baseball!

Admittedly, I am one of those baseball fans who gets very excited at the beginning of the season. Every year I read up on the Giants, start watching Baseball Tonight on ESPN, read the internet columns, and even join a fantasy baseball league or two. "This is going to be a great baseball year," I tell myself every March. Inevitably though, something happens along the way. I get bored. The season is long and I don't live in the Bay Area anymore, so following the team gets harder and harder. I get tired of baseball hilights on sportscenter, can't read anything else about steroids, 15-day disabled lists, or ERA's, and eventually allow my fantasy teams to fall by the wayside. Finally, as summer days shorten and fall approaches, I willingly abandon baseball's regular season in favor of my dark master, the NFL.

Be that as it may, there's one baseball event that never gets old, and that's spring training. This year my dad and I made our second annual trip, and I'm here to tell you, if you haven't been yet, either to Arizona or Florida, you really should consider a trip. There's nothing like walking into one of these tiny little stadiums and taking in all the sites and sounds of the beginning of the season. Fans from all over the country meeting one another and exchanging stories, vendors good-naturedly haggling over who's got the coldest beer, and players actually playing with a little spring in their step - even smiling and joking around on the field as they greet old friends and enemies at a time when everyone's tied for first place. They even pipe in the score from "Field of Dreams" over the loudspeakers, just in case you weren't yet convinced you'd died and gone to heaven. Throw in a round of golf and some great dinners at Scottsdale area restaurants, and you've got it made. Here for you now, some footage from us entering Scottsdale Stadium this past Sunday. Beer!