Buy me some peanuts!

At long last, our awful nightmare has come to an end.  I mean, it's been since last Sunday the 3rd of February that the Ravens played (and won, if you didn't get your morning paper on the 4th) in the Super Bowl.

And since then, no sports.  What an awful nine-day stretch.  But today, the heavens open, little birds braid the hair of beautiful young girls, and there's a bright golden haze in the meadow.

It's February 12, for crying out loud!  And that means...

Pitchers and catchers report to spring training for the Orioles!  And the rest of the squad is due in Florida this Thursday the 14th!

The first spring game will be on Saturday the 23rd against the Twins, who will also be the opponents here in Baltimore on April 5 for Opening Day.

Nine days without sports of any consequence is a long time to endure.  I know there are hockey games and basketball and others, but for me, there is only Orioles baseball, Alabama college football and the World Champion Baltimore Ravens.

Peggy fills me in on this Downton Abbey show, and she says they were playing cricket the other night.  Well, I have tried a dozen times to figure that game out, and can only deduce that the beauty of baseball is its simplicity.  You can read how cricket is played right here on the Wiki, but please let me know if you can make sense of it.  I can't, after many tries.


Ah, baseball, where we enjoy the mental battle between the seasoned pitcher out there on the mound, trying to get one by the hot young slugger just up from Ashtabula by using guile and cunning.  Sometimes, guile and cunning are quite enough, and sometimes, that doggone rookie smashes the ball 450 feet, along with the other team's dreams.  We love our Orioles, who last year shook off the 14-year doldrums and made it to the playoffs.  This year, we expect even more.

And it all starts today!