Sweet, Sweet Fantasy, Baby

Happy Opening Day! Or, as my friend Rob put it, the only day this season when the New York Mets will be tied for first! For some of us (the city of Philadelphia, me, other people who are in love with Cliff Lee), the excitement of baseball season started with a bang way back in December. Even before spring training began, the fantasy of what the 2011 season would hold was so sweet. Now Opening Day itself feels rather anticlimactic. What are you doing to get yourself in the mood?

2011 marks the first season that I will be participating in a fantasy baseball league. I drafted my team (newly christened "The Sunnydale Razorbacks") last night and am proud to report I have one Fightin' Phil. And it's Joe Blanton! Don't make me sad, Joe. :(=

On that note, I wonder if I should try to invent a Sad Chase Utley emoticon as well. Is there a way to draw a sad little blue bench under a sad face?

Poor Chase. Left unpicked through round after round, until finally you were auto-drafted by someone who didn't even want you. Poor Chase. I can't possibly imagine your life without baseball in it. Poor Chase. I hope your wife didn't really cheat on you with Jayson Werth. Poor Chase. Did you have a good relationship with your father? Me neither. Poor Chase Utley. Is second base cursed?

With the first real game of the season just one day away, let's hope that the 2011 Phillies have avoided all curses: Sports Illustrated cover-related, William Penn-related, and otherwise. And let's all hope that my Sunnydale Razorbacks have far fewer fatalities than The Sunnydale Razorbacks.