Opening Day

 Baseball was my first love. I started playing at 7, and was actually above average -- made my high school team as a very slow moving but steady fielding first baseman. And as for fanhood -- well -- the Summer I turned 8 was the season of the Miracle Mets. I still recall pedaling my Schwinn home furiously from Third Grade (they let us out early) to watch the final innings of the Mets victory over the Orioles. That was a highlight of my childhood.

As I got older, the Mets were awful, and I switched to Yankee fandom -- sort of. My Dad and I would watch the games together -- he once called a Graig Nettles home run, which amazed me. But when I moved to Miami, it became all about football -- mostly the Canes, but Dolphins, too, as I was never much of a Jets or Giants fan.

And 30 years ago, we got the Florida, now Miami, Marlins. I was at the first game, with Mike, his Dad Ed, and my brother in law Dennis. We watched knuckleballer Charlie Hough, who was from Hialeah, win their first game, at then Joe Robbie Stadium. And the Fish became successful early -- they won 2 Series in their first 10 years! 

After that last Series season, in '03, I kind of lost interest, though enjoyed trips to the new stadium, on  the site of holy ground, the old Orange Bowl. Norman's firm had great seats for awhile, and Mike and I would take his boy Chris.

And then, D1 became the team dietitian, and my interest soared again -- mostly because of her. She would give me insight about the personalities, and had funny tales of pumping milk during Spring Training in Derek Jeter's office.

Well today is the first game of season 30, and the Fish are playing my childhood team the Mets. The Fish are starting Sandy Alcantara, last year's Cy Young winner, and the Mets have Max Scherzer, who won 3 Cy Youngs.

I called Jeff, as I always recall something he said when we were in law school -- how nice it would be when classes were over and we could watch an entire 9 inning game. Well, as an emeritus lawyer, I can indeed do that -- nearing 62 has some nice perks.

Ah, the passing of the years. Wifey saw an ortho today about her leg pain -- the doc, my age, said it was mostly arthritis. Julio was a classmate of Eric's, and then transferred to UF, where he became Barry's classmate. He told Wifey to remind Barry that their 30th!!! med school reunion is coming up. Wow. Old docs.

Young Michael called -- a wonderful 10 year lawyer whose career is soaring. He told me he was taking his boy to the game, along with his Dad and father in law. That made me smile.

I plan to definitely take our 3 year old to at least a few games this season -- the pace is so nice, compared with football. We went to a game 2 seasons ago -- it's time to head back to Little Havana again.

Speaking of sports, my Canes basketball team is in the Final Four for the first time. We have dinner plans Saturday -- so I'll watch the second half, which is what I typically do, anyway. They're big underdogs to UConn, but they've been underdogs most of the tourney -- so who knows?

But baseball season is upon us. The Canes seem pretty good this season, but have recently found ways to blow it late in the year. The Fish are predicted to finish near or at the bottom of their Division.

I guess we'll see. As of now -- they have zero losses. That's the beauty of Opening Day.