Duke vs Butler in the Big One!/Opening Day~Baseball

Spent much of Easter afternoon at sister Marty's place...all 3 of our kids, 2 of 3 of hers, plus a great granddaughter and sons in law were there. The weather was breezy but near 70 and sunny, so we spent the few hours out of doors. We called mom and talked with her in Fort Myers, where her and brother Mike are staying for another 3 weeks. The women have decided that Marty will host, and Patricia will do much of the meal preparation for the future get togethers. Works out good for all...so I am guessing we will be doing that at Thanksgiving also.



Anissa went back to her place about 4 O'Clock, and the boys headed back a short while after...Hal to Dayton and Sam back to Ohio State and Columbus.
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The day was nice, especially compared to Saturday when I spent 8 1/2 hours umpiring baseball north at Antwerp, Ohio. When I arrived at Antwerp for the "Three Way" at 10:30 it was windy, but sunny and about 65 degrees...over the next 9 hours the temperatures would drop, the skies would open on occasion for some major sprinkles..then more sun, more clouds, and the wind would change direction. The only constant was the wind speed, which approached 35-40 mph through out the day. The 3 teams, Antwerp, Delphos St. Johns, and Lincolnview, each won a game and lost the same...the scores, like the wind, were high....17-7, 17-4, and 9-8, the pitchers took a beating. After doing the bases the first game, I was behind the plate for both games 2 and 3....it was a long day. But I did get to visit with my Uncle Jack DeVore, who stopped by the field for a few innings of the first contest. Jack is a hard core Phillies fan, and I'm sure is looking forward to this opening day of the season.

By the time I arrived home it was almost 9pm...I caught the Michigan State~Butler on Radio, and after a shower, I sat down with the boys and watched Duke manhandle West Virginia by 21 points to reach the final.

Hal, like me, has been a Duke Basketball fan for years....I have rooted for Duke since Coach K came on the scene and am no "fair weather" fan....I like Duke, most people don't. I will be watching tonight, and hopeful the Blue Devils will come home with Coach K's 4th National Championship....if upstart Butler wins, I will appreciate their Cinderella Story as well, but make no mistake, I am rooting for Duke. Hal, being a Wright State Graduate, has seen Butler on several occasions..The Bulldogs are the Raiders arch rivals. The schools are some 70 miles apart on I-70 and usually finish first and second in the Horizon League. WSU fans, for the most part, are not Butler fans....Hal being no exception.

Opening Day Baseball____

The MLB season kicked off last night with Boston defeating the Yankees 9-7 in come-from-behind fashion.

All real fans know that Baseball really gets underway today, with the traditional opener in Cincinnati. The Reds are the oldest franchise always had the baseball opener on the first Monday in April, until MLB sold it's soul to ESPN for a few more dollars and a chance to usually glorify the Yankees...another reason to despise Professional Sports.

The Reds kick off the season at home for the 80th or so straight season with their NL Central rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals....I expect the Reds, with good young pitching, but little defense or hitting, to finish close to .500 this season, but probably slightly below that mark for the 10 the 10th straight year.....and out of first place by at least a dozen games.

The opener kicks off with above normal temperatures and plenty of sunshine at 1:10pm Eastern Time this afternoon. I have been to many opening days, although not in recent years, and have seen temps from 80 as a high under sunny skies, down to as low as 31 with a rain/snow mix....you never know with April weather what you are going to get.

Baseball for me at St. Marys tonight against their Auglaize County rivals, New Bremen.

back later>>>>