{"id":72,"date":"2010-03-31T05:35:26","date_gmt":"2010-03-31T10:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/?p=72"},"modified":"2010-05-09T04:38:44","modified_gmt":"2010-05-09T09:38:44","slug":"reflections-and-opening-day-by-daniel-dee-clark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/archives\/72","title":{"rendered":"Reflections and Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"
March 31 , 2010<\/div>\n

\"mlblogo\"<\/p>\n

Sox\/Yanks.\u00a0 CC\/Beckett.\u00a0 On paper the matchup is just another game.\u00a0 One of the 162 everyone signed up for.\u00a0 Still, the first one means more.\u00a0 I personally can\u2019t wait, and my eyes will be glued to my TV from the first pitch until the last.\u00a0 This Opening Day is a little different for me, though.<\/p>\n

This is the first season in which I will be enjoying the game as nothing more than a fan and friend of the game and the people in it.\u00a0 Prior to this season I was still somehow involved in the game, as either a player or a coach.\u00a0 The thought of what the game means to me now – and what I should mean to it – are quite prominent in my self-reflection nowadays.\u00a0 Truthfully, I don\u2019t think I have ever cared as much about the game itself.\u00a0 One thing about being personally removed from the competition inside the gates is that I have no personal ties to any particular team.\u00a0 Sure, I still root heavily for all of my friends still playing at college as well as all the kids I coached in either high school or club ball, but my fix can no longer be satisfied by anything that I can actually do on the field.\u00a0 I think that is the primary reason that Arlo and I started this blog.\u00a0 He is in the same boat I am and has the same love and longing for the game that I do.<\/p>\n

My guess is that like me, he sees the game as much more than just a game and much more than just a thing to do.\u00a0 I still feel as though I have some kind of responsibility to the game, much the same way a player grabs an extra lift in August or takes a few extra cuts in the cage after an 0-for day.\u00a0 Baseball is a part of my life, and I feel as though I owe it something.\u00a0 Maybe that something is simply paying the ticket price to watch a high school game or playing in a fantasy league with old friends, or anything really.\u00a0 The responsibility we all have is simply to care.\u00a0 Deep down I feel as though the game in many ways brought me my opportunity in dental school, many of my closest friends, and greatly improved my relationship with my father, among countless other things.\u00a0 It never asked for anything in return except that I care.\u00a0 I\u2019m endlessly fortunate to have the game.\u00a0 We all are.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s all tune in Sunday with hope for the season ahead.\u00a0 Even if you can\u2019t stand either team, realize that their roles in the game are unique.\u00a0 These two organizations drive the baseball economy, and everyone benefits from them as a consequence.\u00a0 Personally, I am rooting for the Sox all season because of the one-day contract they gave Nomar so that he could retire in the uniform he was meant to.\u00a0 Nomar was my favorite player growing up, and as a fan, that gesture meant an awful lot to me.\u00a0 Unfortunately, I have never and likely will never meet Nomar, but the game taught me to care about and believe in something bigger than any of us.\u00a0 It\u2019s nice when the people actually in it show us how much they appreciate our love and admiration for our heroes.\u00a0 Thanks, baseball.
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March 31 , 2010 Sox\/Yanks.\u00a0 CC\/Beckett.\u00a0 On paper the matchup is just another game.\u00a0 One of the 162 everyone signed up for.\u00a0 Still, the first one means more.\u00a0 I personally can\u2019t wait, and my eyes will be glued to my TV from the first pitch until the last.\u00a0 This Opening Day is a little different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12,15,6,14],"tags":[93,94,84,92,91],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":199,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/thegoldensombrero.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}