It’s All in the Preparation

It’s the beginning of Spring Training. And once again I am filled with anticipation for this upcoming baseball season. It is by far my favorite time of year. Hope springs eternal or at least till your team gets swept in late September by a sub .500 team, putting them out of the playoff race. Though even with the expectation of defeat, I begin every season with some rituals in preparation for Opening Day.

Baseball Movie Marathon: Throughout the month plus of Spring Training I will watch Sandlot, Bull Durham, The Natural and Field of Dreams in that order. As of a few years ago I tacked on The Rookie. The only one stipulation I really hold to in watching these movies is that I have to watch them alone, particularly the last three. I made the mistake of watching The Rookie with a friend of mine. When Quaid calls to tell his wife that he got called up and she hands the phone to their son. Oh boy. That moment is up there with the ballboy handing his own bat to Redford, and Costner asking his Dad to play catch. Dammit. My allergies are acting up already. Speaking of baseball movies, I caught a trailer of Fever Pitch. Some Red Sox fans I know were furious that Jimmy Fallon and Drew Barrymore tainted the Red Sox celebration by running on the field to re-shoot the ending. I can understand their dislike for this apparent cashing in on the Red Sox, much like Dan Shaughnessy, and I share in their dislike of Jimmy Fallon. Who the hell likes the Red Sox and the Yankees? But no matter what, there is no way that this movie will even come close to the travesty that is Rookie of the Year. I will also admit that I’m slowly becoming disenfranchised with the Red Sox Nation.

Fantasy Baseball Draft: Like the real baseball season, much of the enjoyment of Fantasy Baseball is the preparation. I spend so many countless hours researching magazines, box scores, and online columns it’s amazing I ever get any work done. Though with so much information out there it’s nearly impossible to find a sleeper or comeback player that nobody else has heard of. It’s basically all come down to draft position and working the waiver wire. This is a big year for me in fantasy baseball. I’m in my final year of my keeper league. I came in fourth last year and I am going to need the Twilight Swingers to reclaim my rightful position of first from two years ago. I was killed last year by injuries and losing players traded to the AL, but I feel good about this year despite my terrible draft position. That could of course all change with a dislocated shoulder, bizarre nerve problem in the arm, or Achilles heel.

MVP Baseball: Early March is when the new baseball video games come out. For years the one thing I hated about baseball was the video games. I wasn’t just bad at them, I was horrendous. My armless niece could beat me I was so inept at those games. That is until EA came out with MVP Baseball. Thanks to their new fangled pitching system I can now at least compete. I still swing at everything. It’s still like watching Bad News Bears when I attempt to field anything. But I can at least pitch the lights out now. This year is EA’s final baseball title. This would normally be terrible news, if it wasn’t for the fact that this means I will eventually have to play more than one season. I would do a full review, but this review will be better. I do though have two gripes that Mr. Katcher doesn’t mention. First on the color coding of the pitches. The colors are all wrong. To help when batting they’ve now color coded the ball up to the point of release. If the ball is white that means a fastball is coming. A red ball means the pitch is gonna move like a curve or slider. Green means change up. Isn’t it obvious that fastball should be green, curve should be yellow, and the change up should be red? I can understand the fastball needing to stay white, but when I see green I think go, which is the wrong thing to be thinking on a change up. I know this aspect of the game is supposed to help with batting, but I still can’t hit. In fact I think it makes me worse. Secondly, in Owner Mode I played an 18 inning game at my home ballpark. I assumed that I should rake in on the concessions, but no. I brought in around the same amount as every other game. How can this be? Even if you split my attendance in half for those who went home, shouldn’t I be taking in at least a little more? Did nobody want anything to eat or drink for the last nine innings? For the record it was 0-0 till the 18th when the Pirates scored two on errors of course. But I was somehow able to score three runs in the bottom of the ninth. The last run involving a head on collision at home plate which knocked the ball free. How much do I love this game! Also, the fact that Nomar got injured in the fifth game of my season scares me to death.

Cub’s memorabilia: Usually I purchase a new Cubs hat for the new season. I still end up going back to my two Cooperstown replica hats, but I still buy one. This year I went a little large. I finally bought my own Ryne Sandberg jersey. I even went old school with simply the number and no name on the back. I also gave into the Cubs believe bracelets. I’m not usually a sucker for such things, but they caught me when I was easily persuadable. I bought five. At least they go to a good cause.

Baseball trip: While surfing the Cub’s website seeing when they are playing the Dodgers and Padres, I always plan a dream baseball trip. I try to fit as many games I can in a week. Twice it’s actually happened. I hit all the California teams with my father a few years ago, and my friend Bob and I hit the Northeast with a long ass drive to Wrigley in the middle. This year I might try to actually make trip #3 across the Mid-west. Thank God for hiatus.

Cub’s Media Programming: I’ve got my Tivo set for the Cubs games. I’ve programmed all the XM MLB stations into my presets. I’ve even signed up to get the Cubs games on my computer.

It’s a lot to cram in a month, but it all helps that month pass by a little faster. As of this writing there are 25 days 20 hours 26 minutes 22 seconds left till Opening Day. So I say screw January 1st. April 4th is really the beginning of the New Year.