Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Opening Day 2014


Two weeks ago, I had no intention of attending the Pirates Home Opener for this year, and then I received an email from friend David Cicotello in Tennessee who said he found three tickets to the games on Stub Hub, and he asked Fred Shugars and I if we wanted to repeat our experiences from game three of last season's NLDS, so, why not, I was now headed to the Home Opener, and what a terrific day it was.

The fact that the Bucs won in the tenth inning on a Neil Walker walk-off home run, which broke a scoreless tie, only added to the fun of the day.

It was a good omen when Fred and I arrived at the North Shore, walked into what has become our favorite pre-game eatery, Dominic's, and found an empty table for five.  Within five minutes David showed up (good thing since he had the tickets!), and shortly after that, we were joined by Dan Bonk and Len Martin.

L-R: Bob, David, Dan, Len, Fred

At the risk of sounding really corny, you really can't put a price on friendship, and I consider myself very fortunate to have friends like these guys.  And I say that even though Dan and Len blew us off shortly after lunch to sit with the rich guys in a corporate box.

OK, I'm not going to dwell on the balls-strikes-runs-hits-errors of the game, but I do want to comment on two aspects of what occurred yesterday.

The first was the new replay/challenge system.  Each manager challenged an umpire's call yesterday, one was upheld and one was reversed (both to the benefit of the Pirates as it so happened).  The system is brand new, there are no doubt bugs in it, and I am sure that MLB will figure it out as the season goes along, but after seeing it first hand yesterday, I have to say that I like it.  Neither replay review took as long to adjudicate as any typical challenge in any typical NFL game, and in both cases, the right call was made.  What's not to like?

Finally, the much talked about appearance of Barry Bonds in the pre-game ceremonies came off not with a bang, but a whimper.  Scattered booing of Bonds from the crowd was more than drowned out by loud cheers for MVP Andrew McCutchen.  We can debate the merits of inviting Bonds back until the cows come home, but for now, let's consider it a dead horse that we can now stop flogging.  However, I do have one question.  As I said, we have all asked over the last several days why on earth the Pirates did this, but my question concerns the other side of the coin.  What motivated Bonds to accept the invitation?  It's not like there was an outpouring of love between he and the City while he was here, and God knows, no one has had a great deal of nostalgia for him in the years since he left.  I am sure the Pirates paid for him to come here, but surely THAT couldn't be the reason, could it?  We'll probably never know the answer, but it would be interesting, to me anyway, to find out.

Here was the scene of Barry's re-introduction:


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