It's a weird feeling to be 2000 miles away from the team you really care about, and be in a land where the local team is not generating a lot of excitement...just sort of minimizes the whole opening day mystique. Let's put it this way, when I woke up this morning and realized it's the Mariners home opener, the only thought that went through my head? "That means traffic is going to suck." Which, from a quick sample of the general population here isn't a very strange reaction.

So many games...so many teams...how does one pick a bracket? How can a sane person make heads or tails of 63 games? More importantly, how can one be successful at picking the winners in all those games...or at least enough winners to win whatever pool they are in? How? I haven't the slightest clue. I've only won 1 pool I've ever entered. But this isn't about me, this is about you, and the daunting task you have ahead of you. It's hard to pick a bracket when you're asking questions like "Who in the hell is Winthrop?" and "Wait a sec, you mean they play basketball at USC as well?" Let's start with the basics, and work our way up from there...

As I watched the Championship weekend games, and all the hype and analysis of who will get into the magical 64 (Yeah, I know it's 65, but I never liked that change)...I started wondering..."What about the tournament gets everyone so excited?" More to the point, why are those first 2 days of the tournament the greatest 2 days in sports? It took me all of about 5 minutes to have several theories lined up in my head...all of them valid, and all of them a part of the larger answer...but really the whole question boils down to one thing...

Seriously, is there a more beautiful thing in sports than a well hit line drive? You can have your towering Home Runs...give me a hard liner right up the gut...the kind that causes the pitcher to rethink his profession for just an instant...that always brings a smile to my face. It's one of the glimpses of perfection in baseball...a sport where perfection always sought, but failure is the reality.

I realized today that Major League Baseball starts it's season better than every other league. The NBA and NHL start in the heart of the Football regular season, who notices? Does anyone know when the MLS starts? The NFL is the only league with a chance to rival it but they can't. Here my fellow sportslovers, is why:

The game of musical chairs that is the annual NFL Head coaching turnover has finally wound down to an end. With the hiring of Norv "Third shot" Turner by the Chargers, the last opening is now filled. As I rode the bus into work today, my thoughts wandered about the turn over this year, and in particular this last hire...and then the magic of the mp3 player shuffle kicked in...and I heard the lyric, "Success is my only mothaf**kin option, failure's not" ...what a perfect summary of the head coaching profession.

But now a greater thing has brought me back to the nation. Pitchers and catchers have reported. Hitters are starting to arrive. Spring is in the air. IT'S BASEBALL TIME!!

At the Super Bowl, one of the most interesting phenomenon was the sheer number of people wearing jerseys. At any sporting event, the percentage of people wearing jerseys is higher than in normal life...football being the highest from my informal survey. But when a big game hits, the percentage shoots up. Well, at the Super Bowl, I think the percentage was around 75%. And after starring into the sea of jerseys for several hours, I came up with a few rules for correct jersey wearing by fans...I'll admit I stole one from a magazine, but I'll cope to that.

Editor's Note: With so much to say, and so little time to say it, plus with the mission of "living the event" superseding "recording the event", this post is appearing later than the author intended it to...

After a night of drinking, and then sleeping in one of the most uncomfortable beds in the world...well, you might say that I felt like the floor of taxi cab when I woke up on Sunday. It took a few moments for the cobwebs to clear before the realization hit me...I was just hours away from seeing the game of my life...it's Super Bowl Sunday!!

Editor's Note: Due to the fact that the author is a huge wuss, unforeseen computer issues, and getting really drunk...this recount of the Super Bowl weekend is appearing much later than intended.

You know you're excited when you requested a wake up call for 7am, and when the phone rings, you're already packed and headed out the door. It was like Christmas morning when you're a kid...there is just so much excitement you can't sleep any longer...and so you jump out of bed and start the day early.

Congrats Colts, I have been ranking on this team all year, and they made the plays to win the game, and for that they are champs. Congrats, from all the Colts fans I ran into here, you all seem to be a great bunch of fans, and I'm happy for you. But damn, the game was right there for the taking…

The Super Bowl adventure reaches Orlando…and after a few "detours"…okay getting lost…we've finally made it to the hotel. There has been a distinct lack of Colts fans, and tons of Bears fans…an interesting fact. Some thoughts on the trip so far…and more importantly my Super Bowl pick.

The first entry in my Super Bowl Trip Blog. Have completed the first leg of my journey, and have several concerns about what adventures or mishaps are ahead of me...the worst being...

Can this really be happening? Is the Super Bowl only a few days away? Is the game really featuring the Bears and Colts? Can a man be this lucky? These are the questions that one man searches for the answers to.

The question "why" was raised in a recent blog by my brother. And I myself have raised a similar question particularly related to baseball. I'm sure many of you as sports enthusiasts must sometimes look at your home team and say "why do I care so much?" (or maybe your wife/girlfriend asked you). There really isn't an answer to the question. But I will try to find some kind of reasoning.