The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit. ~Al Gallagher

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Even at 7 a.m. this morning in 40-plus degree weather, my eyes snapped open early, beneath my burrow of blankets. Something smelled different about the air. Something better, something glorious. Something unmistakable.

Baseball starts today.

"That's the true harbinger of spring," Bill Veeck once said. "Not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball."

Of course, I can't exactly see the park from here and if I could, I know that most of the guys who show will just be checking in, getting a physical and leaving again just as quickly to either unpack or play golf but still, I know the ballpark is beginning to buzz with the sights and sounds of Spring Training and that's all it takes for me to get excited.

In the past, no ailment or life crisis I've had has ever been so grievous as something Spring Training could not cure. It's a perfect time of year; a time when, both for myself and the players, everything starts anew, the slate is wiped clean and the possibilities for the season are infinite. It is a time of true hope and limitless optimism: Settle on the berm with a hot dog and smell the outfield's freshly-cut grass for the first time of the spring and tell me you don't feel the same way.

There'll be a new found battle for roster spots. Some will surprise and finish in that heralded 25, some will battle to the end before they're handed a plane ticket to one Triple-A destination or another. The new draftees will debut and then move to the back fields, last year's top picks will stick around a little longer this time around and I'll inadvertently forget to wear sunscreen one day and suffer a red face for the week following.

From my position in bed this morning, the sun appeared to shine just a little bit brighter outside my window. The grass looked a little greener and the world felt warmer.

And pretty soon, things will really get hopping over at Charlotte Sports Park.

I can't wait to be there.

-Sportsgal