April 3, 2000

DOWN HOME:
Take off your hat, sing the anthem & play ball
___This is the week we've all been waiting for.
___OK, OK. Not all. But some of us have been waiting for this week since last fall.
___It's not the Second Coming. Well, to be truthful, it might be the Second Coming. But if it is, we don't know it yet.
___No, this week marks the official start of the baseball season. No more Grapefruit

MARV KNOX Editor

League games for the Boys of Summer. This is the real deal.
___Starting right now, we've got 162 games to decide who makes the playoffs. Then will follow divisional and league pennants, culminating in the grand and glorious World Series.
___So, from now until mid-October, we've got approximately 180 reasons to get out of bed in the morning: To grab the newspaper, flip to the sports section and re-live how your Texas Rangers or your Houston Astros or your Whoever from Wherever played the night before.
___Of course, this will be a roller-coaster ride, even for the most fortunate of fans. Anything that lasts as long as a baseball season is bound to be filled with ups and downs, not to mention abrupt turns, spins, spills and gleeful, blissful moments in the sun.
___That's one thing I like about baseball. A season on the diamond mirrors life. It's full of highs and lows and unexpected turns of events. Grace and beauty and strength and eloquence mix randomly with clumsiness and passion and confusion and fatigue. Even when you compare the stats, work out all the scenarios and analyze the players, you still don't know how it's going to turn out. You don't even know what's going to happen next.
___The other great thing about baseball is going to the ballpark and sitting beside a perfect lawn you didn't have to fertilize, weed, thatch, water or mow.
___Not everyone shares my excitement about the start of the baseball season. In fact, no one in my family shares my excitement about the start of the baseball season.
___Still, I might convince Joanna and the girls to accompany me to a game or two. Jo probably will go because she loves me and wants to keep me company. Lindsay will go because it's a change of pace. And Molly will go because a baseball stadium is well-lit and a good place to read a book.
___The most fascinating thing about baseball is its subtlety. For a pitcher, an inch can be the difference between a win and a loss. For a batter, a nanosecond can be the difference between a batting title and a slump. For a fielder, a moment's hesitation can be the difference between hero and goat.
___The same almost is true in life. Little, seemingly insignificant, actions can have deep and eternal consequences. Fortunately, unlike baseball, life is blessed by God's forgiving, redemptive grace.


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