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One more day.
For baseball fans throughout the country, the wait is almost over as Opening Day for America's Game is upon us.
That is correct. Baseball is considered America's Game. On the popularity scale among professional sports, football and basketball have taken priority throughout several national media outlets. Even international soccer seems to hold some sense of precedence.
In my book, baseball truly represents the culture of America throughout history.
Granted, the game has experienced its share of tweaks and been refined with rule changes, but the basics remain. Bases remain 90 feet apart. The pitching mound is 60 feet from home plate. Six outs constitute an inning. No game can end in an tie. So forth and so forth.
In today's world when time is of the essence, baseball doesn't rely on a clock (unless they decide to implement a pitch clock). Perhaps that explains why the length of games comes under scrutiny. The true fan is about patience and understands the game within the game. They attend ballgames knowing the final pitch may occur within a couple of hours or maybe four hours.
That unknown is what creates intrigue. Along with the fact that there is not a winner until the final out is made -- even if the margin appears unattainable by the team attempting a comeback. The larger the deficit, the higher the odds are stacked against them.
But there is no time limit or mercy rule in play that prevents a possible miracle. To steal a line from a Jim Carrey movie, "So you re telling me there is a chance."
Which brings me to throw a shout out to a local card and dice baseball league which recently celebrated the completion of its 37th season. The AWFL Baseball League utilizes the APBA board game (and computer version as well). The acronym APBA stands for American Professional Baseball Association, but the company, which was created in 1951, also offers game options for several professional sports.
Those who have never heard of APBA Baseball, the game has only a few similarities to fantasy league baseball. Managers have control of game play through dice rolls and board situations based on real-life stats. Imagine grown men playing a kid's game while deciding on make or break managerial decisions.
When the 38th season commences play in August, it will feature three original members (Ken Barth, Don Hitt and Randy Edge). Barth has participated in every season and has every scoresheet as proof. Hitt and Edge stepped away for a few years but have returned to the league. Hitt drives from Texas for Saturday's Draft Day each April. After posting the best regular season record for this past season, Edge appeared to be the favorite to win his fourth career World Series title (That is correct, the AWFL crowns a World Series champion just like the real world).
Which brings me back to Jim Carey's line from the movie "Dumb and Dumber." In this year's AWFL World Series matchup between The Mounty's (and interim manager Ken Barth) against the Green Diamonds (managed by yours truly), the Green Diamonds lead series 3-2 in best-of-7 format. However, Mountys break a tie by scoring three runs in top of 11th inning only to see Green Diamonds pull off a Joe Carter-esque comeback with four runs in bottom half of inning without an out being recorded.
Lesson learned, never say never.
Contact Kerry Patrick at kpatrick@newsandsentinel.com.