from the ny times op-ed page

here is a touching essay on our national pastime from colum mccann, an irishman in new york learning the game from his son:

what baseball does to the soul

my favorite sections:

If soccer is the world’s game, then baseball belongs to those who have left their worlds behind. This is not so much nostalgia as it a sense of saudade — a longing for something that is absent.

and

I never meant to fall in love with baseball, but I did. I learned to realize that it does what all good sports should do: it creates the possibility of joy.

and let me tell you, i am feeling that joy now. i've intentionally avoided listening or watching any spring training action up till now, and tomorrow i'm heading to jupiter to catch the marlins v. the mets in our final spring training game. i got my scorebook in the mail, and have spent the past couple days reading up on scorekeeping technique and working on a cheat sheet to make it a bit easier. bet my friends make fun of me for whipping out my pencil and eraser at the game... but consider the fact that i kept a setlist book at concerts for years and years. Isn't a baseball scorecard the game's version of a setlist pad?

hopefully my flaming orange jersey arrives in time for the dame...

i'm partial to number 4 (history)...

suck it!

the 10 best things about being a marlins fan

courtesy of david from marlins diehards

LoMo feature in new times

logan morrison serves as the wild child for the already loony miami marlins

LoMo's twitter avatar from last year

i'll be honest, i'll like logan morrison. i like him as a ballplayer: he hustles, he hits well and i believe he's a positive presence in the clubhouse. i also think he'd be a pretty cool guy to have a beer with.

i saw you with a ticket stub in your hand

as promised...

in the mail...

the most exciting e-mail that i have seen in a long while:

Your season tickets have been shipped to the address below via FedEx. This is an overnight service.  The first delivery attempt should be made no later than 1 business day from today.

go fedex, go fedex, go go go fedex!

they should be arriving today, i'll post a pic or two once they are delivered.

for sale: greatest prize for (filthy rich) baseball card collectors

1909 honus wagner card expected to reach up to $1.5 million

(not the actual card)

and here is a good read describing the history of the card when one was sold for $2.8 million in 2007. (i guess the price difference shows how the u.s. economy is doing...)

images of spring trainings past...

..courtesy of sports illustrated.

i'm a big fan of this one:

it reminds me of a scene out of today's spring training, except the crowd gathered around the outfield fence tends to be young 'uns trying for autographs. the lack of white faces in this shot (aside from the bambino's pudgy one) makes me think that this was taken in a segregated ballpark, 22 years before jackie robinson broke the color barrier in the big leagues...

home run celebrations jump the... marlin?

i've seen some pretty garish things in my day, so i'm going to withhold judgement until the marlin formerly known as mike stanton blasts one out and i can see this fluorescent carnival sideshow in action.

yoga and baseball #1

it’s not a stretch to say yoga gaining popularity with nationals 

interesting read on the nats' use of yoga as a part of their training regimen. both strausburg and harper practice bikram. curious to see if their yoga practice helps them to avoid the sprains, strains, tears and other physical maladies so ubiquitous in pro sports.

smeddy on deck

i'm pretty sure that i've never been this excited for a baseball season. in fact, i can guarantee it. my rabid fandom has increased over the past couple years. it's not just my root, root, rooting for the home team; no, i've become much more of a fan of the sport of baseball in and of itself. i found myself obsessively scanning twitter feeds during the winter meetings and smiling in anticipation when i thought of the wonderful day when pitchers and catchers report to training camp.

i'm sure that part of the excitement is being generated by my home team, the miami (he said begrudgingly) marlins. new funky look, new state-of-art stadium, new free agent-bolstered lineup: there's a lot to look forward to this season for a marlins fan.

of course, our owner said we were gonna make the playoffs last year, and we finished up 72-90, losing an embarrassing 47 games at the mausoleum formerly known as joe robbie stad-err, landshark-umm, pro player... you get the point.. here's hoping a new stadium brings a home team advantage to south florida.

the idea to write this blog came to me in the shower this morning. most of my best ideas come in the shower: it's just a matter of remembering them long enough to write them down or act on them. for some reason this one stuck. my goal in this is to try and kick start the habit of writing regularly again, and i figured it would be easier to do that with something i was passionate about. i was already planning on working on my scorekeeping technique, and i why not have my own place to post my scorecards, rather then some other site?

i avoided procrastination, and i followed through on something (YES!), and here we are. my plan is to write almost exclusively about baseball, but some other topics may drift in. my florida panthers are playoff-bound, so i may sound off on some playoff action if i manage to get to a game or two. the miami dolphins  are currently an infuriating trainwreck, so i may fling some mud their way. and maybe i'll bring my other passion--yoga--up at some point. i also like music and politics, but will try to keep that stuff out of here. but who knows...

if anyone is reading, i hope you enjoy. feel free to contact me via twitter or comments.