity in what goes on today. That positive feeling you have as a result of it all is the hope it brings.

This could be that year. The waiting is over and it’s time to find out. Maybe the Rays grow and become that powerhouse team in all of baseball. Maybe the Yankees hang that first championship banner in the new stadium. Maybe that fading veteran on your team has some resurgence. Maybe your team has a darkhorse MVP candidate waiting on that roster.

This is the year we get to know Matt Wieters and Cameron Maybin. This could be the year Jay Bruce or Joey Votto hits 30 out. This could be the year the Indians finally lift the Cleveland sports curse.

So as you enjoy Opening Day and the emotions and thoughts that it brings, remember that great feeling you have inside you is hope. You could see anything happen.