AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH...

The tradition never changes. I get drunk the night before, and then wake up around noon on the day I watch my first preseason baseball game. It doesn't matter who plays-- it could Wichita State vs. the Royals split squad, but I'm watching. Then I hit the Red Sox blogs and start reading about pitchers. As the announcers blather on with Dave Kingman and Rob Deere references to minor leaguers destined to be first cuts, I start thinking aloud

HOLY SHIT, THESE MEN ARE PLAYING PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL (or in todays game, the Mets and Tigers are playing Beisbol). Then, as tradition states, I call my other baseball loving friends and we revel in the fact that we can shout the above sentence in all caps. Then after the game, the Sox ball cap comes out, and it's official-- I am obsessed for another full season.

Of course, this doesn't mean I am legally insane quite yet-- opening day is the benchmark for my "screaming at the TV during a mid-April game with the 5th pitcher on the mound" mindset. All this means is that I am ready to talk officially about baseball.

And that is what I will do. Everyday this week until I have covered all the divisions, I am going to preview the Majors-- with a tinge of honesty and ton of the absurd-- piece by piece with my predictions all the way through the playoffs.

Seriously, this is one of my favorite feelings and favorite traditions not because I think that anything important is going to happen, but just because it is nice to talk about BASEBALL again.

Yes.