Spring

Spring is here - not officially of course, but pholks it's good enough for me.

I can feel it, hear it, see it and practically taste it.

I don't smell too good - meaning don't have much of a sense of smell, but I know that the ever so sweet smell of Spring is out there.

I'm a strong advocate for the seasons. I like to think I'm a man for all seasons, but really pholks, I am a man for two seasons: Spring and Summer. I tolerate Fall and Winter and annually write nice things about those two parts of the year. But, I confess, despite having a few good points like Christmas, college and pro football, the smell of burning leaves in the back yard (slightly illegal these days) Fall and Winter just don't stack up to Spring and Summer.

When I get around to writing that book I have been carrying around in my mind for at least 25 years, I will devote at least four chapters for "Spring Is the Thing," and "In The Good 'Ol Summertime."

My book will have other chapters which will include some adventures associated in one way or another with Spring, but those most likely will be under a different subject matter. In addition, some of my more "outstanding" sporting challenges and limited successes transpired in the Spring. Of course some other memories are still up for editing even though the statutes of limitations have expired as have some of those involved. This will not be a book of fiction.

But most important, we should all remember that Spring is the time when the vast majority of the earth is all fresh, green and clean and all that. Of course Spring comes at different times around the globe but I think North America has it best.

I like just about everything about SpringBexcept maybe allergies which have only annoyed me over the last 10 or so years, But my main reason for my crush on Spring is baseball.

Spring Training is perhaps the most wonderful two-word title my vocabulary That's because when Spring training opens Major League regular season baseball isn't far behind.

Maybe baseball isn't better than sex, Sees candy, Starbucks coffee, whipped cream, lobster, prime rib or thong bikinis (on the right body), but in my book (and, there will be one) baseball at least holds its own. And just in case you care, I don't drink Starbucks.

And how many of you have ever considered this fact: Baseball actually touches all four seasons: Spring Training, The Boys Of Summer, the Fall Classic and Winter Ball?

But Spring training is what gets the heart of the true baseball fan thumping a little stronger.

Baseball is almost as good on the radio as the on television. Of course being at a baseball game, on any level, has its own magic.

Maybe football is the best to watch on TV and basketball has more scoring than just about any, non-dating sport. Car racing is fine but it is one where fans actually want to see thrilling crashes while at the same time hoping nobody gets killed or seriously injured in a 200-mile per hour wreck.

And let's go back and think about the smells of baseball - even though I can't enjoy it that much anymore. But pholks, it is hard to ever forget the aroma of outfield and infield grass, the nose-tingling smell of a new glove or a virgin baseball. The smell of the oil use to break-in that new glove is unmistakable. Bat tar has a smell all its own. And the mouth-watering smell of mustard on a hot dog, over-buttered popcorn and sticky cotton candy and essential hot roasted peanuts in the shell belong to baseball.

In a few months I will write about the arrival of Summer. It will be fun. By then, of course, baseball season will be in full swing And like Spring, that's a hit in my book.