Opening Day....It's A Holiday, A Way Of Life, An Escape.

Josh Beckett: 1-0
(soxblog.mlblogs.com)

Fenway Park Opening Day 2008
(CEB II)

For all you New Englanders out there, you know as well as I do that it has been a loooooong winter. Well, the winter of '08-'09 had been virtually never-ending for myself. Just before Christmas, I got laid-off from my job in the exciting world of inventory. This actually was more of a godsend, considering I didn't want to be counting pots of marigolds for the rest of my life. At that point, I saw it was fit to finally start my budding career. Two weeks later, I scored a sales job offering (mostly) friendly New England neighbors with free estimates on their home improvements. There were only a few slight problems like,

a) It was a job on commissions.
b) It was door-to-door in MA/NH in January.
c) We're kinda in a recession now.

Making matters worse was that I got home at ridiculous times at night, dinner in microwave and all. Being outside in rain, snow, or cold (sometimes all three) you can say was a downgrade as well. After about a month of frostbite, a few angry neighbors, long hours, having virtually no life, and receiving no money, I decided that the life of a door-to-door vagabond wasn't my path to ultimate glory. However, I did get to go Jersey/Philly and got to eat at my 1st Sonic restaurant (always look on the bright side I guess). I now dwell in the magical world of the unemployed, a world where the population's growing everyday (unlike the stats on the NASDAQ, I wonder if it has any correlation?). Days of boredom have been accompanied by browsing the lack of jobs that are out there. I swear to you, I saw an inventory job, in which one of the criteria was along the lines of "must be willing to climb boxes" in the description. Four years of Babson, and the best thing I can see right now is a box jungle in a soda packaging plant. Things look so bleak that for the first time recently, I started contemplating moving to another city, for it might be my best career option at this point. But as of this moment, I proclaim that my spirit has been renewed, for baseball season is back!

Opening Day of the baseball season for me is like Christmas, the 1st day of spring, my birthday, and a Tom & Jerry marathon rolled into one. Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed the re-emergence of the Celts, and that the Bruins are relevant again (still knockin' on wood for them), but those regular seasons have been over like the Bush administration in January. Opening Day signals the start of pennant races that will captivate fanatics like me till the leaves die. I track every game like a starved child, scarfing down every tidbit from every team that I can as I manage my 3 fantasy teams (Mocha Sox, Firehawks, and the Bubba Gump Shrimpz) to Yahoo league titles, and I just keep on going until my brain becomes obese with OPS and WHIPs from different players. Each Opening Day means that for the next 5-6 months, I will be following my beloved Boston Red Sox as they try to bring home another World Series title to Beantown, each game bringing a new hope, new optimism. Each beginning entertains the thoughts of my next visit to Fenway and biting down those Fenway Franks (pretty much the only hot dog I eat nowadays). Opening Day reminds me of a love that I have had for a sport since I was a rascal dressing up as Michelangelo (yes, the orange one) for Halloween, collecting the rookie cards of my favorite players. The dawn of a new season makes things simpler like in those times, when sometimes life was just about a ball, a glove, and a bright, sunny day. Most importantly, Opening Day teaches me, as well as many fans, that there is always room in life for a new hope, new optimism.