I Love March!

I'm taking a day off. Earlier today, taking advantage of the temporary respite from winter weather, I went for a walk. I just got done working out on my aerobic stepper. Earlier, I was able to spend some time with my wife before she headed for work and do my daily devotions at a leisurely pace, then read more from Philip Yancey's great book, The Bible Jesus Read, which I highly recommend.

All of that's great, but it isn't why I love the month of March. Quite simply, March is my favorite sports month. College basketball reaches its peak this month, culminating in March Madness. And exhibition baseball begins! What a joy it is, as I work out and prepare to do my taxes--and maybe take a nap, to see the Boston Red Sox take on the Los Angeles Dodgers. It's a game with all sorts of great story angles for fans to watch:

• I don't remember a World Series team in the free agent era to return the following spring with so much of their roster intact. Sean McDonough reported just prior to the first pitch that the Sox are returning 23 of last year's 25-man roster. Stability can be a real advantage, especially when rosters shift so much.
  
• But it's an "advantage" than may be of limited value. That raises a question: Can the Red Sox fight the advancing years of their aging team to make another run for an AL pennant?
  
• I'm happy to see former Reds "mayor" Sean Casey playing first base for the Red Sox. Casey is a classy guy and one of the hardest-working pro athletes in the country. He'll be a good fit in Boston, which along with Saint Louis, can credibly claim to have the most passionately knowledgeable baseball fans around.
• Joe Torre will seek to work his calm magic on the Dodgers. I've not liked the Yankees since the Maris-Mantle days. But I have always liked Torre. It's true that his prospects for managerial success have been bolstered by the mega-revenue and mega-spending of the New York club--don't get me started on the need for more revenue-sharing in Major League Baseball, Torre is nonetheless a great manager. He not only knows how to use his personnel, he knows how to relate to them as human beings, no small skill in such big-market, big-ego franchises like the Yankees and Dodgers.

So, if you're at home right now, snap the TV on, then sit back and relish the fact that spring is almost here. It's March!

By the way, my second-favorite sports month? November. College basketball gets its start and Ohio State plays Michigan in football.