Tim Rogers: Opening Day ruined

Published 7:29 am Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Like many of you, particularly men, I mark the changing seasons by the change in the sports calendar.

Even if there is a month of hot weather left, fall starts for me with the first Friday of high school football, followed shortly by the first Saturday of college action.

Winter begins at the end of the Thanksgiving football games and stretches throughout the college basketball season.

Summer is really just a continuation of spring, only hotter and the kids are out of school.

And spring always started on the first Monday of April.

That it won’t this year is a source of deep irritation for me and, as one old radio announcer used to say, the rest of the story.

To me, the first Monday in April has always been one of the best days of the year.

It means that you have finally gotten through the often dreary days of March — which are invariably cold and rainy — and reached that point where the thermometer will finally start going up for good.

I can’t remember a rainy first Monday of April, although I am sure there have been some, because my mood normally matches that of the weather.

And how could it not be sunny on that glorious day?

For as long as I can remember, the first Monday of April has always been opening day in the majors and the finals of the NCAA men’s basketball championship.

What a combination. The first day of baseball, when hope springs eternal for all teams and their fans, followed by the end of March Madness, the best excuse for an office pool that has ever been created.

Even my wife, who will readily admit that her interest in sports is limited, has filled out a bracket before. In fact, the most passionate about a televised sporting event that I have ever seen her was last year rooting for Butler to upset Duke in the championship game. If she had money riding on the outcome she didn’t tell me.

For me, however, the beauty of the day had always started long before the 9 p.m. tip.

I realize that I may be part of an increasing minority, but I like baseball and I follow it daily for its six long months.

Opening Day has always been more than just a first game. It is a part of Americana that I hold onto, even if others don’t. I hear others badmouth baseball and say that it is slow and boring and that football has surpassed it, but to me it is a part of our social fabric that no other sport occupies.

Unfortunately, it turns out that among those who don’t feel the same way I do are the heads of Major League Baseball.

For some unknown reason that frankly I don’t want to hear, opening day this year will be this Thursday. The Braves will be in Washington to face the Nationals at 1:05 p.m. At least the game will be in the afternoon under the sun, when more games should be played, as opposed to those dreadful 7:05, 7:35 and 8 p.m. starts that stuff the schedule.

As you can already tell, I have a “talk to the hand” attitude about all of this.

The high sheriffs who run baseball have thrown my spring into a tailspin. They have tried to do this before with games in Japan — which I and the rest of America ignored — and with an opening game on Sunday night, which was tolerable because they still called Monday Opening Day.

But Opening Day on Thursday, March 31, is beyond the pale.

There is nothing magical about being one of a handful of teams to open on a Thursday. Since it is still March, it may still be cold and rainy. My only consolation is that my White Sox — yes, that is the team I root for — will start on Friday, which is at least the first day of April.

Congratulations, Mr. Money Above Everything Else Baseball Big Shot, whoever you are, you took one of the best days of the year and ruined it.

Right now, I am not sure when spring will start.

Maybe it will just limp in this year, instead of burst forth in its fullness.

I will get over this and I realize there are many more important things to fret about.

But I like knowing that certain days bring with them the promise of something magical.

The first Monday in April was one of those days, a day to mark on your calendar and make sure your glove was ready for a game of catch.

Thursday, March 31, is just another day.

How sad.

Tim Rogers is the editor of The Daily Citizen. He can be reached at (706) 272-7735 or timrogers@daltoncitizen.com.