Back From New Orleans and Ready for Baseball

"People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball... I stare out the window and wait for spring." - Rogers Hornsby

I just got back from New Orleans and Mardi Gras. I went from parades and Bourbon St to snow (also known as snOMG) and work. That's really sad. It was great to see the city of New Orleans all built-up again and thriving after Hurricaine Katrina. The people have returned and even the levees were rebuilt with sports fields on top of them and they were packed on the nice days. It was also the time to go considering the Saints had just won the Super Bowl.

New York gets crazy anytime they win a championship, but imagine zero champions in any major sports in your history--they were due and partied like it. One night we went to the bar and they had a tape of the Super Bowl playing. And everytime something big happened (especially the Manning INT) the bar went nuts. Everyone chanted "Who Dat?" and Saints players from quarterback Drew Brees to kicker Garrett Hartley were everyplace. Sean Payton and Reggie Bush rode in a float together one night with the Super Bowl trophy tossing Super Bowl hats (some signed) and Saints beads (I caught one) from the float. The city was crazy and the people were crazy (with many stories not appropriate for a public forum such as this) and I had a blast.

That being said, the first day it hit 60 degress, it made me cognizant that baseball was right around the corner. And today at lunch, the TV had a SportsCenter report with CC Sabathia working out down in Tampa. The countdown can end: Spring Training has begun! The Giants season ended poorly and the Rangers and Knicks both look in danger of missing the playoffs, so I'm excited to get the Yankees back to defend their crown. We will have plenty of Yankees coverage on NYaT leading up to Opening Day in Fenway Park in 46 days including 5th starter and leftfield challenges, season predictions and much more.

I want to thank Jay for keeping up the blog while I was gone (and Ben for posting as well). I'll try to bang out some reviews on the latest episodes of 24 and LOST as well in the next couple of days who each may have had their best episode of the season the past few days. I have to say that I'm not that excited for the Olympics, the NBA or NHL, college basketball or the NFL draft quite yet even though I'm sure we'll hear a ton about them. In the Winter Olympics, the only two things I really watch are hockey and curling. Many side one way or another on curling, but I think the sport is much more than two janitors sweeping the ice and see a pretty fascinating sport. I know many feel quite the opposite, but watching USA vs. Germany yesterday afternoon reinfornced my good feelings about the sport. So while I'm not glued to sports on the TV right now, there is plenty to talk about as we all look out the window at the snow like Roger Hornsby did years ago, and wait for spring and baseball to begin again.