Play ball!

There are some things in life that don't need to be changed because they're perfect just the way they are. Change is fine - if by changing it, you're making it better or more efficient. Change for the sake of change, on the other hand, is not so good (see the State Bar of Texas' attempt to ram changes in the ethics rules down our throats).

Today should be a holiday. Today should be a day that is held in reverence. Today is a day of rebirth and of dreams waiting to happen. Today is Opening Day!

The only problem is, today is not the first Monday in April. In fact, it's neither a Monday nor April.

And that's just plain wrong.

It's bad enough that the Astros are opening on the road because of this March Madness foolishness (by the time the final rolls around Monday night it won't be March anymore). But now the entire world is out of whack because Bud Selig - the moron who brought us interleague play and the wildcard - decided that the World Series shouldn't be played in November.

Well no shit, sir. But it was your idea of allowing teams that couldn't even win their own division to earn berths in the playoffs. Haven't you ever heard of doubleheaders? Schedule them a couple of times a year -- that'll kill off a couple of days of the season.

I want the flyover. I want folks parachuting into the ballpark. I want to see the entire rosters of both teams (plus coaches) lined up along the foul lines. I want to hear "Play ball!" for the first time this spring. But now I have a wait more than a week for the home opener (and, please, that's nowhere near as cool as the season opener). I want to sit outside the ballpark in the sun and crush peanuts and drink a Dr Pepper with my daughter as we celebrate the beginning of a new season.

But not on a Thursday.