March Madness is over, and I am little bummed.

K-Dog wrote recently, “To be a sports fan is to come to terms with loss.” I was walking around barefoot in the back yard, and thinking of stadiums full of people and thinking of a guy I never got to see play who used to do the same thing in left field, just walk barefoot in the grass and smell it. I intended to revel in spring and warmer weather, but I was thinking of something more specific.

I was thinking about baseball and about basketball. Night and day, right?

Yesterday was opening day, and I was stuck in an office. Just try and stop me from turning on the game, I dare ya. Thankfully no one did, my boss is a baseball fan too. I marvel at cretins who think baseball is “boring” or “too slow”. I equate them with people who think chess is “like checkers but with taller pieces.” Kevin and I love baseball, it’s the reason we got cable.

That said, I was thinking about baseball, and the passing of March into April. I was bucking myself up with it, and the thought of the impending Quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup. (Warning: Rabid Hockey fan here) Then, I clicked over to tornadomagnet, and read Kevin’s take on being a sports fan. Sports is about losing as much as it is winning, and I know the let down must be worse for the players. I try to think of how great it must feel to hit a homer on Opening Day, of the Astros opening in the park that finally bears their name and not a sponsor’s, of skipping school on a Monday to be at opening day, of Hot dogs and beer and the sun on your face and grass as far as white chalk foul line can see.

But, in the back of my head I was also thinking about a handful of good kids. Of a handful of Indiana kids whose season is over. Seniors who won’t get to play for their schools anymore, even among the winners. Kids who watched the tourney from home, kids whose hopes and dreams had been far above the rim. So for kids like Jeffries and Fife, like Jason Williams and Juan Dixon, like my own Texas Tech Red Raiders, I hope they can do what I did.

Watch a baseball game, guys. You all earned it.