Cute boys in tight pants

The Boys of Summer are back! Today is opening day for Major League Baseball ( http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/subscriptions/mlbtv.jsp?partnerId=240x60_mlbtv_openingday ) and it's about damn time. I love baseball. I used to hate it with a passion. I considered it beyond boring and frankly wanted to open a vein whenever my family was watching it on tv. Eventually I learned to love it for the following reasons:

• Harry Caray
• Tight pants

Allow me to explain. I've always liked the sound of baseball, you know, off in the background somewhere. I think this comes from hearing Vin Scully ( http://www.radiohof.org/sportscasters/vinscully.html ) on the transistor as a kid. I played in the backyard while my dad did yard work. I'd occasionally get dragged into some variety of child labor, like raking leaves or pulling weeds, but mostly my brother and I played while dad did manual labor. Eventually Vin Scully's voice came to mean sunny weekends and, well, that's always a good thing.

Because I liked the sound of baseball, I started tuning into WGN's Cubs coverage soon after we got the station on our cable line up. I could never figure out if Mr. Caray ( http://www.radiohof.org/sportscasters/harrycaray.html ) was suffering from a stroke of just drunk and tryng to figure this out made for some great television. I now believe it was probably both but mostly he was rather tanked. He would slur his words more and more as the game went on and said some insanely inappropriate things but, God, did I come to love those broadcasts. Harry Caray games became genuine a joy for me. They were almost too much fun. I miss him a lot.

I eventually gave in to the temptation of loving baseball because the following thought finally occurred to me "It's cute boys in tight pants! What's not to love?!" With this I started embracing the Dodgers (National League) and Yankees (American League). A conflict of monumental proportions according to dear old dad. Daddio was a Brooklyn Dodger fan and lived through the glorious day when the Dodgers moved to LA. The man saw Sandy Kofax's perfect game for God's sake. We're talking hard core Dodger fan here. To this day he HATES the Yankees and can't understand how he could have possibly raised a Yankee fan. Like any teenager in love, his disapproval only makes my love deeper.

Last year I finally made it to Yankees Stadium. I don't care how much you hate the Yankees, there is something truly magnificent about that place. A friend managed to get spectacular seats and we enjoyed a great game. They Yanks were down 10 - 0 in the 6th and managed to come back and win something like 21 - 10. I thought I had died and gone to heaven. I, of course, called my dad and screamed "It's too much Daddy! It's just too much!" Even he could appreciate how cool the experience was.

So here's to the Boys of Summer and all the joy and heartbreak they will bring. May the season be kind to my boys.