Opening Day!

Those are glorious words. To the baseball fan it is a Happy New Year, a time to start anew. Every team is tied for first, and visions of championships dance in their heads. We look forward to a whole season of great plays, blazing fastballs, moon shot home runs, and late inning drama. Buy a new t-shirt to celebrate your favorite team and settle in for a new season.

Attending the first home game of the year is always special. The tailgaters, the bunting on the fences {which you hope to see again in October}, the player introductions, the National Anthem with a flyover, and finally… the first pitch!

This year my Opening Day was extra special. My baseball buddy Brent and I were selected to be holders for the huge American Flag on the field. We were directed to meet for our instructions at Guest Services, then headed down a series of ramps to get to field level. We waited, and waited… then they brought out a box which didn’t look big enough to hold a flag that was that big - but it was! It took a while to get us all properly positioned, and then we waited for the signal to “run” on to the field. As we stood there I began to have visions of tripping and being dragged on the field clinging to Old Glory. Fortunately that didn’t happen. It was exciting to emerge onto the turf, then stand and watch things happen from that perspective. And when the singer said “that star spangled banner yet wave” we were waving that flag! Maybe it sounds a little corny, but I loved it! When we left the field with our flag there was a line of employees applauding and cheering for us. Pretty cool.

We made our way to our seats to watch the game, It was really enjoyable for eight innings. Unfortunately, the Red Sox scored three runs and held on to beat our Rangers.

The only consolation was seeing Longview native Justin Slaten get the save for Boston.

If we had to lose, at least it was to one of the good guys.

So that’s one down , 161 to go. It’s certainly an Opening Day I’ll never forget!

That’s one man’s opinion - what’s yours?