With the exception of that little dalliance in Japan, baseball starts in 3-1/2 hours or so, right here in Washington at the Nationals' new ballpark. I really wish I was able to go to the game tonight, despite the worst president of my lifetime throwing out the first pitch, because it would be cool to be at a historic baseball event. Hopefully I'll make it out there when the Nats return home next Wednesday. Regardless, from what I've seen and heard, they've done Nationals Park right; it's not a concrete ugliness like the Cell in Chicago or RFK here in DC, but one of those places like Petco in San Diego or the Great American Launchpad in the 'Natti - built not to be a great place for three different sports, but to be a great ballpark.

I'm going to give a little more preview of the season tomorrow, when the Cubs might be able to dodge the raindrops and open the season at Wrigley, but for now, my yearly dragging-out of an old quote from the late, great Bartlett Giamatti:

It [baseball] breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.

Play ball! Go Cubbies!

Labels: Baseball, Chicago Cubs