Opening Day, and a long love affair renewed

         Let's go, Yankees.

     Life -- well, sporting life -- begins again today. This should be a national holiday.

Aaron Judge, the captain (photos from Pinstripes Nation)

     It is Opening Day for major-league baseball, and this begins my 68th season as a Yankees fan. Yes, almost a lifetime.

     Who's counting? So, since the start of the 1956 season -- when a small kid from a foreign country found out that baseball could be a second sports love -- this covers 10,581 regular-season games, 307 postseason games. Lots of glory, lots of agony.

     A friend, a fellow Yankees fan for life, noted that "[today] we get to start our daily suffering." 

     True. There is nothing better for a sports fan than to follow the adventures -- day by day -- of a favorite team. 

      Here, that could be LSU football or Dutch soccer or the woebegone Dallas Cowboys ... but, truly, nothing beats Yankees baseball. Not in this apartment.

     Love the team, love the franchise, love the tradition ... the best tradition in American sports. It is, humbly said, the premier franchise in the world.

     (OK, you could say the Green Bay Packers, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers, Montreal Canadiens, Manchester United, Brazil soccer, Alabama football, and -- concession here -- Boston Red Sox or New England Patriots. Also, the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles/Brooklyn Dodgers and the San Francisco/New York Giants. You choose; you are entitled to your favorite.)  

      But we have had the Babe and Lou, Combs, Lazerri, Red, Waite, (where have you gone?) Joe D., Marse Joe, Casey (the Ol' Professor), Cro, the Milkman, Snuffy, Spud, the Major, Billy the Kid, Joe G. (two of them), Atley, Heinrich, King Kong, Super Chief, Vic and Eddie, Joe Page, Scooter, Gil, Mickey and Roger (the M&M boys), Yogi, Whitey, a perfect Don, Bullet Bob, Ryne, Ellie, Hank, Moose, Tony and Bobby, Clete, Hector, Mel, Pepi, Murcer, Sparky, Goose, Puff, Thurman, Reg-gie, Sweet Lou, Roy, Willie, Bucky, Mick the Quick, Louisiana Lightning, the great Mo, Derek Jeter, Bernie, The Warrior, Tino, Jorge, Andy P., Robby, Straw, Knobby, Gardy, Dr. Brown, Bob Sheppard, Mel Allen, Geno, etc., etc., a cast of thousands ... and now a guy who hit 62 regular-season home runs last season, the Judge ("All Rise.")

      Tradition, pride, and the Big Stadium in the Bronx (third version), part of the greatest city in the world (thank you, Hamilton).   

      The opinion here: It is the best day of the year, topped only by your team winning the World Series (congratulations, Astros fans).

     We know that feeling -- 27 times. I've been around for 11 of those (and for eight second-best disappointments). But we have not had that championship feeling in the past 13 seasons. Nuts. 

     So we're not the Houston Astros, defending champions, the team that four times in the past eight seasons has ended the Yankees' season in the playoffs. Hard to believe, hard to take.

      We have become what the 1940s/1950s Brooklyn Dodgers used to be for the Yankees: their postseason foils.

      But not surprising. The Astros were -- are -- that good.

     Gosh, the Astros were our favorite National League team for years, especially in the early 1960s when we listened to many of their games on radio -- Gene Elston, Loel Passe and, for a brief, a young Harry Kalas -- and saw a few of their games on Shreveport television. The teams weren't all that good, but they were fun.

     But now that the Astros are in the American League, not so much fun for us Yankees. 

     Wish I could say that this is going to be the year the Yankees displace them. But not so confident about our chances. Darned near forgotten what it's like to win an American League pennant or a World Series; hasn't happened since 2009. 

      The 13-season Series-winning drought is the Yankees' longest since I was a young man (14 seasons, 1963-76, which included three AL pennants and Series losses).

       And think of these numbers: In my first 18 years (1947-64), the Yankees won 15 AL pennants and 10 World Series. Oh, joy. Which is why one of my favorite books is titled Dynasty.  

     Last season was one of the weirdest for the Yankees that I can recall. They looked unstoppable, unbeatable, potential Series champions for three-plus months: On July 8, they were 38 games above .500 (61-23) with a 15 1/2-game lead in the AL East.

     After that -- when injuries and old age and mediocrity set in -- they were mostly terrible, a .500 team in July, 10-18 in August, and the division lead crept down to 3 1/2 games before a small surge at the end. But they were no match (no offense) for the pitching-strong Astros in the AL Championship Series ... out in 1-2-3-4 games. 

     As my old friend, the late Jerry Byrd, would have said: No guts.       

     Going into this season, the Yankees' pitching looks shaky, questionable. Even Gerrit Cole, the supposed staff "ace" who is making a zillion dollars per season, wasn't all that great last year, but was among the MLB leaders in giving up home runs.

      Injuries already have dented a potential starting rotation and the bullpen, plus a defensive whiz in center field. 

       The regular lineup has the usual potential, but so many of the guys need to improve on last season when they particulary faded away in a miserable second half. Too many strikeouts, too many empty at-bats.

      It is a big ask to produce a traditional Yankees-like offense over the course of a full season. Lots to prove.

      Judge likely won't come close to 62 home runs again -- Roger Maris hit 33 in 1962 after his 61 in '61 -- but he can be a force again, and now -- starting on the field today -- he's the Yankees' captain. 

       And he has been a class act off the field, too, saying the right things and showing leadership. 

       This club might need some surprise elements, and the hope is that young shortstop Anthony Volpe -- after a strong spring-training showing -- is one. Will he be 1996 Jeter-like? Maybe some young pitchers will emerge as stars. That would be a boost.

       We like the way the Yankees go about their business, like that they always wear the pinstripes at home and the gray-with-blue trim on the road. No colored tops as an alternative, unless MLB has special across-the-board uniform demands.

      They almost always play the game the right way, they don't make excuses, they meet the media -- win or lose -- and they look business-like. OK, maybe the clean-shaven bit is a bit overdone for these days, but the ghost of George M. Steinbrenner (born on the Fourth of July) prevails.

      But there is this: The Yankees often have players that we don't like much. Uh, Roger Clemens, A-Rod, Aroldis Chapman ...  

      As for the game itself, we love the speed-up rules for pitchers and batters. Been saying for years that batters stepping out after each  pitch, to adjust batting gloves or dig in the dirt or to pick their nose, was a waste of time. 

      Don't like 3, 3 1/2, 4-hour games. Of course, if MLB really wanted to speed up things, cut the between-half-innings time from 2 1/2 minutes to one. But, hey, those breaks for TV/radio advertising, that's m-o-n-e-y. Gotta make millions to pay the poor players.

      Oh, glad that the infield shifts have been somewhat banned. Probably teams will find a way to adjust their defenses to take away what used to be sure base hits. 

       Bigger bases? That will mean more stolen base -- or at least attempts -- but the Yankees seldom have a base-running team worth a darn.

      Can't stand the runner-at-second-base-to-start extra innings rule. Cheap tactic. 

      A note about the local team, the Texas Rangers. They have many fans here in our facility, and I will watch some of their games on TV, provided cable access is available. And we might make a rare trip to the new barn-like ballpark with a roof ... (if someone gives us tickets). 

      The Rangers have spent plenty of free-agent money -- Corey Seager, Marcus Semien, Jacob deGrom and others -- and they have a Hall of Fame, three-time World Series champion manager (Bruce Bochy). Can't do better than him.

       They should be improved. Good luck to them ... but not too much luck. They are in the American League, so ...

      Personally, we have watched less baseball on TV in recent years ... or other sports. Don't watch anywhere as much as my friends might think. Other priorities, and less stress watching the teams I care about. Easier just to follow games via Gamecast on computer or the phone.

      And -- this is old school, old man talking -- just don't like the way today's athletes celebrate every good moment, the arm-waving, signaling to teammates, high fives, low fives, chest-beating, trash-talking, Gatorade-pouring. It is so much crap. 

      We were taught not to show up the opponent, the other team, or the refs (umps). 

      But we are relics, we are dinosaurs. People in my age range don't identify with today's athletes. Coaches, managers, management could control some of those antics, but they won't. Too much money involved.

       End of rant.

       It is baseball season. Glory be. Time to suffer some, time to relish the victories.

       ... And there it goes! See ya! 

       ... How about that!

       Let's go Yankees.