Opening Day!
April 1, 2007
Next to Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July, it’s the greatest civic holiday of the year. And Casey at the Bat remains the best poem of all time.
Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright; / The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light, / And somewhere men are laughing, and little children shout; / But there is no joy in Mudville — great Casey has struck out.
President Bush, unfortunately, refused to throw out the first pitch. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that there is no ballpark in America in which the president would not be booed:
“Oh, yes, he was invited,” said Bush spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore. She said the president, an avid baseball fan and former part owner of the Texas Rangers, would love to be there. But “it’s not possible with his schedule. He’s got various meetings during the day, a meeting earlier in the morning” …
Lawrimore was asked whether the president feared he’d get booed. “No,” she replied. “Certainly not.”
If you believe that, I’ve got some revenue-enhancing tax cuts for the rich to sell you. Or perhaps a war for democracy in the Middle East. But not even George Bush can ruin Opening Day.
Sadly, the good guys lost tonight, 6-1 to the Mets. But the best part about baseball is that it doesn’t matter. There are 161 other games to play.