Back to Business

In a lot of ways, today is the first real day of the New York Mets' 2010 campaign.

Don't get me wrong--Monday's Opening Day victory over the Marlins was wonderful. David Wright homered, Santana was excellent and the new guys (save Mike Jacobs) all looked great. Even Jeff Francouer managed to not chase anything way out of the strikezone long enough to work out a walk (I kid).

But Opening Day stands apart from the rest of the season. There's red, white and blue bunting and anticipation and everyone lined up on the foul line before the game and wildly fantastical projections afterward (David Wright is on pace to hit 162 home runs! Jason Heyward is the next Hank Aaron!). It is in this way that the second game of the season is really the first game of "the other 161". There's no pomp and circumstance tonight and I guarantee Citi Field will be less full on a Wednesday night than it was for the opener.

And that's why today is the real first day of the season. Tonight is the first night of long relievers and keeping the sound on in the background because you've got a paper due or somewhere to be or any of a number of life events you can't excuse yourself from lest some smartass remind you that you can just watch the same regular season baseball game (against the same team, no less!) tomorrow night or any of 160 nights after that.

Frankly, I'm excited. Because baseball's not about the casual fan who checks in with us on Opening Day, then again for a day at the park in June and then, if we're lucky, comes back to us for October. As any hack sportswriter will tell you, "It's a marathon, not a sprint,"--a daily routine six days out of seven for six months out of the year. Tonight, like the rest of the nights from here to October, is about us people who actually like baseball--the whole thing, not just the highlights and not just in person.

The ups and downs of a 162 game season make it somewhat of a grind, and there's no doubting the massive drain on my free time that comes with the warm weather of spring. It's a long season and the Mets will probably make me miserable a few times between now and their eventual fourth-place finish. But after six months without them, I'm really just glad to be along for the ride.

So tonight, Mayor Bloomberg won't be in attendance. The ceremonial first pitch will be thrown not by a Mets legend but by some faceless corporate middle manager instead. The actual first pitch will be thrown by mediocre John Maine instead of superhuman Johan Santana. While Citi Field opened for business Monday, tonight is the first night of business as usual.

Allow Me to Re-introduce Myself

My name is Aaron. For the first six years of my life, I was fairly certain I was going to be starting point guard for the New York Knicks. After all, I was the reigning MVP of the imaginary basketball league contested on the Fisher Price basketball hoop in the front hall of the house I grew up in on Long Island (I did not have any brothers and sisters...or many friends, apparently). Unfortunately, a move to competition against real human beings in the Infant Jesus basketball league of Port Jefferson would put a damper on my pro prospects.

Today, I’m an aspiring sports journalist/broadcaster at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I co-host, SportsRap, an hour-long sports talk show on WXYC Campus Radio, cover women’s lacrosse and wrestling for the Daily Tar Heel, and serve as a volunteer videographer, editor and scriptwriter for Carolina Week Sports. I also work as a Public Address Announcer for the UNC Softball team.

When I’m not writing, filming, or talking sports, I enjoy well, watching sports, particularly college basketball and professional baseball. I’m perhaps one of the 50 biggest fans of the Stony Brook Seawolves (2009-10 America East Regular Season Champions and NIT Participants!) and like the New York Mets (undefeated, untied and unchallenged in 2010 as of this writing) only slightly less than I like breathing. I also enjoy hip-hop music, board games and American cultural history.

I started this blog as a place to express myself and work on my writing skills a bit. Here you’ll find some sports commentary, some random everyday life stories and probably a lot of griping about my beloved New York Mets. There’ll be bad puns and Jay-Z references and all sorts of embarrassing stories. We’re all going to have a really great time, so come back soon.

If you’ve got any comments, concerns or questions, or just want to chat, feel free to holler at me at ataube@email.unc.edu. I look forward to hearing from you.