The meaning of baseball

Pitchers and catchers report in just a couple of weeks and I am left pondering this question, will baseball still mean as much to me as it did before?

I recently posted about the honeymoon period for the Giants but that was really just part one of the things that are on my mind heading into the season. The other thing that I have been kicking around now that the World Series has sunk in is will baseball still have the same meaning?

It it is the proverbial hangover, this World Series is something that I wanted so bad the next race can't possibly come close to living up to that standard.

After living and dieing with every pitch, every game and last season writing nearly daily about the team, it is not hard to imagine some days just taking some time off from the game. Yet doing that makes me feel like I am turning my back on this team.

It is probably a healthy thing to do every once in a while but it was something that I didn't think about before. Taking a break from baseball wasn't an option because of that possibility of something amazing happening. Even if I was away from the TV, or the radio, I had the gamecast going or my MLB iPhone app running, I was watching/madly refreshing/listening/tweeting every game last year but I don't think that my heart can take the living and dieing again. Does that mean I have lost some passion or that I am a bad fan now?

I don't think that it does, to me what it means is that I am normal. Like all Giants fans who have suffered through out the years, I want to enjoy what happened. The term maybe overused an cliche now but last season was torture and it made the end result that much sweeter and I want to continue to soak it up. On an aside could you imagine how much worse things could have been if they had fallen short after a season that took years off of peoples lives, yikes that's a scary thought.

On one level I don't want last season to end. I want it to keep going and going. I want the Edgar Renteria homer on repeat. The euphoria was so wonderful that it is hard to go back to that everyday grind that is a 6 month 162 game season. It is hard to imagine getting sucked back in but baseball is enchanting siren that always draws you back in. The chase for a World Series may no longer be about ending a drought and bringing a title to a deserving and long suffering city but something new and unique.

So to answer my own question, yes I do think that baseball will still mean as much, it will not necessarily be the same things as before but something new and something different. The games won't be about waiting for the first Championship and that is okay. There are lots of other reasons and things still to look forward to with this game.

Each season and each game is unique and that is what I love about the game and that is why it will still mean as much.

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