Here Comes the Spring!

On Sunday night, as I watched Eli Manning's perfectly thrown fade fall gently into Plaxico Burress's hands in the corner of the end zone, three thoughts immediately flew through my head. They were, in order:

1. Holy crap! Plaxico Burress caught a fade in the corner of the end zone!!! (I'm a Steeler fan. This is an issue.)
2. Belichick and Brady are going to lose! There is a God! (Again, Steelers fan.)
3. It's baseball season!

Clearly, that third one is the important one. Pitchers and catchers are reporting to Florida and Arizona in less than two weeks and we can finally put the 2007 season behind us.

2007 was a weird year for baseball. On one hand, you'd think that with the most hallowed record in sports falling, numerous milestones being reached (Tom Glavine won his 300th game, Craig Biggio picked up his 3,000th hit, and Frank Thomas hit his 500th homer), the Rockies' memorable playoff run, and the Red Sox dominant playoff performance, 2007 was a great year for baseball fans.

The truth is that steroid allegations shrouded the game from the first pitch through the release of the Mitchell Report just before Christmas, that the most sacred record in American sports was broken by the most disliked baseball player since Ty Cobb (or at least Pete Rose), and the playoffs consisted of five sweeps in seven series. That's not so hot.

How will 2008 stack up against 2007? There's so many great storylines going into this season it's hard to keep all of them straight. On the other hand, the steroid question isn't going away and arguably about half the league is going to come into 2008 with no real chance of making the playoffs or winning the World Series. Regardless, aren't you excited to hear the crack of the bat and the thump of rawhide on leather? I know I am. This season can't start soon enough.