It may be a couple of weeks too long for some people, but Spring Training has a certain spirit to it that gets to the very essence of why so many of us love the game.Â
As Steve stated yesterday, it’s “the one time of year where you can watch your team play without worrying that they might ruin their playoff hopes, or dip beneath .500â€. The nervous tension, excitement, joy and despair that the regular season and playoffs bring are all factors that captivate us and we wouldn’t want to be without them for long. However, they are put to one side for one month of the year to leave us with nothing more than the simple joy of taking in a ballgame.Â
It’s a feeling that doesn’t just flow through the fans, from those sitting in the stands in Arizona and Florida to people listening/watching thousands of miles away. It’s the same feeling that imbibes the players, reporters and broadcasters and that’s what makes Spring Training special. Imagine if football’s pre-season was seen not as an inconvenience or a chore, but a chance to get back to those innocent ‘jumpers for goalposts’ days of our childhood and you’ll understand what baseball’s Spring Training is all about.  Continue reading