It's April !! Let's celebrate !!

Time to shake off the cobwebs, put away the shovels and the bag of salt, and welcome in Spring.

And how do we do that best?

Why...with baseball my friends.

The very symbol, the outward and visible expression of the drive, and push, and rush and struggle of the raging, tearing, booming nineteenth century!- speech at Delmonico's, April 8, 1889.

- Mark Twain

Ray, people will come Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. Of course, we won't mind if you look around, you'll say. It's only $20 per person. They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come.

- Terrance Mann (Field of Dreams)

You see, you haven't experienced life until you've sat in a box seat that is a little too small and a little too tight, just to see the boys of summer carry on. You see, there is something remarkable about eating an overcooked hot dog and a bag of cotton candy on a cardboard stick while snuggling close to the one you love watching a baseball game go by while you revel in your companionship while cheering for the team you love. Its quintessential America

- JL4 to a friend last fall.

As bad as that sounds, it also sounds incredibly fun.

- Friend to JL4

Play ball everybody!!! And enjoy life - for a while anyways - huh? Find a ballpark near you, eat a crappy hot dog, and have some fun.

I guarantee it will be good for the soul.