Posts Tagged ‘Daytona 500’
Take Me Out To The Ball Game
The Royals lost (in ugly fashion), the Cardinals won (big) , a no-hitter was jinxed by ESPN (mentioned Toronto’s Shaun Marcum pitching six hitless innings, just to see the Blue Jays lose) and a Presidential opening pitch was WAY, WAY, WAY outside the strike zone.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) President Barack Obama delivers the ceremonial first pitch during opening day ceremonies for a baseball game between the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals, Monday, April 5, 2010, at Nationals Park in Washington.
Yep, it’s officially baseball season!
Yesterday was the one day of the year that I pull out one of two phrases geared towards the Kansas City Royals… This year, I got to use “Well, you can’t win them all!” (The other phrase being a less attractive, “Well, they won’t lose them all!” Which I will save for their first, if ever, victory of the season.)
Monday was a magical moment in sports. Opening Day in baseball combined with the magic of March Madness (plus five days) all to form a sports fans’ perfect day.
Selection Sunday is a special day, usually limited to college basketball fans. But Opening Day is a national past time, not even comparable or rivaled by the NFL’s opening weekend. It’s big, but it’s not Opening Day!
This day signals the beginning of summer. The beginning of barbecues, burgers, stale beer and baseball. Find me a sport with a more meaningful day at the beginning of the season (sorry, Daytona 500 in NASCAR is big, but it’s still not Opening Day because its limited to just one town, instead of touching towns across the entire country).
Subscribe to the comments for this postSports Fans Dream — Or Nightmare…
Sunday posed a problem for many sports fans. First off, if you are in a relationship it posed an even bigger problem — thank you Valentine’s Day! For those who had to battle the girlfriend/wife for time with the TV, we had a hard time choosing what to watch.
(AP Photo/Elaine Thompson) France's Jason Lamy Chappuis, gold, Italy's Alessandro Pittin, bronze, United States' Johnny Spillane, silver, and United States' Todd Lodwick from left, ski on the finish straight during the Cross Country portion of the Nordic Combined Individual normal hill event at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada on Sunday.
NBC and USA Network carried Winter Olympics coverage. Fortunately, my girlfriend gets hooked to the “Go USA!” spirit of the Olympics, so we watched a bit of it. We flipped back-and-forth between the USA women’s hockey team obliterating the China team and the Nordic Combined — witnessing in real time the first medal ever won by an American in the event.
It wasn’t until about 5:30 p.m. that I realized that the Daytona 500 was being run today. Though the TV guide projected the coverage to be over at 4 p.m., the FOX program directors sure didn’t foresee two hours worth of delays due to potholes on the course. But thanks to those, I got to watch the exciting conclusion to the race.
(AP Photo/LM Otero) East All-Star Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat goes up for a dunk during the fourth quarter of the NBA All-Star basketball game Sunday at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
As if that wasn’t already a sports-filled day of television, then came the NBA All-Star Game on TNT. Much like the Olympics and Daytona, I didn’t get to watch all of it — again, it was Valentine’s Day after all! But I did get to watch a bit of the NBA’s best players play in the NFL’s best arena — the newly minted Dallas Cowboy Stadium. It was an amazing sight to see and a great finish to a busy day of sports on a day reserved for romance.
What about the rest of you? Anybody get to watch the same stuff — or even more sporting events — than I did or did the romance come before the fanaticism?