Hello, hello, hello.
I had a whole big post in my head for today; with the start of official Grapefruit League games and all of that, it seemed to call out for me to do something, at least.
Alas, it is not to be. I've been fighting with my computer all morning, trying to determine if the machine itself, the cable modem, or the router is the issue. Nonetheless, I now find myself desperately behind the eight ball, trying to get something put up over here and complete an RFT post as well. Thus, I hope you'll all accept my apologies when I confess that this isn't going to be very substantial today.
Anyhow, we do still have spring training games finally beginning, with our dear old Redbirds on one side, and an honest-to-goodness, real life opponent on the other. Life doesn't get much better than this; the day that you look around and realise that there will be rebirth and renewal once again, despite whatever signs there may be to the contrary.
Seems that the world agrees with me, as we are currently experiencing a truly glorious day here in St. Louis, the likes of which is enough to make even a masochist such as myself to wish that it could be sunny and warm every day of life.
So today, in the spirit of grand and glorious things, let's all take the long view. We debate the minutiae of the game here day in and day out; the notion of Colby Rasmus hitting ninth is enough to give us endless hours of fodder to feed the addiction. But today, at the beginning of it all, I'm curious as to just what you all expect out of this team this year. We project, inspect, and dissect endlessly; what about the big picture? Will the 2009 Cardinals be as inspiringly shocking as the '08 iteration was? Or will they ultimately let us down with a performance that falls short of the feel-good story we all bought into so completely last year?
Winning team? Losing team? Something else entirely? A team still on the rise, or one that stalls in the middle of construction?
It's all ahead of us today. It begins here, and doesn't end until the leaves not yet even budded have turned and fallen. Just what shape do you expect the next seven months to take?
Again, I wanted to apologise for the short and late post. I promise something a bit more substantial the next time out. In the meantime, go outside. Breathe a little bit. And just take a moment, even a single second, to realise that, no matter what else there may be in this world that isn't so good, today most certainly is.
Ladies and gentlemen, baseball is back.