Spring Training

Most of my readers know that I'm an avid sports fan. There are a few things I need to explain about that statement however. In my mind there are two distinct types of sports fans. You may be familiar with guy-who-knows-nothing-but-his-favorite-team-paints-his-chest-team-colors-fan. I am not that, and frankly, that guy annoys me entirely. The other type of sport fan is the guy who although he has his favorite teams, his overall love for every sport makes him more of a "sports nut", then a fan. I like to think I fall into the second category.

I love every sport. I mean it, anything. From football, to the international sports of tennis and soccer, I embrace it all. I'm the kind of guy that would lie in bed late at night watching the final of the Ft. Collins Table Tennis Finals. It is what it is.

Lately, my sporting plate has been dominated by European soccer. My favorite club, Liverpool F.C. is enjoying another great season beating Barcelona in the first leg of their tie in the Champions League last week.

However, March is here. And that means one thing....

Spring Training.

Although I love every sport. Although I love international sports even more. Even though my love for Miami Dolphins football is great. There's no question in my mind, the greatest sport is still, and always will be... Baseball.

It's the great sport of the world. It's the gift of America to the Americas. The smell of the grass, the optimism of every team in spring training, and the final cooling down of the hot-stove off season, this...this is baseball.

"The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love." - Bryant Gumbel

"I'm convinced that every boy, in his heart, would rather steal second base than an automobile." - Tom Clark

"I see great things in baseball. It's our game--the American game. It will take our people out of doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us." - Walt Whitman

"Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young." - Roger Angell

"All I want out of life, is that when I walk down the street folks will say, "There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived." - Ted Williams

"A hot dog at the ball park is better than steak at the Ritz." - Humphrey Bogart

Though football may be king now, baseball will forever be the great sport. Spring training is here, so grab a hot dog, catch a game, draft your fantasy team, and enjoy the true beginning of summer.