Happy Opening Day 2017 Ya Bastards. It’s the best day of the year, by far.  Of course it was somewhat ruined by this dumbass Opening Night our instant classic society demanded.  Wait a day!  Patience is a virtue and a bunch of you mofo’s need some, unless you are in the car.  It is totally cool to lose your patience on a bad driver.

Back to baseball. Was I this excited last year at this time?  Kinda, yeah.  But was it for the party or baseball?  Both, duh. I thought the team had filled some holes last year, rather than made some dumb “big-name” signings and thought they could compete.  Which, for awhile, they did.  But then they collapsed, in epic fashion.  We had a bunch of weird stories coming out of spring training, lotta bullshit, which took awhile to come to the surface.  A year later our knife wielding ace is off to greener pastures and his bubble blowing compadre is ghosted too. Talk to the fanbase, we are gonna suck bad this year, lose a bunch of games, #tankforbeer, ya know, the exact opposite of what you are supposed to be aiming for at this time of year.

Let’s take stock in our team. Some fans are mad we traded Sale, some fans are pissed we didn’t give everyone away.  Some fans expected the new kids to just all of a sudden become insta-super stars. Well folks, we are in a for a ride.  It could be a fun ride, it could suck major balls, it could be both, but we can’t lose sight of the big picture. Have hope Sox fans!  In short, you just gotta believe.  Let me elaborate.

We are being given a great gift to watch a team strip down to basics, and start over so to speak, to make something special.  Will this path work?  I have no fucking idea.  But what I do know, is that without the guys we cut loose we aren’t any further away from having a playoff team.  Shit was broken, they are trying to fix it.  No way in hell, you get all the fans to agree that every move is the best, but I am pretty sure 70% of us were totally on board.  And as Sox fans, 70% is passing, so it counts.  You just gotta believe.

I love baseball.  I don’t know exactly when it happened, but I fell in love.  I enjoy being outside, the excitement of watching a guy fail 7 outta 10 times. Because those 3 times he succeeds, it’s fucking magic. It reflects life, it provides hope to everyone watching.  Cause we all wanna hit the big one, but most of the time we swing and miss. If a guy told you you were gonna fail more than you were gonna succeed, you might not wanna get up there and try.  But these guys have made a life doing just that, trying to change the odds. You gotta believe it’s gonna happen.

The hope has returned (to me and my buds in the 108) and I’m gonna enjoy watching this team lose (or win) while developing young talent. Especially enjoy it with a cold ass Modelo or Baderbrau in our fantastic seats.  Enjoy it while I am struggling to see if anyone is on 2nd and who is pitching.  Gonna be a fun year of learning, watching kids grow into baby men, it will rock.  As I said after SoxFest, this group of guys is hella nice.  That’s gotta be a good thing right?  I just wanna see them play.  I just wanna believe.

Some of you out there are saying “Aww shit, MSS is drinking the happy juice” and you are right.  But if Opening Day doesn’t give you at least a little bit of optimism, why are you watching this game?  Why are you investing your time in this?  I agree it can get majorly frustrating, but that shouldn’t start before the season.  The slate is clean, it’s a new year, who knows what’s gonna happen.  I am unsure if all the pieces fit, if they will turn out to be great moves, but I hope they do.  It’s one day (hell a week) of hopes and dreams for the new season.  We all start at 0.

So put on your poncho, your rain suit, or sack up and wear a hat and a jacket with some jeans and get your ass to the ballpark today.  Some scalpers are selling low priced tickets, take advantage. Come celebrate the small guy, the everyday guy, the guy who reminds you of you when you could still run. It’s gonna be wet, it’s gonna be cold, but you won’t find more hope anywhere than on the southside this day. Come believe with me (and have a beer and a brat).

As always, thanks for reading and GO WHITE SOX. Happy Opening Day Fans!

-MSS