Opening Day 2004

We got tickets from our friends Maki and Rich. I was so happy to go that I got here an hour early. I sat there with the day's paper, reading up on the season while the ground crew sprayed down the infield. And then, over the PA, they played "It's a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame" and it made me miss all the times I went to day games with dad. I would spend a fortune just to go again to a game with him. That's kind of a problem--I fixate on impossibilities like that. We went so many times that it practically became routine. Now, to be cut off from that routine, seems endlessly cruel.

But that is not living in the moment. If I could learn to better savor the moment, maybe I wouldn't suffer such nostalgia.

4/19: I just went looking for this song on the Internet. Hearing it at Safeco was the first time I've heard it all the way through...I think it was originally written as a salute to the Cubs. I grew up hearing it at the start of Dodger radio broadcasts. It was originally recorded by the Harry Simeone Songsters and recently appeared on a Rhino Records collection called "Baseball's Greatest Hits - Lets Play II," which is unfortunately out of print and seems to be pretty rare (used listings start at $90!).